The Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau was selected as a winner in the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus' Best Ideas Competition at the 2017 Winter Meeting in Carrollton. The Athens CVB received the award for the Collateral Materials $500,000-$999,999 budget category.

Georgia CVBs submitted entries within five categories: collateral materials, print campaign, digital campaign, website and local awareness campaigns. Each category was also separated by three budget groups: under $500,000, $500,000-$999,999 and $1 million plus. These programs had to have been implemented by the representative CVB between January 1, 2016 and February 10, 2017.

The Athens CVB won the Collateral Materials category with its Meeting Sales Collateral Suite. A comprehensive and streamlined approach to all stages of the sales cycle, the suite includes a Meet Athens eNewsletter, new branded profile sheets and an editable PDF template for proposals and contracts.

Launched in the fall of 2016, the eNewsletter’s open rates are twice that of the travel industry average (up to 45%) and has directly generated leads, site inspections and planner attendance. The profile sheet and proposal template has also added efficiency to the sales process and created an in-house solution in place of more costly software.

The GACVB Best Ideas Competition rewards those CVBs that use creativity to craft effective marketing and advertising initiatives within the Georgia travel industry.