The Town of Red River has won the New Mexico Hospitality Association’s Best Digital Campaign in the State of New Mexico.
In 2022, the Town of Red River Office of Tourism and Economic Development submitted six marketing campaigns for the prestigious New Mexico Top HAT (Hospitality and Tourism) Awards organized by the New Mexico Hospitality Association with the support of the New Mexico Tourism Department. Five campaigns — including the winter/summer 2022 Dallas/Fort Worth Billboard campaign, Magazine Advertising Campaign, 2022 Visitors Guide, 2022 Connected TV Video Campaign, and 2021 Red River Folk Festival InstaMeet Campaign — made it to the finalist list of the Awards: and one campaign stood out to the judges.
Red River’s 2022 Winter/Summer Display & AccuWeather Campaign won the Best Digital Campaign in the state. Since launching the new brand the past couple of years, the Town of Red River has invested in generating more awareness of our town. It’s been great to learn that more people know the brand and talk to their friends and family about the destination, but it’s even better when those people go to the website, learn about Red River’s offerings, and book a trip. That’s what these digital campaigns were designed for.
The objective of Red River’s digital campaign was to pique interest and capture prospects who were lower in the travel-planning funnel, being just one click away from the website. The brand targeted over 12 key feeder markets with ads based on several targeting criteria: demographic, geographic, contextual, interest, behavior, keywords, dayparts, and weather conditions. The creative was designed to stand out on any web page/app and grab attention, while leaving a smile on the users’ face. A consistent, fun personality was key in all Red River’s new brand campaigns.
Digital ads of all shapes and sizes were self-served on Facebook, Instagram and programmatic display platforms in both winter and summer peak periods.
Red River formed a partnership with AccuWeather that included weather-triggered digital ads. During winter months, ads would be served before and during Red River snowstorms, alerting users in feeder markets that the conditions were prime for booking a trip. And in summer, if the temps were 30 degrees hotter in Dallas than in Red River, ads would be triggered. The summer ads also featured the real-time temperature in Red River, which reminded users how cool it was up north.
We at the Town of Red River are excited to have these efforts being recognized by our peers in New Mexico. Red Rivers’ administration and its citizens are grateful for this award and will continue to do their best to promote this unique destination in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
