St. Johns VCB Wins Gold Award for Creative Marketing Campaign

Having a great destination isn’t always enough to attract visitors, but sometimes it takes a little extra. To promote St. Johns County as a travel destination, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau is bringing more than just a little extra.

The North American Travel Journalists Association recently announced honored the VCB’s “Must Do Experiences” marketing campaign with a Gold Award in the Creative Marketing Campaign category of the 33rd Annual North American Travel Journalists Awards Competition. This awards competition honors the best of the best in travel journalism, photography, and destination marketing, according to a media release.

“Our independent panel of judges remarked on the difficulty they had selecting winners,” stated NATJA CEO, Helen Hernandez, in the release. “We are proud of the winners of this year’s competition, many of whom are members of NATJA, which speaks to the caliber of talent and professionalism in the organization.”

Judges for the competition included newspaper and magazine editors, as well as educators from across journalism disciplines.

The VCB’s “Must Do Experiences” campaign shares a tie for Gold in the Creative Marketing Campaign with Indiana Destination Development Corporation’s “Total Eclipse in Indiana 2024” campaign. Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach, Florida VCB, won Silver for their “Pure Florida Advertising Campaign”, and Lawrence, Kansas won Bronze for the “Lawrence Kansas Summer Fun Campaign,” the release states.

According to the release, the VCB’s video campaign was designed to create awareness of the unique experiences available on Florida’s Historic Coast in a series of one-minute videos. Each business representative interviewed in the series shared their passion for our destination and recommended another business as their favorite “must do” experience.

“We are honored to be recognized with Gold by NATJA for what we believe is one of our best promotional campaigns, said Susan Phillips, President and CEO of St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches VCB, in the release. “We credit this win to the local tourism community who share the passion for what they do and support one another through the campaign.”

The Must Do Experiences videos can be viewed at www.floridashistoriccoast.com/things-to-do/must-do-experiences-on-floridas-historic-coast/