Introduction

The Moodies Travel Journey Digital Awards 2021 – with the winners revealed during the recent Virtual Travel Retail Expo – highlight social and digital media campaigns, projects and programmes that have stood out for their impact, innovationand reach during the most challenging period in the travel industry’s history. The awards, which we detail in words, images and video in this special eZine, celebrate the resilience and creativity of our sector across multiple channels. The eighth edition of these prestigious annual awards (with an eligibility period of 1 January 2020 – 1 May 2021) carry a special focus on the industry’s COVID-19 response, and related marketing campaigns and other initiatives, as our list of winners shows. In selecting those winners (highlighted in the videos below), the judges were seeking clear objectives, creative and effective implementation and tangible and demonstrable results in the campaign award categories. Entries were judged on multiple criteria as appropriate to individual categories, including (where relevant) the following:

• Total budget & objectives
• Target audience & strategy
• Implementation & creativity
• Results & evaluation
• Quantifiable impact

Customer engagement, quality of content, incentive to spend and impact on the traveller experience were also considered. Considering the depth of the crisis and its impact on every company in the travel sector, the judges were deeply impressed by the number and quality of the entries. Amid difficult times, The Moodies awards underline the tremendous advance in digital communication and ecommerce since we launched this programme eight years ago. The pandemic has accelerated the role of digital in our world and will spark even more creative and surprising ways to engage the travelling consumer in future. Please enjoy this special review of The Moodie Awards, and the detailed coverage of each winner.