'Bourbon Country' Receives Top Tourism Honor; Tourism bureau and ad agency partner to tie Louisville to Kentucky's bourbon heritage
Louisville, Ky. (Nov. 1, 2007) - California's wine region has San Francisco and now Kentucky's bourbon region has Louisville. "Bourbon Country," a campaign developed by the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau and local ad agency Bandy Carroll Hellige, was awarded the overall "Best in Show" at the Kentucky Tourism Council's Annual Traverse Awards, as well as a first place award for the marketing campaign category.
Bourbon Country ties the city of Louisville to Kentucky's bourbon heritage, much as San Francisco is affiliated with California's wine region. The Louisville campaign creates an "Urban Bourbon Trail" including the city's bourbon-inspired restaurants and bars, and positions them as starting and end points of a bourbon-rich tourism experience that includes the central Kentucky distilleries (Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve), as well as the historic towns, museums and restaurants that give Bourbon Country its rich culture and distinction.
The campaign promotes Bourbon Country as the place "for the true connoisseur of great whiskey, great food and great times." Bandy Carroll Hellige developed a Bourbon Country fold-out and rack brochure, online and print advertisements, television spots, and provided media and public relations support.
In addition to receiving top honors for the Bourbon Country campaign, Bandy Carroll Hellige and LCVB partnered on other Traverse award-winners such as the "Just Add Bourbon" t-shirt (second place in the Specialty Item category), the Louisville Lure Piece (second place in Rack Brochure category) and the Hometown Tourist Celebration (first place in Tourism Awareness Promotion and second place in the Television Ad category).
The 2007 Traverse Awards were presented during the Kentucky Tourism Industry Annual Conference, a joint meeting of the Kentucky Tourism Council and the Kentucky Hotel-Motel Association, held in Owensboro, Ky., this October.
About BCH
BCH was founded in 1990 by partners Susan Bandy, Mark Carroll and Tim Hellige, and offers a full range of marketing communication services including advertising, new product introduction, public relations, Internet marketing, media and branding. Headquartered in Louisville, Ky., BCH has 41 employees in Louisville and Indianapolis, Ind. Among the company's other clients are Big O Tires Service Centers, Bluegrass Cellular, Hoosier Lottery, Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Healthcare, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau and Skier's Choice.
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