The Internet Marketing Association (IMA) announced at its annual flagship IMPACT conference in Las Vegas on 29th September that the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce was the winner of their coveted ‘Social Media Campaign Integrated Strategy Award’ for its ‘Growth Matters’ animated video series marketing campaign.

Hundreds of digital marketers and tech entrepreneurs from the US and around the world gathered at IMPACT 17 from 28th – 30th September at the new Wynn Resort Las Vegas. The IMA’s annual conference attracts top tech and marketing keynote speakers, as well as attendees who are industry professionals and entrepreneurs from across North America and further afield, all eager to hear the latest industry trends. The event provides carefully curated, exceptional content which covers the latest marketing topics and this year included the global dynamics of Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and predictive modeling, amongst others.

One of the most popular elements of the conference is their Annual Awards Ceremony where outstanding projects are recognized. The categories are diverse and organisations from their million-strong membership across the globe vi for the chance be recognized as an industry leader.

The Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce was introduced to the IMA by Cayman Enterprise City back in 2014 and has recently partnered with them to offer online digital marketing courses provided by the IMA to local Chamber members.

Earlier this year the Chamber of created and released their Growth Matters campaign which is a public education & advocacy social media campaign that explains how Cayman’s economy works and the benefits of economic growth. The campaign is comprised of a series of 10 concise, clever animated, educational videos that explain the different components of Cayman’s economy and the steps of economic growth.

The Chamber developed this campaign to accurately explain the importance of economic growth in Cayman’s community, and the ways in which it is obtained. The aim of the campaign was to demonstrate the work the private sector has done and to encourage further growth in Cayman’s community. The Chamber has received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the campaign, not just in Cayman but from across the region. The videos were pushed in a 10-week campaign using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and local cinema advertising and hundreds of thousands of people have viewed them.

Chamber staff and committee members spent months carefully developing the creative concept, the story boards, the scripts and worked with some of the world’s leading animators to create this masterpiece series.

“We’re over the moon, and are incredibly grateful for the recognition. The Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce is a very small organisation, and for us to be acknowledged by the IMA for this campaign is unbelievable. We worked extremely hard and with support from our sponsors we developed a truly engaging and influential series of videos. I want to thank everyone involved in the process and those who supported us in the development of the campaign, and this award is shared with them.” said Wil Pineau CEO of the Chamber.

“The Chamber of Commerce does an excellent job of promoting the achievements of its members, so it’s wonderful to see our Chamber itself shine in the global arena and win this award.” said Hilary Cahill, VP of Marketing for CEC, strategic partner to the IMA. “It gave our Business Development Manager Chris Morgan who attended the conference, a profound sense of national pride to wave the Cayman flag and collect the Award in Vegas on behalf of the Chamber. The videos were absolutely brilliant and we are so glad the Chamber has been recognised internationally for their months of grueling work on this project.”