The Western Fairs Association – comprised of more than 800 fairs and festivals -- considered over 500 entries for its annual awards.
The 2012 Santa Cruz County Fair snagged a prize for Marketing Excellence, and will be honored next week at a ceremony in Reno, Nevada.
It also received first prize honors for new Innovative use of Technology, Facility Website, and its Newspaper Ad, as well as second place honors for the Fair Program/Schedule, Television Advertising, and Email Outreach.
Last year’s technology and social media campaign was able to generate about 4.7 million views at one-tenth the cost of traditional print, radio and TV advertising, according to Steve Stagnaro, the Director of Marketing for the Santa Cruz County Fair.
With a marketing campaign that intended to reach younger people through smartphones and tablets, the Santa Cruz County Fair drew about five percent more vistors in 2012 than the previous year even though it had a budget of 20 percent less, said Stagnaro.
The 2013 Fair will be held Sept. 10 through 15 at the Fairgrounds located on Highway 152 just east of Watsonville. For more information, visit www.santacruzcountyfair.com.
