Best Travel Integrated Ad Campaign

The Las Vegas “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign helped produce four consecutive record breaking years of visitation to the destination, and Las Vegas was awarded the prestigious #2 brand ranking behind Google. However, challenging economic times created a perception that “Vegas is closed for business.”

To counter perceptions that “Vegas is closed for business” and address consumer sentiment about uncertainty of the future, Las Vegas executed “Vegas Bound,” a ground-breaking campaign that brought the hard working 300 person town of Cranfills Gap, TX, to Las Vegas to help showcase that “Vegas is open for business” with an integrated campaign directing consumers online to VisitLasVegas.com or Las Vegas’ YouTube channel illustrating the offerings of Vegas.

By disseminating engaging video content, “Vegas Bound” drew consumers to watch and learn more either on VisitLasVegas.com or YouTube. With approximately 1 million video views, website traffic grew almost 10% over year ago and property referrals increased by one third, both of which are success measurements set forth by the LVCVA. The effort was recently awarded the prestigious 2009 OMMA Travel Integrated Online Campaign Award, and in the first month alone, the campaign results were staggering:

Paid media negotiations secured 800+ million impressions and 50% earned media value
Executed first-ever Google/YouTube partnership for current “Vegas Bound” effort
Generated over $3 million dollars in press coverage before current “Vegas Bound” campaign even launched
January 2009 web traffic to VisitLasVegas.com was up 6% over last month, and referrals to hotel properties was +36% over December 2008 numbers

Contributors:

	Kevin Bagger
	Bob Naugle
	Sean Corbett
	Justin Woolard
	Rachelle Houle Maisner

R&R PARTNERS

Location: USA