They say the fastest way to the heart is through the stomach. So, that’s exactly the approach ABC took to brand Madison County as a destination. With several years of working with and spending time in the upstate New York county, ABC spotted and was ready to capitalize on an exciting trend when Madison charged us with creating a destination. We noticed that top chefs from around the country were taking up residence in already well-respected eateries. Lesser-known restaurants joined them in serving up creative farm-to-table fare. ABC went to work building another niche destination marketing project.
The foodie movement had reached fever pitch across the nation and we knew the highly social community had tons of potential for spreading the word. ABC cooked up a strategy that would include a website designed to look and feel like a blog. Not only do many foodies maintain similar digital presences, but we also wanted to give MadFoods a grassroots, community feel.
The campaign was designed to be self-sustaining with crowd-sourced web content coming from local restaurateurs, writers and reviewers as well as visitors to the site, which includes eatery listings, farmers markets related events and lodging recommendations. We urged visitors to share their “MadSpots” and share via social media presences on Facebook and Twitter. ABC even created a badge on the popular Foodspotting mobile app.
