Advertising & Promotion

Our advertising and promotions campaign continued to follow the marketing and media plan outlined for FY19, which included advertising allocated across multiple channels for each of the brands. In October, Live! Hotel & Casino launched a major campaign in Richmond, Virginia promoting the opening of the hotel and entertainment center. We supported this campaign with a Hotels at BWI branded campaign which helped to promote all the ways to Experience BWI. This opportunity was then leveraged across the brands' creative assets and website.

During the holiday season, we launched a multi-channel campaign that promoted visiting Annapolis & Anne Arundel County during certain months. The campaign “Make Your Holidays Magical in Annapolis” helped to drive 30,613 people to the site through a campaign that utilized print, digital, social, and email marketing. The campaign highlighted all the events going on throughout the season and encouraged visitors to book a trip and enjoy shopping, dining, and activities during December.

Website Traffic:

Year Over Year website sessions on our branded websites.

Oct - Dec 2017 Oct - Dec 2018 YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19
VisitAnnapolis.org 151,418 195,565 374,703 407,884
TheHotelsatBWI.com 18,443 116,039 31,700 260,414
WeddingsinAnnapolis.com 6,168 20,467 13,187 33,731
AnnapolisDiscovered.com 22,582 28,086 44,171 47,416
MeetinAnnapolis.com 3,288 2,568  6,370 5,903
All Sites  201,899 362,725  463,761 755,348
 October - December 2017 vs. 2018 YTD - FY 18 vs. FY 19
Variance +79% +63%

Event Promotions:

Top 4 events viewed on Visit Annapolis during the 2nd quarter:

Event Month Sessions
Renaissance Festival Aug - Oct 9,926
U.S. Powerboat Show October 7,591
U.S. Sailboat Show October 8,829
Holiday Events December 11,158

Group Sales

Industry Events Included:

  • October 1-4 – TEAMS 18, Louisville, KY
  • October 28-31 – Your Military Reunion Connection, Virginia Beach, VA

Sales Activities/Site Visits/Sales Calls:

VAAAC BWI/Arundel Mills Meeting Planner FAM | VAAAC 6th Annual Military Bowl Client Appreciation Event | The National Business Officers Association | Woodbury Travel | Events by Lexi | Adriana Marie Events | 2hand Studio | Society of Government Meeting Planners

Group Sales Assists:

2 sports groups, 6 wedding/social, 3 tour and travel, 2 reunion, 8 conferences and arranged 1 CRUSA itinerary

Oct - Dec 2017 Oct - Dec 2018 YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19
Rooms 10,348 6,266 37,536 38,070
 October - December 2017 vs. 2018 YTD - FY 18 vs. FY 19
Variance -39% +1.4%

*Total number of rooms confirmed include new and existing future bookings (carried over) *On track to meet year end goal

Public Relations & Communications 

Worked with the Maryland Office of Tourism Development to host 13 Korean tour and receptive operators. (October 21st-22nd)

Hosted five press trips: 

  • October 27th-28th– Damien Guillou, French Journalist, Les Grands Ducs
  • November 3rdJody Arneson, Mid-Atlantic Day Trips
  • November 4th-6th– Larry Kushner, China’s Tourism World Magazine
  • December 10th-11th– Zarah Burstein and Sallie Taylor, Modern Luxury DC
  • December 12th-14th– Reikelt Pasterkamp, Dutch Journalist, Reformatorisch Dagblad and Nederlands Dagblad

Assisted an additional 26 journalists and media outlets, including representatives from: AAA World Magazine | Travel & Leisure | Susan Moynihan, Freelancer for AirBnB Magazine | Drive I-95 | Washington Times | Group Tour Magazine | Sports Events Magazine | Baltimore Sun/Capital Gazette | Bethesda and Arlington Magazines | Capital News Service | Eye on Annapolis | Annapolis Patch

Disseminated “14 Ways to Celebrate a Magical Holiday Season” news release (October 22nd)

YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19 Variance
Total Mentions 1,000 615 -38.50%
Total Reach 5.7 M 24.1 K -99.6%
UVPM 2.7 B 396.7 M -85.3%
Publicity Value $2.23M $149 K -93.3%

Influencer Press Trips

  • October 19 - 21 - Hosted six Macro / Micro Influencers for a weekend to #ExperienceBWI
  • Influencers: James Loving (international travel photographer), Melanie Suthrada (tastemaker from New York City), Alicia Chew (lifestyle influencer), Eileen Melon (Richmond Magazine food editor), Kelli Lemon (Richmond morning DJ), and Tom McGovern (published NYC/DC food photographer).
  • Through social sharing, repurposing of content, blogs, Instagram/Instastories nearly 700,000 impressions and a 2.17% engagement for #ExperienceBWI

*Influencer Trips organized by Moxe Marketing

Social Media Community

Social Media Community for Visit Annapolis, Weddings In Annapolis, and Annapolis Discovered.

YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19
Facebook 97,615 99,864
Instagram 12,887 19,274
Twitter 10,450 10,847
Pinterest 0 4,400
All Sites 120,952 134,385

Partnerships

  • Provided Education on New Partnership Program
  • Attended Destination International Membership Summit
  • New Office Hours Program Implemented
    • Held for 90 minutes every other Friday. Former, current and prospective partners can go to the Visitors Center, no appointment necessary, to discuss the program. They can receive extranet training and learn how their business can fit into the VAAAC brands.
  • Hosted Monthly Organizational Meetings for Partners
  • Hired a Partnership Coordinator
YTD* 2019
Net Sales $13,250
Orders Placed 41
Products Purchased 69

*New program this Fiscal Year.

Visitor Services

  • Developed an off-season educational program with Historic Annapolis, to include monthly FAM tours and Lectures
  • Implemented Volunteer Scheduling Software for 100 end-users
  • Installed Hi-tech People Counting Solution in Visitors Center

Visitor Count

Oct - Dec 2017 Oct - Dec 2018 YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19
Visitors 27,339 27,114 105,223 91,759
 October - December 2017 vs. 2018 YTD - FY 18 vs. FY 19
Variance -0.08% -12%

Brochure Fulfillment

Oct - Dec 2017 Oct - Dec 2018 YTD FY 18 YTD FY 19
Brochures 4,675 5,890 23,497 19,176
 October - December 2017 vs. 2018 YTD - FY 18 vs. FY 19
Variance +26% -18%