Cornett, a Lexington based ad agency, earned an Impact Award from Worldwide Partners for its 2019 NeighSMR campaign for VisitLex.
The campaign inserted one of VisitLex’s biggest assets—horses—in the middle of the trend of ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response videos. ASMR content features auditory stimulation of odd, day-to-day activities, like eating a pickle or popping bubble wrap.
“First a national award, now a global one,” said Cornett president Christy Hiler. “This is just further proof that our focus on making creativity a business advantage for our clients delivers results. The NeighSMR campaign capitalized on a trend, but in a creative way that was completely on-brand and delivered great results. I’m very proud of our team.”
The fun, Kentucky spin of the campaign immediately vaulted the video to viral status, collecting over 1.8 million views on YouTube and earning coverage fromFast Company, Yahoo Life, AdWeek and AdAge among others.
“That kind of impact is why we love having Cornett as our marketing partner,” said Mary QuinnRamer, President of VisitLex, the convention and visitor’s bureau of Lexington. “Destinations have to stand out in a sea of sameness to attract visitors. Cornett’s creativity never fails to amaze us. We not only were a part of a fun trend with NeighSMR, we were out in front of it in our industry.”
Cornett’s work with VisitLex won Best in Show at the 2019 KTIA Traverse Awards for excellence in Kentucky tourism marketing.
The Impact Award came two weeks after Cornett grabbed its first-ever Shorty Award win for its work with University of Kentucky HealthCare. That campaign earned Best Online/Interactive campaign at the 2020 Lexington ADDY Awards. The agency also earned two other Best of Awards, eight gold and six silver ADDYs.
Watch Cornett’s NeighSMR parody for VisitLex featuring Hank the Horse eating apples, carrots, peppermints and more.
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