The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development claimed the top prize at the 2020 ANA REGGIE Awards for the “Laugh Tracker” campaign that was created by agency VMLY&R.

Each year, the REGGIE Awards – held by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) – honour the best campaigns activated in areas like experiential, digital/social media, sponsorship, content, business-to-business and influencer marketing.

The Tennessee Department of Tourism received the Super REGGIE grand prize for the “Laugh Tracker” campaign, which made innovative use of wearable tech.

Specifically, this endeavour was based on the creation of a “laugh tracker” device that enabled vacationing families to record the fun they were having at various attractions across the state.

One key underlying insight was that families on vacation spent 39% more on travel than people who were not family but travelled together.

And the “laugh tracker” offered further invaluable guidance as it generated data that the Tennessee Department of Tourism could mine for marketing insights.

For a campaign budget in the $500,000–$1 million range, the results included almost six million hotel and flight searches, along with a 4.2% increase in hotel demand.

The return on investment for the campaign was estimated to be $142 for every $1 spent, demonstrating the scale of its success.

In all, 69 gold, silver, and bronze REGGIE awards were presented this year, with the recipients covering 23 different categories.

Brands winning multiple Gold REGGIES included quick-service restaurant chain Burger King, power management firm Eaton, snacks brand Frito-Lay, cola brand Pepsi, and OREO cookies.

Sourced from Association of National Advertisers; additional content by WARC staff