Team San Diego won big at the Visit California Outlook Forum’s 2024 Poppy Awards brining back 4 Poppy Statues and 1 Gold Medal! This achievement reflects the passion, creativity, and collaboration that fuels San Diego’s tourism industry.
Business Category Poppy Award Winners
Belmont Park
Best Content Marketing
The nearly 100-year-old amusement park on San Diego’s Mission Beach created the eight-weeklong Belmont in Bloom festival in 2022 targeting local millennial families to give them something new to do as the weather warmed up in the spring. Belmont Park partnered with content creators, local artists, mixologists, musicians and others, providing floral-themed experiences, resulting in increased visitor attendance and local media coverage.
LEGOLAND California Resort
Best Public Relations Campaign
Master builders at the Southern California theme park created a miniature version of San Diego – MINILAND San Diego. To boost coverage of the new exhibit, the builders also included the LEGO likeness of key reporters, anchors, radio personalities and the mayor who were then invited to place their LEGO selves in the installation. The buzz enabled the LEGOLAND California to secure placements in local and regional media as planned, but it grew to include national coverage in multiple outlets.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Best Paid Brand Campaign Over $1 Million
Wildlife Explorers Basecamp is the largest expansion in the San Diego Zoo’s history. Basecamp converted the old children’s area into an interactive and immersive nature experience. The objective of the launch of Basecamp was to drive attendance and convey the breadth and depth of this new area and to hit specific metrics. That included exceeding the record attendance for the previous opening of a new area in 2017, driving awareness before zoo trips and exceeding food revenue at a new café. An integrated multimedia campaign — including digital, TV, radio, out of home, paid social and print — featured kids watching themselves transforming into animals, and there was a special live activation of a two-story-high porcupine puppet. The campaign exceeded all expected metrics.
Additional Nominees
We would also like to congratulate the other San Diego business who were nominated for 2024 Poppy Awards:
- Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa – Best Content Marketing
- Del Mar Thoroughbred Club – Best Public Relations Campaign
- San Diego Zoo Safari Park – Best Brand Campaign Over $1 Million
Destination Category Poppy Award Winner
San Diego Tourism Authority
Best Paid Brand Campaign Over $1 Million
In a time when people were seeking comfort and happiness as the world opened back up, leaning into the nostalgia of a well-known children’s song “If You’re Happy and You Know It” allowed San Diego to highlight the uncomplicated, easygoing and sunny nature of the destination. The Happy and You Know It campaign drove maximum awareness of the brand, educated consumers about the variety of experiences and positively impacted in-market travel. The campaign spot drove higher room bookings and longer stays in a place that visitors view as a very happy place.
Outlook Forum Gold Medalist
Riki Suzuki
Longest Golf Putt
Congrats as well to the SDTA’s Tourism Development Manager Riki Suzuki on winning the gold medal for the longest golf putt as part of the forum’s Ultimate Playground networking events.
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