VISITFLANDERS enjoyed multiple successes at the Travel Marketing Awards (TMA) 2018, held at London’s Hilton Park Lane on 12 March.
Recognised for digital and PR activity created around their WW1 ‘Mud Soldier’ campaign from July 2017, it was the first time VISITFLANDERS had been nominated at the TMAs.
Scooping a Gold Standard Award for Best Use of social media under its Digital Awards category, the Mud Soldier was also awarded a Platinum award for Best PR Stunt/Experiential Event in its PR category.
The TMAs recognises the most original, creative, innovative and best performing campaigns. Awards are granted in five specific marketing categories, which includes: overall marketing; advertising; PR; campaigns; and digital marketing.
VISITFLANDERS received two awards for its use of marketing expertise in promoting its Mud Soldier commemorative sculpture.
The campaign was part of VISITFLANDERS’ commemoration of the Battle of Passchendaele, which began on 31 July 1917. One of the most horrific battles of World War I, it is remembered for the incessant rain that fell, turning the battlefields into a quagmire of mud, which in turn, claimed so many lives.
VISITFLANDERS commissioned a sculpture made from mud from Flanders Fields, which was installed in Trafalgar Square. The sculpture was a victim to the rain, and gradually disintegrated.
It was seen by hundreds of passers-by in Trafalgar Square, but thousands more following coverage in both UK and international newspapers, alongside television and radio coverage, and a huge global audience on social media.
Collecting the award on behalf of VISITFLANDERS was Andrew Daines, director UK and Ireland, who said: “As we enter the final year of the Centenary of the Great War, it is indeed an honour that our commemoration activities have been recognised in this way.
