Creativity & Impact — Celebrating Innovation in Southeast Tourism
The Southeast is home to some of the most creative minds in travel and tourism — professionals who turn big ideas into experiences that inspire visitors and strengthen communities. In this first installment of our Shining Example Awards spotlight series, we’re proud to showcase four winners whose marketing and storytelling set a new standard for excellence.
Featured Winners:
🏆 Visit Oxford — Best Digital Marketing Campaign
The campaign’s concept invited audiences to imagine themselves as part of the destination’s story, shifting the focus from simply promoting attractions to evoking a sense of belonging and meaning. Based on this, a multi-layered, omni-channel effort was developed to include digital advertising, social media storytelling and strategic content placements, supported by out-of-home engagement tactics to target the South and Texas.
The results showed just how compelling this campaign was, generating over 46.2 million impressions, 546,000 website clicks and 230% growth in social engagement. Impact extended beyond engagement to real-world results, with 8.9% year-over-year growth in overnight trips, 19.2% increase in overall visits and double-digit gains in core out-of-state markets.
🏆 Mississippi Tourism Association – Best Niche Marketing
This purpose-driven initiative was designed to recognize the hardworking individuals who power Mississippi’s tourism sector, restore pride and community esteem in tourism careers and inspire the next generation of professionals to see their future in this dynamic field. Built around Mississippi’s identity, the program featured a dedicated sub-brand, microsite, a seven-module online training and certification platform (available in English and Spanish), a statewide job bank and a compelling storytelling series showcasing real professionals. Outreach spanned digital advertising, social media, partner outreach, job fairs and live promotion at tourism conferences and events.
In just six months, over 700 individuals earned Hospitality Expert certification, with 978 active users completing more than 5,100 course modules. The microsite attracted nearly 2,000 unique users with an average engagement time of 22 minutes, while digital ads delivered 1.3M impressions and a top-performing click-through rate of 1.81%.
🏆 Think Tifton– Best Marketing Campaign $100K-$499K
This award recipient launched a campaign to spotlight a distinctive small town. Located between Atlanta and Orlando, it was important to position this town as more than a stopover. It’s destination rich in agricultural heritage and full of authentic, hands-on experiences.
The results speak to the effectiveness of the campaign, with a reach of over 68.3 million across all digital and traditional tactics, over 127,000 clicks and 173,000 website pageviews and a display campaign that saw a 72% increase in clicks. Most importantly, STR data showed a 2.18% increase in hotel occupancy, 2.97% growth in ADR and a 6.70% lift in lodging revenue, all clear indicators of market impact.
🏆 Visit The Northshore – Best Marketing Campaign $500K-$999K
At the heart of this campaign was a clever and versatile tagline that anchored messaging across leisure, business and event audiences. Its versatility even made room for an unexpected but wildly successful spinoff “Shore to Be the Best Era,” a spinoff campaign that cleverly tied into Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in New Orleans, turning a cultural moment into a tourism windfall.
Executed through a multi-platform strategy—Carvertise event swarms, Spotify ads, geofencing, social media, and grassroots business collaborations—the campaign delivered measurable impact. Visitor share and spending grew from 14.6% to 15.5%, Facebook reach rose 55%, Instagram 144%, Giphy stickers saw over one million views and new YouTube videos gathered over 50 thousand views. Earned media skyrocketed over 14,000% in June alone.
🏆 Visit Jackson – Best Marketing Campaign $1 Million or More
With a goal of increasing overnight visitation and deepening engagement, this campaign set out to position the city as a culturally rich and emotionally resonant destination by honoring its Civil Rights legacy.
Execution of the campaign included TV and CTV spots, videos, the creation of a microsite, print ads and more. Results were compelling, with overnight stays increasing 77.6%, with 11% longer average stays and a growth in long distance travel, up 7% from 250-499 miles and 27% from 500+ miles. Digital engagement also surged, with 517,000 impressions and 43,000 visits, and attraction spend increased by 13.5% per overnight visitor.
Each of these award-winning projects reflects the creativity, passion, and vision driving tourism across the Southeast. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our series, where we’ll highlight the people and partnerships making an even deeper impact.
➡ Explore more STS events and initiatives at SoutheastTourism.org.