Colle+McVoy's "Don't Hibernate" Campaign Wins National Tourism Award

The Explore Minnesota Tourism campaign "Don't Hibernate This Winter," produced by Colle+McVoy, has won a 2005 Odyssey Award from the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) in the Domestic Travel Advertising category.

Explore Minnesota Tourism, the state's tourism promotion office, is one of 10 organizations nationwide to receive a 2005 Odyssey Award from TIA. The annual award program recognizes the outstanding achievement of TIA-member organizations that have demonstrated originality, creativity and effectiveness in categories such as Cultural Heritage, Domestic Travel Marketing, the Environment, Public Community Service, and Education, Training and Employment.

"This was just a fun and original campaign that turned out to be extremely effective for us," said John Edman, the executive director of Explore Minnesota Tourism. "Receiving the Odyssey is especially rewarding because our campaign stood out among those produced by some of the country's largest travel-related companies and states with much larger tourism promotion budgets."

"Don't Hibernate This Winter" starred a creature native to Minnesota — a black bear — cranking up an ice fishing auger, losing his car after shopping, navigating the tow rope at a local ski hill and showing off some hot moves on a dance floor. The campaign helped Explore Minnesota exceed its inquiry goal by more than 30 percent. "After several low-snow years, it was important to showcase the wide variety of things to do in Minnesota during the season, both indoors and outside," said John Jarvis, Colle+McVoy's CEO and chief creative officer. "While we supported our popular winter sports activities, we also found an unconventional way to showcase the state's shopping attractions, its nightlife and the arts." In addition to six 15-second TV spots, the "Don't Hibernate This Winter" ad campaign included radio, newspaper, outdoor and online advertising. The campaign ran from November 2004 through February 2005. The Odyssey Award recipients will be honored at the TIA's Annual Awards banquet on October 27, 2005, in Seattle during the TIA Marketing Outlook Forum.