Campaigns earn two Adrians for Eureka Springs and ZooTampa at Lowry Park Paul Beirnes, Executive Director of The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB, named one of the “Top 25 extraordinary Minds” for 2022

Paradise Advertising & Marketing Inc. has been honored with two Adrian awards at the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) event for client work executed for Eureka Springs and ZooTampa at Lowry Park.

The annual HSMAI awards, also known as the Adrians, are regarded as the Oscars for the travel and destination marketing industry and were held on February 24 on the West Coast for the first time, at the JW Marriott L.A. LIVE, in Los Angeles. The 65th annual event celebrated the most creative and successful campaigns in travel marketing and the people behind the work with more than 400 industry and agency executives on hand. At the same event, Paul Beirnes, Executive Director of The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB, and a longstanding Paradise client, was named one of the “Top 25 Extraordinary Minds” for 2022,” a recognition which annually showcases exemplary achievement and leadership in the hospitality sales, marketing, revenue optimization and distribution.

Barbara Karasek, CEO and Co-owner of Paradise, was present to receive the awards. “We couldn’t be more proud of our team and thankful for our clients,” she said. “In the spirit of this global celebration of the strength of the tourism industry, we are grateful for our part in contributing to successful recoveries for our attraction and destination clients. Producing award-winning campaigns is a bonus, and celebrating alongside Paul Beirnes as he was honored was the cherry on top.”

“The Adrian Awards recognize the best of the best of our industry’s creative and innovative digital, advertising, and public relations/communications,” says HSMAI President and CEO, Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA. “The 2022 ‘Top 25’ celebrates the innovators in our industry. During a year when the travel and hospitality industry rebounded sharply and faced unprecedented challenges, these extraordinary professionals ‘rewrote the book’ and forged new paths to success.”

Based on the judges’ cumulative scores, awards were presented to the top entries in four focus categories, such Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Marketing, Recruitment Marketing, Audience Marketing on New Platforms.

The agency’s winning Public Relations work, dubbed “Introducing America to Eureka Springs,” sought to shine a national spotlight on the jewel of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains, with an ambitious outreach to highlight Eureka Springs’ welcoming character, historic buildings, and natural beauty, as well as eye-catching architecture. The coverage kept coming, with exposure in major global and national outlets with massive audience reach and engagement, including Travel & Leisure, Forbes, Southern Living, Lonely Planet and Yahoo Lifestyle.

For the Bronze, in the “Integrated Campaign Category,” Paradise worked with ZooTampa at Lowry Park to promote and generate attendance for “Creatures of the Night,” one of the major annual fall events. The campaign’s creative focused on the event’s main character “Night Shadow” and his familiar animal, an African Pied Crow.

The campaign leveraged research, data and consumer insights to develop an innovative integrated strategic marketing effort, designed to inspire users to purchase tickets, amid the safety precautions and required time entry necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The events surpassed attendance goals, achieving 95 percent capacity, and overall campaign impressions exceeded 12 million with above goal click-through rates, event ticket sales and attendance.

Founded in 2002 as a full-service marketing agency, Paradise is solely focused on the hospitality, travel and tourism industry and represents a wide variety of destinations, attractions, hotels and resorts around the U.S. Known for delivering innovative and insightful brand and integrated marketing communications strategies, Paradise tracks client results to showcase how integrated marketing drives brand loyalty, business bottom lines, and job growth, as well as economies and communities.