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Five Berkshire Businesses Honored as Marketing Trendsetters11:38AM / Friday, June 10, 2011
LENOX, Mass. — The Berkshire Visitors Bureau presented the inaugural class of Berkshire Trendsetter Awards Tuesday night at its Berkshires in Bloom celebration. These awards were created to recognize and honor individuals, businesses and communities who are doing exceptional work promoting themselves and the Berkshires.
A highlight of the evening was when Cultural Pittsfield took home the “Inspiring a Community” Award. Mayor James Ruberto was the first on his feet to applaud and his enthusiasm was echoed throughout the entire room. Cultural Pittsfield has worked tirelessly to target locals and visitors to support businesses and events. Since the Pittsfield initiative started, 40 new shops, restaurants and cultural businesses have opened in downtown – 12 in the past year alone.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts won the award for advertising for its campaign to recruit students for its new professional master of business administration program last year. The campaign was judged not only as creative in its message and tactics, but was cited for its effectiveness in producing the desired results. The first classes began in January of 2011.
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute was recognized as the winner for public relations, for its extraordinary press coverage of the exhibition “Picasso Looks at Degas”, the first exhibition of its kind to explore the influence of Edgar Degas on Pablo Picasso. This additional PR helped The Clark enjoy its second- highest attendance in the summer of 2010 with over 120,000 visitors, 90 percent of which came from outside the Berkshires.
Barrington Stage Company was the winner of the online marketing award for its campaign known as “The Barrington Stage 2.0 Initiative.” The campaign gave the audience a true “behind the scenes look” at performances with a unique use of video diaries, trivia ticket giveaways and press reviews. Most impressive to the judges was that the results of this program showed that of the patrons that purchased tickets, 34 percent were new to the theatre.
In order to ensure small businesses were showcased as well, an award was established called “Marketing on a Shoestring” and given to TSUBO Massage of Williamstown to recognize a program that stood above the rest for its impact on the business using limited resources. The judges were impressed by the clever way the business reacted to market changes and invested in time and a laptop to increase their business.
In addition to these awards, the Solid Sound Festival presented by Wilco and MASS MoCA was the evening’s special honoree and was recognized for “Putting the Berkshires on the Map.” In accepting the award, Joe Thompson, director of Mass MoCA stated that “90 percent of the attendees of last year’s festival came from all over the country" and that "moving the festival to June this year was even better for the tourism businesses.”
Lauri Klefos, president & CEO of the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, ended the evening with thanks to everyone who is doing the important work of promoting the Berkshires .
“All of us in this room are Berkshire Trendsetters in our own way and if we keep doing what we are doing and pool resources, the Berkshires cannot help but continue to be a premier destination for visitors, businesses and future residents."
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