Visit Long Beach Wins Visit California Poppy Award for Best Influencer Campaign

(March 15, 2024 – LONG BEACH, CA) – Visit Long Beach was honored with Visit California’s Poppy Award for Best Influencer Campaign at the biennial award ceremony held on March 12 in Greater Palm Springs. The awards honor the best in tourism marketing in the State of California, with all destinations competing in just nine categories. Each award category also includes a section for businesses and attractions to compete.

Visit Long Beach (VisitLB) was recognized for its influencer partnership with award-winning local food writer and expert Brian Addison, who runs a successful food blog called Longbeachize and a Facebook group, Long Beach Food Scene, that has more than 62,000 active members. The partnership was unique in that VisitLB hired a local talent with a massive following as a host to take online viewers through the local food scene. VisitLB relied on its in-house video team to film the short videos, which were posted on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts, and resulted in the organization’s first ever viral video.

“For two consecutive award seasons, Long Beach has been recognized as the best destination in the state for its innovative tourism marketing efforts, taking home the Poppy for Best Content Marketing in 2022, and now Best Influencer Campaign in 2024,” said Steve Goodling, President & CEO of Visit Long Beach. “With more than 60 destination marketing organizations in the state, these awards are highly competitive – this recognition is truly a testament to the incredible work of our in-house communications and marketing team.”

Other finalists in the category for Best Influencer campaign included Visit Oxnard, Beverly Hills, Carmel, and Visit SLO.

“We are so honored to receive another Poppy Award for our work marketing the City of Long Beach as a destination for leisure travel,” said Samantha Mehlinger, Vice President of Communications & Marketing for VisitLB. “The most rewarding aspect of this partnership for us was the benefit it gave to the diverse businesses we highlighted across the city. Quite a few let us know that their sales and number of guests increased as a direct result of being featured.”

“The past two years have seen tremendous growth, resilience and innovation from California’s travel industry,” said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California. “This year’s Poppy Award-winning campaigns inspired visitors from around the world to rediscover California, highlighting our state’s welcoming spirit and abundance of world-class experiences.”

Beteta, alongside Visit California’s board officers, presented the 2024 Poppy Awards during the 16th annual Visit California Outlook Forum, held March 11-12 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa. This year’s Outlook Forum celebrated record attendance, welcoming more than 800 attendees.

A panel of industry marketing experts selected the winners of the Poppy Awards in nine categories, awarding winners in both business and destination categories.

Winners included:

Best Content Marketing

Business: Belmont Park
Destination (tie): San Francisco Travel, Visit Greater Palm Springs

Best Strategic Partnership

Business: San Francisco Giants
Destination: Visit Ventura

Best Public Relations Campaign

Business: LEGOLAND California Resort
Destination: Visit Newport Beach

Best Influencer Campaign:

Business: Mendocino Railway | Skunk Train
Destination: Visit Long Beach

Best Crisis Recovery: See Monterey
All Dreams Welcome: Visit Sacramento

Best Group Meetings Marketing: See Monterey

Destination Stewardship & Sustainable Travel Award

Business: Rush Creek Lodge & Spa at Yosemite
Destination: Visit Mono County

Best Paid Brand Campaign, Under $1 Million

Business: Palisades Tahoe
Destination: Visit Lake Tahoe

Best Paid Brand Campaign, $1 Million & Up

Business: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (Zoo)
Destination: San Diego Tourism Authority

As the evening’s finale, Beteta presented the California Dreamer Award, which recognizes individuals who embody California’s pioneering spirit, to Chairman Reid D. Milanovich, who accepted the award on behalf of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

More about the Poppy Awards:

Crafted by California artisan Nicholson Blown Glass in Auburn, Poppy Awards are bestowed every two years to acknowledge the best of California’s tourism promotion. Programs started Jan. 1, 2022 or after were eligible for the 2024 Poppy Awards. Submissions were reviewed by Visit California staff, then blind judged by California travel industry experts.

More about Outlook Forum:

Outlook Forum is the premier travel industry conference for California, the No. 1 tourism destination in the United States. Outlook Forum brings together C-suite executives and industry decision-makers from California’s hotels, rental cars, attractions, restaurants, retailers and other travel businesses, as well as representatives from Visit California’s global network of offices.

ABOUT VISIT LONG BEACH: Visit Long Beach markets and promotes the City of Long Beach as a destination for leisure travel, conventions and events. Founded in 1982 as a nonprofit corporation, the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, the organization employs a myriad of strategies to publicize and market the city, including traditional advertising, content marketing, media relations, and robust convention client services. Visit Long Beach has a membership program for local businesses, providing them with marketing and publicity services including web listings, social media promotions, and exposure to convention clients.

ABOUT VISIT CALIFORNIA: Visit California is a nonprofit organization with a mission to develop and maintain marketing programs – in partnership with the state’s travel industry – that keep California top-of-mind as a premier travel destination. For more information about Visit California and for a free California Official State Visitor's Guide, go to visitcalifornia.com. For story ideas, media information, downloadable images, video and more, go to media.visitcalifornia.com.

Media Contacts:
Samantha Mehlinger, VisitLB
SamanthaM@visitlb.com
Kristen Bonilla, Visit California
kbonilla@visitcalifornia.com