2/20/2025
PIERRE, S.D. – Travel South Dakota was honored this week at the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Adrian Awards for travel marketing excellence on Feb. 18, 2025, in New York City, N.Y., taking home nine awards across multiple categories.
This year’s Adrian Awards theme, “Wish You Were Here,” recognized the most memorable and effective travel marketing and public relations campaigns, advertising, earned media programs, and experiential and digital activations, honoring the top travel marketing organizations around the globe. With hundreds of submissions each year, the Adrian Awards are the largest and most prestigious competition in global travel marketing.
Taking home four more awards than last year, Travel South Dakota’s efforts were selected from the more than 800 global entries submitted for 2024. Travel South Dakota, in partnership with Karsh Hagan, Lou Hammond Group, Love Communications, Miles Partnership, and Lawrence & Schiller, won the following 2024 Adrian Awards:
- Gold: Some Move to the Black Hills for Its Natural Beauty. Others Do It for a Half-Million Motorcyclists – PR/Communications (Feature Placement Online or Print – Consumer Magazine or Newspaper)
After collaboration and interview facilitation with a national writer, The Wall Street Journal penned a feature story focused on the economic impact of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August 2024, allowing a national audience to understand the grandiosity of the rally and its positive economic impact. The cover story of the newspaper’s “Mansion” section ran in print and online, reaching 26,419,244 readers.
- Gold, Best of Category: So Much South Dakota, So Little Time - Shoulder Season Campaign (Integrated Campaign - Business to Consumer)
The creative work for this campaign was a fresh spin on the winter season, assuring travelers that the colder months are an excellent time to visit South Dakota. In fact, warm-weather markets like Phoenix grew in performance across media, signaling increased interest in consumers wanting to experience true winter in the state. Collectively, the campaign garnered an impressive 141 million impressions, 268,000 clicks to the website, and 34.9 million video completions.
- Silver: Travel South Dakota Organic Social (Digital - Social Media/Social Networking)
Extending the “So Much South Dakota, So Little Time” meant elevating the Travel South Dakota brand, growing brand awareness, and reaching/engaging with younger audiences. Within one year of implementing a robust social media strategy, successes included 21.21 million impressions (up 41% year-over-year), a reach of 13.97 million (up 34% year-over-year), and 3.55 million users reached through reels (up 269% year-over-year).
- Silver: So Much South Dakota, So Little Time - Peak Season Campaign (Advertising - Brand Campaign)
The 2024 campaign celebrated South Dakota’s breadth of offerings, experiences, and adventures. However, new strategic insights were explored to position South Dakota as the destination for a healthy escape from the craziness of life. The evolution of the campaign is rooted in nostalgia, evoking memories of childhood vacations when life was simpler. This campaign resulted in 205,000 estimated bookings, 415,000 estimated travelers, 352,000 estimated total nights, an estimated $72 million in visitor spending, and $20 million in estimated booking revenue.
- Silver: Story of a State (Advertising - Television)
Research shows that most Americans only know South Dakota for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, deeming it a one-hit wonder. However, the state has a wealth of diverse offerings like outdoor activities, culture, arts, and culinary attractions. For Super Bowl LVIII, this misconception was challenged by getting an actual one-hit wonder band, Nine Days, to explain why South Dakota is no one-hit wonder. Travel South Dakota’s Super Bowl spot was the “top trending topic” on this day for all mentions of “South Dakota” across the web.
- Bronze: The Sturgis Rally Rides Into Its Next Era – PR/Communications (PR Campaign)
Through a multifaceted public relations campaign incorporating influencers with celebrity appeal, media tours, broadcast tours, an experiential media mission in New York City, N.Y., and proactive media outreach, South Dakota sought to build anticipation for the 85th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 2025 and build interest with a younger audience for the event.
- Bronze: Dock Tok Presidents’ Day Influencer (Digital - Influencer Marketing)
For Presidents’ Day, Travel South Dakota partnered with a well-known group of influencers that are unexpected, hilarious, and memorable to the core: Dock Tok. From just two videos, impressions totaled 1.67 million with 78,290 engagements, and 64,870 likes. The engagement rate for this effort was 4.7%, much higher than the industry average of 1%.
- Bronze, Best of Category: So Much South Dakota, So Little Time - Shoulder Season Video (Advertising - Connected TV/Streaming/Linear)
This campaign promoted visiting South Dakota in the winter as an attractive vacation opportunity. The campaign leveraged footage that showcased exciting wintertime activities while capturing the emotions of those experiencing the magic of South Dakota’s winter. Collectively, the campaign videos garnered more than 32 million video completions.
- Bronze: Forever 605 (Advertising - Corporate Social Responsibility)
Named after South Dakota’s single area code — a local point of pride — Forever 605 was created to address the importance of state stewardship for both visitors and residents. The effort included industry engagement with webinars, email marketing, and equipping South Dakota communities and attractions with informational material. For travelers, playful animated illustrations were used to convey the comically exaggerated, unintended snowball effects of not practicing respectful travel etiquette. Not only has Forever 605 sparked local pride but it inspired more than 20,000 hotel bookings, 1,843 flight searches, and contributed nearly $5 million in hotel revenue.
“The Travel South Dakota team and our collaborative agency partners take great pride in our passion-fueled work advocating for The Mount Rushmore State,” said James Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “Promoting meaningful tourism and encouraging priority audiences to choose South Dakota is something our teams strive for. We continue to work hard towards our goal of making South Dakota one of the most desired vacation destinations in the U.S., and I am thrilled to see our efforts recognized on the global stage.”
The South Dakota Department of Tourism is comprised of Travel South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council. The department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen.
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Media Notes:
For downloadable imagery representing the award-winning work, please visit this link. Credit Travel South Dakota.
About HSMAI
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals and their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs such as the Commercial Strategy Conference, Sales Leader Forum, and Adrian Awards. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is a membership organization comprising more than 5,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. Connect with HSMAI at hsmai.org.
CONTACT
Katlyn Svendsen, Global Public Relations & Content Services Senior Director
Travel South Dakota
Email: [email protected]