With fiscal year 2021 wrapped up, we are pleased to share our annual report and what we've been working on this past year. While the pandemic threw everything but the kitchen sink at all of us, the CBCVB responded in kind by using every tool at its disposal to bring business back.
The year began with the 2020 summer travel marketing initiative. Working with Council Bluffs hotels, the bureau launched a marketing campaign targeting Iowa and surrounding states with digital advertising. The initiative created 300,000 impressions and drove 9,138 visits to UNleashCB.com.
Marketing initiatives followed in the fall and spring, creating another 1,822,000 impressions, and resulting in 9,398 website visits and 18,000 page views.
For the first time, the CVCVB initiated a photo contest in the fall of 2020 as another way to engage both locals and visitors to explore Pottawattamie County. A second contest was conducted over the winter, and a third commenced in June. The first two contests yielded 214 submissions and created 98,210 online impressions.
Local restaurants remained an important priority. The CBCVB broke new ground by promoting them through a bracket competition titled UNleash Your Appetite. With more than 7,700 online ballots cast, Pizza King was crowned as the champion. However, all local restaurants came out ahead with additional exposure on social media. The contest generated 92,256 online impressions.
In a similar way, the Omaha Metropolitan Area Tourism Awards brought more attention to hospitality businesses in Pottawattamie, Douglas, and Sarpy Counties. Locals and visitors nominated and voted for the best attraction, hotel, restaurant, and retail business in each of the three counties. The Pottawattamie County winners were Ditmars Vineyard & Orchard, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites @ Ameristar, Pizza King, and Anytime Tees.
Scott Hoffman joined the bureau's team in October to lead our sales efforts as senior sales manager. With more than 35 years of experience and his familiarity with CB, Scott proved to be the right person at the right time to navigate sales during an unprecedented time.
For more details and some words from the president of our board of directors, please view our full annual report.
The hero image of this blog was taken by Buck Christensen.
