THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

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Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/17th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling

Mean Girls at the Beach

Finalist in Event & Experiential

Objective

CheapCaribbean Vacations isn’t like other online booking engines. Leaning into the hype around National Mean Girls Day on October 3, we took advantage of the brand’s Millennial and Gen-Z following’s love of fun and pop-culture trends. We partnered with Broadway Plus to throw “The Fetchest Party of the Year” at Grand Oasis Cancun. We invited members of the cast to come with us to the resort, and we put on a cabaret-style performance with a selection of songs from Mean Girls the Musical. We kicked off the celebrations on October 2 with a "pink-out pool party" and closed the fun-filled week with a cast meet & greet after the show. We offered the experience as a bookable package, so customers could join us for this once in a lifetime event and enjoy 'Mean Girls at the Beach' for themselves. By capitalizing on this hot pop culture moment, we sought to elevate the brand’s reputation and its place in consumers’ consciousness, reach a broader audience of Gen-Z and Millennial travelers, and align ourselves with two trusted brands.

Strategy

To begin promotions of the event, CheapCaribbean Vacations launched a 'Mean Girls at the Beach' campaign across our email, SMS, organic, and paid social channels. We created a dedicated landing page with all of the details of this exciting-bookable package and launched homepage banners directing traffic to the site. 

In order to capture a wider audience of passionate Broadway-fans, CheapCaribbean Vacations sponsored iHeart Radio's "Broadway at Bryant Park" summer event in New York City. As a sponsor, CheapCaribbean Vacations had an in-person activation in Bryant Park where people were able to get totally "grool" CheapCaribbean swag and sign-up to win a trip giveaway for two to join us at Grand Oasis Cancun for the Mean Girls Day performance. Prior to the Mean Girls the Musical performance at Bryant Park, iHeart radio hosts announced the exciting opportunity to join CheapCaribbean Vacations for "The Fetchest Party of the Year."

Fans of the film and the musical were targeted through a strategic PR campaign focused on earned coverage, and key media were hosted on a press trip during the event to spread the word about the partnership and their experience with the CheapCaribbean brand.

The week of the event, we enjoyed a Pink Out Pool Party on October 2nd, where the Broadway Plus team showed guests how to do the iconic "Jingle Bell Rock" dance with the cast from the musical. On October 3, National Mean Girls Day, the stars came out in full-force for a cabaret-style performance of select songs from the Tony-nominated musical 'Mean Girls'. The show boasted a full theater with CheapCaribbean Vacation’s branding being prominently displayed throughout the resort both leading up to and during the main performance to help further reinforce brand awareness amongst existing and prospective clients. Customers who booked the package through CheapCaribbean Vacations had special VIP tables near the stage and were invited to join the cast and crew for a meet and greet afterwards. 

Results

The totally fetch CheapCaribbean Vacations event made a splash in top publications including Us Weekly, People Magazine, OK! Magazine and Page Six – generating an estimated 730-plus million earned impressions. The press trip alone delivered over 92 million impressions. Social media coverage posted by package purchasers included 88 posts that produced just under 300,000 impressions and showcased “Mean Girls” fans partying at Grand Oasis’ beautiful resort – all wearing pink, of course! Overall, 'Mean Girls at the Beach' was a huge success! 

Media

Video for Mean Girls at the Beach

Entrant Company / Organization Name

CheapCaribbean Vacations