The stakes are high at the start of every campaign. But this year tourism partners in Deadwood knew they needed to lay all their cards on the table to attract more visitors. They needed to send their message to the most receptive audience and fend off the potentially negative effects of the recently passed smoking ban.

As Lawrence & Schiller, the South Dakota Department of Tourism and the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau began working on creative concepts for the year, they evaluated their audience and decided to focus on a specific segment. Traditionally, marketing efforts were aimed at an older demographic who enjoyed the gambling, entertainment and lodging Deadwood offered. We asked ourselves, “what audience makes Deadwood events, such as Deadweird, Oktoberfest and Kool Deadwood Nights wildly popular?” The answer – young adults. An older demographic provides a solid base for Deadwood, but young adults are equally important.

We then asked, “what makes Deadwood unique?” Without a doubt—its history. We developed a series of TV and print ads reflecting the appeal of the historic Wild West on modern circumstances.

• Wild Bill’s Resting Place: Highlights how a modern-day Wild Bill finds his resting place after a long night in Deadwood.
• Calamity Jane: A modern-day Jane may be known more for her clumsy mishaps than her rabble rousing, but she knows Deadwood remains a great place to socialize.
• Shot Down: Today’s Wild Bill is still a gun slinger, but sadly the outcome is the same.
• The Legend: Shows legends can still be made in Deadwood.

The edgy TV spots and accompanying print and radio ads tell young adults that historic Deadwood is a destination for weekends full of special events, fun and friends.

How much power does a celebrity have? Quite a bit if you ask products that have been lucky enough to be endorsed by Oprah, David Beckham or the Jonas Brothers. The queen of daytime talk announced her annual Favorite Things list this month, which will undoubtedly spur sales for those lucky brands mentioned throughout this holiday season. First endorsing books and consumer products, Oprah has turned to pushing other brands like political candidates and has now shown her influence in marketing travel destinations.

According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Oprah’s recent visit to Australia will lead to greater international visitors for the continent down under, specifically from Oprah’s key demographic: high-income women with families. Australia Tourism even cited figures showing O’s impact as generating more than $17 million already.

With numbers like that, it can make any destination want to dig for the biggest celebrity they can find to endorse their tourism industry.  But for marketers, this isn’t about celebrity. Rather this proves the power of decision makers, and how tapping just one large decision maker can yield thousands, or in Oprah’s case, million of influences both nationally and worldwide.

In looking to Australia’s example and Oprah, one of the roads to successful travel marketing is not necessarily bringing in celebrities, but instead making a destination celebrated by thousands of vacationers, whether that’s through positive word of mouth, unique ads or a well-known public figure.

All have the ability to boost public awareness and get vacationers thinking about what a destination like Wall, SD has to offer them and their families.

While Oprah’s wide net of influence extends beyond that of your average vacationer, decision makers have nearly unlimited access to friends and coworkers waiting to be charmed by an influencer’s past experiences and choices.

Now that we’ve recovered from our turkey-induced comas, we asked Carrie Burns, L&S associate account executive, to share her experience at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Listen as Carrie shares about the electric atmosphere and the crowd’s reaction to the Mount Rushmore’s American Pride float.

Six visitor industry organizations in the Black Hills plus the South Dakota Office of Tourism worked hard to create a float bringing the highlights of South Dakota to the streets of New York City. South Dakotans were not the only ones excited to make the float a reality.

From conference calls to watching the finished project roll down the streets, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float executed a “big idea” for South Dakota Tourism. Over 63 million people had their appetites whetted for a South Dakota vacation, and we are excited to welcome new visitors to the home of Mount Rushmore in the coming months as a result.

Five thousand two hundred and eighty is the number of feet in a mile. It also represents the commitment Lawrence & Schiller makes to go the extra mile for its clients.

Each quarter L&S honors an employee who embodies the spirit of 5280. Someone who has gone above and beyond to deliver significant results for a client. Not just someone who has put in long hours, but someone who has been strategic, insightful and relentless. To this person the Marketing and Advertising  (MAP) Award is presented.

Bob Davidson

From a long list of nominees, the MAP winner for the first quarter of 2010 is Bob Davidson, an Interactive Programmer who’s been with Lawrence & Schiller since August of 2008. Davidson was selected because of his work on Digital Revolution… the redesigned, re-organized and re-programmed website for the South Dakota Office of Tourism.

Months in the making, Digital Revolution transformed www.TravelSD.com from an informational website to a transactional one, allowing visitors to not only research their South Dakota vacations but also book them without leaving the site.

Davidson was the technical lead for a group of programmers who developed the site in ASP.net and created the following functionalty:

• Partner Pages – for a nominal one time fee, visitor industry members can gain access to a content management system with the ability to update content, add photos & videos and integrate social media.
• Online Booking – Partners have the option of working with the state’s central reservation system and offering their inventory for online bookings.
• Related Content – based on location, attraction type and visitor interests, related content (including vacation packages, events and news stories) is automatically displayed on each detail page. 
• Interactive Trip Planner – any attraction, activity, event or lodging with a physical address can be added to the Trip Planner. Integrated maps show the location of attractions and visitors can drag-and-drop itenerary items onto a calendar which then automatically updates the maps.

During its first full month of operation, the average time per visit spent on the new TravelSD.com has gone up 22%, usage of the Trip Planner is up 57% and online sales are up 257% over the same time period in 2009!

Congratulations to Bob and the South Dakota Office of Tourism.

It’s always exciting to win an award, but when it comes from your peers – people with whom you compete for business -  it often means more.  Such is the case for the South Dakota Office of Tourism and its recent winning of the prestigious Mercury Award.

Micah Aberson, Director of Business Development at Lawrence & Schiller tells the story of the award winning Black Hills Digital Strategy in this edition of The Extra Minute.

Talk about mobile marketing and most people will picture text messaging or web browsers on smart phones. But for the South Dakota Office of Tourism it has another, very literal meaning.

Full-size, semi-tractor trailers have been wrapped with South Dakota images. Now the rolling billboards are traveling from coast-to-coast raising awareness of the Mount Rushmore State.

Here is the story behind this unique form of outdoor advertising.