Travel South Dakota's Campaign Awarded in International Competition

Travel South Dakota’s Go Great Places integrated marketing campaign was recently honored with a platinum Adrian Award – being elevated after an additional round of judging of 2022 gold award winning entries.

In November, it was announced that Travel South Dakota was honored with three Adrian Awards, which are international marketing awards from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

After the Go Great Places integrated campaign was designated a gold award winner, a second round of judging deemed it a platinum award winner out of more than 600 entries. Being elevated to a platinum award made it eligible for the Best in Show award.

The annual Adrian Awards are the world’s most prestigious travel marketing awards, recognizing travel marketing organizations for innovative sales & marketing efforts in advertising, public relations, and digital marketing. The awards ceremony honoring the handful of platinum award winners was held in Los Angeles, Calif.

Travel South Dakota’s Go Great Places integrated campaign was developed in partnership with Lawrence & Schiller of Sioux Falls, MMGY Global of Kansas City, Mo., and Miles Partnership of Denver, Colo.

The goal of the Go Great Places campaign was to stay top of mind with travelers and reach people who were ready to safely travel again. The campaign focused on South Dakota’s wide-open spaces and outdoor attractions.

Overall, this campaign led to 13.5 million visitors in 2021, garnered more than 4 million impressions, and saw a return on investment of $52:$1.

“It is our department’s mission to create top-notch marketing campaigns that are not only effective, but also engaging,” said James Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “Having this award moved to the platinum category and be eligible for Best of Show amongst hundreds of other top notch tourism marketing competitors motivates our team to keep pursuing opportunities to share South Dakota’s story with visitors from across the world.”

The South Dakota Department of Tourism is comprised of Travel South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen.