Company: Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, Charleston, SC
Company Description: Charleston County Parks is a 10,000 acres park system and includes 4 land parks, 3 beach parks, 4 seasonally- lifeguarded beach areas, 3 dog parks, 2 landmark fishing piers, a historic plantation site, 3 waterparks, 19 boat landings, a climbing wall, a challenge course, an interpretive center, an equestrian center, cottages, a campground, a marina, as well as wedding, meeting and event facilities.
Nomination Category: Marketing Organization / Professional Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketer of the Year

Nomination Title: Gina Ellis-Strother, Director of Marketing

Tell the story about what this nominee has achieved since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission (CCPRC) would like to nominate Gina Ellis-Strother for the American Business Awards Marketer of the Year. Gina joined the organization in June of 2013 and immediately put her 20 years of experience to use. In 2014, she led a staff of eight to deliver the organizations first marketing plan for a 10,000 acre park system and 42 special events. She launched a rebranding effort to repair a fragmented brand and emerged with a consistent image and clear message recognizable in the community. She consolidated over a dozen brochures into a master brochure allowing for cross promotional opportunities. She launched a new website that enhanced search and navigation capabilities while capturing the park experience through photography and video. (Visit: CharlestonCountyParks.com) She developed and directed five T.V. commercials and numerous radio commercials promoting the parks and events.

Gina’s experience in creating and promoting special events was invaluable when she and her staff had two weeks to develop and execute the ground breaking ceremony for the McLeod Plantation Historic Site for 100 well known public officials in Charleston.

Her creativity shined with the launch of an 11 week Nickelodeon character appearances promotion at three waterparks, the Carnival Cruise Line sweepstakes, and the Cyber Monday park pass promotion. These promotions resulted in record breaking attendance and revenue at the parks. Gina also developed a new revenue source for the waterparks by offering businesses the opportunity to buy radio commercials on Splash Radio, a closed circuit radio broadcast network at the parks.

Her PR savviness lead to extensive media coverage of the 25th Anniversary Holiday Festival of Lights which was awarded third in the nation for the Best Public Lights Display by USA Today. Gina also oversees the sponsorship opportunities for over 100 light displays for the festival. This effort resulted in selling out all sponsorship opportunities for the very first time resulting in over $125,000 in revenue. When Charleston County Parks participated in the World Largest Swim Lesson in the summer of 2014, Gina ensured the event was covered by the media. This worldwide event broke the world record and resulted in CCPRC being listed as a participant in the Guinness Book of Records. She also was eager to share her PR experience with others by co developing and conducting half day media trainings for staff and offered it as a tract at a regional park and recreation conference.

Gina has also been a strong supporter of nonprofit organizations. She organized the collection of used cell phones in the parks system to support the nonprofit Cell Phones for Soldiers that provides calling cards to US military serving oversees. She supported The Parklands Foundation, the nonprofit organization created by CCPRC by securing $250,000 in free advertising and launched the first marketing campaign to raise money. These are a few examples of her exceptional work which earned her the Marketer of the Year award for 2014 by the American Marketing Association Charleston, SC Chapter.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) accomplishments of the nominee since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

Since the beginning of 2014, Gina Ellis-Strother accomplished the following:

1. Created the first marketing plan for the agency
2. Launched a rebranding effort to repair a fragmented brand
3. Consolidated over 12 brochures into one master brochure
4. Launched a new website
5. Produced 5 television commercial's and several radio commercials
6. Developed an 11 week Nickelodeon Character Appearance promotion at the three waterparks
7. Created a Carnival Cruise Line Sweepstakes Giveaway at no cost to the agency
8. Offered the 1st Cyber Monday Park Pass promotion resulting in record breaking pass sales
9. Executed a massive PR campaign to promote the 25th Anniversary of the Holiday Festival of Lights which was awarded third in the nation for the Best Public Lights Display by USA Today
10. Developed the 1st marketing campaign and secured $250,000 in free advertising for The Parklands Foundation