December 31st 2024

The Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority (GWTIDA) received a 2024 New Jersey Tourism Excellence Award from the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association (NJTIA) at the recent New Jersey Conference on Tourism held in Atlantic City at Golden Nugget Casino Hotel.

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The award recognizes GWTIDA’s truck billboard advertising campaign, which employed 53-foot tractor-trailer wraps to target travelers in the Metro Philadelphia and New York Metro markets. The campaign utilized six delivery trucks, each equipped with device ID scanners to collect device IDs of individuals within a 20-meter radius. This data was then integrated into Google Analytics to retarget potential visitors with Wildwoods advertisements across Meta platforms. Additionally, the truck back panels featured QR codes that connected directly to the WildwoodsNJ.com official tourism website. The three-week campaign reached over 894,744 people and generated 1,223,007 impressions.

Truck advertising proved to be highly effective, enhancing name recognition 15 times more than any other form of advertising and delivering 2.5 times the impact of fixed billboards, according to Transpromotion, the vendor for the campaign. While billboard costs in the target markets ranged from $4,000 to $14,000, the truck advertising campaign cost just $2,600 per truck per week, with a cost of $2.05 per 1,000 impressions—significantly lower than the $4.17 average for stationary billboards. On average, the truck side advertising generated an average of 101 impressions per mile.

“This recognition is a testament to the creativity, hard work, and innovation of our entire team, who consistently strive to develop effective campaigns that resonate with our visitors,” said Ben Rose, director of marketing and public relations with GWTIDA.

The Wildwoods also achieved a historic milestone for tourism revenue growth during the summer season of 2024. Through August, tourism revenue increased by 3% compared to the same period in 2023, which was previously a record-breaking year. Direct tourism spending rose to over $374 million, and the 2% tourism tax revenue increased by $325,439.30—a 4% improvement over 2023. The Wildwoods are currently 52% ahead of their five-year calculated tourism revenue collection plan.