Lee VCB earns 23rd ‘Henry Award’
The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau recently earned a “Henry Award,” the highest award for imaginative destination marketing, at the 43rd Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism Flagler Awards Competition in Orlando. The VCB has earned 23 Henry Awards since the competition began in 1999.
Sponsored by Visit Florida, the official marketing organization for Florida tourism and the Florida Commission on Tourism, the Flagler Awards program is designed to acknowledge the outstanding marketing achievements of the state’s tourism-related businesses, destinations, attractions and other entities. Five out-of-state tourism-marketing authorities judged the competition’s nearly 136 entries in 15 categories.
The VCB was honored with a Henry Award in the “magazine” category. Due to a dramatic increase in competition by other Florida “sun” destinations, the VCB conducted an attitude awareness and usage study to better understand consumers’ perceptions of The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel brand. This research confirmed the sameness in messages from beach destinations, therefore, in 2009, the VCB introduced a variety of print ads to distinctly build brand awareness and differentiate The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel as the only Florida vacation destination to offer an “unspoiled island sanctuary,” with a safe place to nurture and revitalize relationships with nature, your family and yourself. Consumers requesting destination vacation materials driven primarily from print advertisements were up 14 percent in 2009 over 2008. “We are grateful to be acknowledged by Visit Florida and the tourism industry for our bureau’s marketing efforts over the years,” said VCB Executive Director Tamara Pigott. “The outstanding work of our staff and the VCB’s advertising agency, BVK of Fort Myers is to be commended.”