The Travel Marketing Awards 2011 - did your favourite travel brand win?

March 30 2011 , Written by thediversetraveller Published on #advertising, #awards, #black tomato, #campaigns, #Chartered Insititute of Marketing, #CIMTIG, #marketing, #Rough Guide, #Rough roads, #To-Tuscany, #travel, #Travel brands, #Travel Interest Group, #travel marketing, #Travel News

While running DiverseTraveller.com is my passion, it doesn't keep me in the style I have grown accustomed to. So in order to keep the bills paid, I dabble in marketing. Well I do more than dabble, I lecture on a number of marketing subjects and in the time I have left, I freelance in the field of consumer behaviour.

Now, aside from hoping you are now thinking I am superwoman, wondering how I look so great with so much going on, and planning to name your future kids after me; I mention my hectic working life because all my interests came together last week in the guise of the Travel Marketing Awards 2011.

What Are The Travel Marketing Awards?

The Travel Marketing Awards, I hear you wonder? If they are a surprise to you, don't worry they were a surprise to me until I joined the Chartered Institute of Marketing* in 2009. The awards are a key part of the activities of the Institutes's Travel Interest Group, CIMTIG^, set up to ...

"... recognise, reward and showcase the best and most innovative work across the sector. Judged by some of the leading lights in the travel, creative and marketing industries, the awards are prestigious and a must for any agency or marketing department serving the travel sector to strive for."

The Awards are divided into three sections plus this year's special 'one-off' award for Travel Brand of the Decade. For details of all the winners and why the judges awarded them the highest marks visit the CIMTIG Travel Marketing Awards 2011 website.

Source and all images: Travel Marketing Awards website

Not surprisingly, many of the well-known travel brands made the shortlist, but thankfully for all us aspiring travel brands, there were a few lesser known winners, such as:

Black Tomato, who won 'Best website' with their new website feature designed to explore the passions that inspire travel. The creative concept was called ‘Travel Fuel’.

Flagship Consulting picked up the coveted ‘Best Strategic PR Campaign (Domestic)’ award for their brand-building campaign forcamping and caravanning website Pitchup.com.

Multi-award winning specialist travel and fashion agency, Propellernet won the award for ‘Best Use of SEO’, for the second year in a row for its 'villas in Tuscany' campaign for To Tuscany.

Brand of the decade went to Virgin Atlantic Airways. While I am not yet to fly on Virgin Airtlines, no particular reason, I find their 1980s ad always makes me smile and want to be an stewardess so I can wear read high heels and sasshay through the airport.

Another well-know brand that won was Rough Guides, but not for their guides or website, but for 'Best Viral Communication, in the form of the addicitive Rough Roads game. Having uploaded the game to this blog, I found myself playing everytime I logged in, until its playful sounds, once my blog appeared, drove me and some of you mad.

For a full list of winners watch the following video or for a detailed list of winners and runner-ups, visit the CIMTIG Travel Marketing Awards 2011 website.

So what do you think? Do you agree with the Travel Marketing judges, and what are your favourite travel brands?

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^ The CIMTIG is where marketers from the travel industry, and those interested in developing a career in travel marketing, meet to learn, share and network.

* The world's largest marketing organisation with some 50,000 members.

Some of the winning brands: