Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Wins Prestigious Cannes Lion Award for Third Time in Four Years
“Colorblind Viewfinder” Earns Silver in Three Categories
CANNES, France – The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has received international accolades for its advertising and marketing campaign, earning Silver Lion awards forColorblind Viewfinder 2017 Campaign in three separate categories: Media – Travel; Media – Use of Ambient Media: Large Scale; and PR – Use of Technology at the 65th annual Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France.
The campaign also made three short-lists: Media: Use of Stunts; Media: Use of Technology; and PR – Low Budget/High Impact Campaign.
The Colorblind Viewfinders campaign promoted the scenic fall beauty of Tennessee in an innovative way. Millions of travelers flock to the state each autumn to catch a glimpse of the leaves changing from deep green to brilliant red, orange and gold. But not everyone is able to fully enjoy the effect of nature’s beautiful transition due to color blindness.
To aid travelers afflicted by protanopia and protanomaly (more commonly known as red-green color blindness or red-blind), the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development installed specially-equipped viewfinders featuring the latest technology lenses for alleviating red-green color deficiencies.
With the colorblind-less viewfinders, the state showcased the beautiful fall splendor to some of the more than 13 million Americans who have protanopia and protanomaly. (Results may vary by individual.) The premiere launch of the viewfinders took place in November 2017 at Ober Gatlinburg in Gatlinburg, Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area near Oneida, and at the Westbound Interstate 26 overlook near Erwin in Unicoi County.
The powerful campaign wowed the judges, besting hundreds of other entries to earn Silver Lion honors. The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development was in the running with advertisers such as Amazon, Spotify, Samsung, Ikea, HBO, Tourism Australia and Visit Sweden, to name a few.
“Tennessee’s advertising campaign not only consistently earns recognition for creativity and innovation, but is proving to do what it is designed for and that is attracting more visitors, creating more jobs and generating more revenue for our state,” said Commissioner Kevin Triplett, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. “We are pleased the hard work that our team, our agency VML and our tourism industry partners have invested is being recognized on such prestigious levels. It creates another avenue to draw attention to Tennessee and increase awareness of interest of potential visitors from around the world.”
This is the third time in four years the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, in partnership with its advertising agency of record, VML, has won at the prestigious international competition.
The Department’s “Tennessee Vacation MatchMaker” digital advertising campaign earned a Silver Lion in the Creative Data category and a Bronze Lion in the category of Digital Craft in 2016; and the 2015 campaign, “One Minute Vacation,” earned a Bronze Lion in the cooperative marketing campaign. Cannes is the world’s largest annual awards show and festival for the creative communications industry.
Tennessee is the fastest-growing state in the U.S. for international travel. Tourism Economics data released in May shows that international travelers spent $933.6 million in Tennessee last year. This is an increase of 38.7 percent over five years from 2012 to 2017. Currently, Canada is No. 1 in visitation to the Volunteer State followed by th United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico and Japan.
For overall visitation, Tennessee places among the Top 10 travel destinations in the U.S. for the fourth consecutive year. The state experienced 113.6 million person stays in 2017, an increase of 3.3 percent over 2016. Direct domestic and international travel expenditures are currently at an all-time record-high of $19.3 billion, a 4.7 percent increase over 2015, as reported by the U.S. Travel Association.
About the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development
Tennessee is the home of the blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, soul, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll-delivering an unparalleled experience of beauty, history and family adventure, infused with music that creates a vacation that is “The Soundtrack of America: Made in Tennessee.” Tennessee’s tourism industry generates $19.3 billion in economic impact, more than $1.7 billion in state and local tax revenue and more than 176,500 tourism-related jobs.
Explore more at tnvacation.com and join other Tennessee travelers by following “tnvacation” on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube or “Tennessee” on Snapchat.
