M&R Marketing Group is excited to announce that its advertising campaign for the International Cherry Blossom Festival won the silver award for “Best Ad Series” at the 2015 International Festival & Events Association/Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards Competition.

M&R created the “Eat, Drink, Be Cherry” campaign to entice a younger demographic to attend and enjoy the numerous events at the Cherry Blossom Festival. The five events promoted by the campaign included:

• Beers & Brats - Biergarten Celebration

• Nightly Concerts at Central City Park

• Bed Race

• Food Truck Frenzy

• Dirty Guv’nahs Concert

“’Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry’ played off three things about the Festival that young people enjoy: eating unique food, drinking local beer, and having a great time,” said Tracie Davis, account manager at M&R.

To promote each event, M&R created fun, funky print materials and placed them at restaurants, boutiques, colleges and universities, and other locations around Macon. The events were advertised on Facebook and reached over 100,000 people combined.

“Ultimately, I think it brought attention to an awesome Festival that takes place right here in our own city. By creating a campaign geared toward a younger demographic, it let 18-35 year olds know that the Festival has something to offer them,” said Davis.