You don't have to have the boku bucks to excel on the Marketing front, as was proven by the finalists and winner of the Vail Valley Partnership's 2007 Success Award for Marketing Campaign of the Year. Sponsored by the Denver Newspaper Agency this year, the finalists included two nonprofits and a small, local business. VailPM.com was nominated for their continued excellence in providing an online lifestyle guide for the Vail Valley. The details and coverage they provide is expansive and, equally importantly, they offer this information through the newest online technologies. Adding an online direcory with business reviews was a big step in improving their site for 2007 - yielding an impressive total of 13,000 unique visitors and 1.5 million hits - for November 2007 alone! The Vail Recreation District had a task similar to VailPM.com when developing their marketing strategy - to bring a variety of programs and offerings together into one cohesive marketing effort. And with the vision of John Monson, Marketing Director, they've done just that. With a lean and mean nonprofit budget, VRD was able to increase rounds of golf played at the Vail Golf Club, the number of kids in their youth camp and after school programs, tennis players in an annual tournament - the list of 2007 accomplishments goes on. VRD proved that variety is not only 'the spice of life' but of a well-organized marketing campaign as well! In the end, it the was musical marketing approach of Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, also a nonprofit organization, that really wowed the Selection Committee this year. The 'we think of everything we do as marketing' is the approach that allows Bravo! to thrive, as, what Steve Pope of Colorado Mountain News Media calls "one of the top classical music festivals in the world." With programs from the well-known concerts at Ford Ampitheatre to the free youth programs, Bravo! has something for music lovers up-and-coming to devoted, for grandchildren to grandparents. Congratulations to the 2007 Marketing Campaign of the Year nominees, finalists and winner! It's your hard work that allows yoru business to flourish, and your business that impacts the Vail Valley as a whole. | 
