PACIFIC Takes Home Three Public Relations Awards

On a warm October evening, members of the Communications and Design teams accepted three public relations awards at the Bernays Awards. All prizes were for its Baja Menu campaign on behalf of Expedia Mexico.

The awards banquet is an annual event hosted by the San Diego chapter of the Public Relations Society of America to recognize and honor the top PR campaigns from organizations in the region. There are two award categories—silver, which honors entire public relations campaign, while bronze honors PR tactics.

PACIFIC won Silver awards for Global Communications (Award of Merit) and Multi-Cultural Public Relations (Award of Merit). It also won a Bronze award for Social Media (Award of Merit).

The Baja Menu campaign is no stranger to awards; earlier this year, it also won three silver American Advertising Awards in the categories of Website, Cross-Platform Campaign, and Branded Content & Entertainment Campaign.

So what made Baja Menu an award-winning campaign?

Baja Menu was inspired by insights that showed food was an integral part of Mexican culture and a top motivation for travel. The campaign was produced in partnership with local celebrity chef Javier Plascencia, who has a strong reputation with both the target audience in Mexico and bordering American cities.

The team spent several days filming on location at over 15 restaurants in three Mexican cities, producing videos that take travelers on a gastronomic tour of Baja California.

It targeted travelers in Mexico and Southern California with a microsite in Spanish and English, original videos, social media, influencer partnerships, and an earned media push.

Aside from being a cool campaign, it also produced massive results. Here are some highlights:

• 33 placements in Spanish and English from Mexican & American publications
• 75,000 page views
• 35 percent YoY increase in organic traffic to Expedia’s website
• 46 of Expedia’s food and travel keywords increased in ranking
• 10,367 interactions and 2,125 visits to Baja Menu from organic social
• 316,017 interactions and 192,555 visits to Baja Menu from paid Facebook ads, which reached nearly 4 million users
• 27,750 views and 934 visits to Baja Menu from paid YouTube ads

You can find out more about the Baja Menu campaign here.