Keeping it Fresh: A Key Secret to Best Of Success

The Idea

The idea wasn’t new for the team at The Pilot – they’ve been running their Best Of program for 10 years and counting. However, that doesn’t mean they run the same exact campaign year after year. The Pilot team is constantly looking for ways to reinvigorate the program, whether through a new theme, refreshed advertising packages, or creative ways to engage their community.

The Execution

Each year, The Pilot unveils a new design theme for its Best of the Pines ballot – something both businesses and readers look forward to every spring. Winning businesses receive a vinyl decal featuring the annual logo, and throughout downtown Southern Pines, hundreds of these decals are proudly displayed on shop and restaurant doors and windows.

Because businesses collect these decals year after year, The Pilot changes the logo colors annually—creating a visual representation of how many times a business has won.

In 2025, The Pilot celebrated its 105th anniversary and leaned into the milestone with a nostalgic, newsie-inspired theme. The team even created a custom newsie character, which they used across campaign marketing and in their winners magazine to tie the concept together.

The team also made a strategic shift in their sales approach. Having not raised rates in several years, they were cautious about how businesses might respond to higher package prices. To ease the transition, they introduced Early Bird rates for the first time. With this model, businesses could pre-commit to voting packages before nominations opened. Importantly, if a business didn’t advance to the voting round, they wouldn’t be charged.

This offer proved to be a major incentive – and it delivered operational benefits as well. The sales team was able to secure renewals early, freeing them to focus on new business during the campaign. Meanwhile, the ballot production team could load ad creative into the ballot sooner, and the ad team gained valuable lead time to develop campaign assets.

To promote these Early Bird offers, The Pilot sent targeted marketing emails to a list of more than 1,000 opted in local business contacts. These emails also highlighted free social media graphics and their Best Of toolkit. Campaign communications were strategically sent at key moments—before nominations opened, once voting round finalists were announced, and after winners were tallied.

The Pilot also secured a first-time presenting sponsor, which received premium placement throughout the campaign, including logo placement in the ballot header and interstitial ads within the ballot experience.

To maximize reach, the team activated a full multi-channel strategy—most notably through invite emails sent to their audience of nearly 20,000 engaged readers. In total, they sent six invite emails:

• At the start of nominations and voting
• Midway through each phase
• Just before each phase closed

The Results

The Best of the Pines campaign delivered strong audience growth and engagement. It reached 8,000 new users who had never interacted with a previous promotion. The campaign also drove significant list growth:

• 2,800 new opt-ins for the nightly news email
• 2,100 new opt-ins for the weekly events email
• 1,800 new opt-ins for promotions messaging

The newly introduced Early Bird packages were a standout success:

• 86% of nomination packages were sold as Early Bird
• 64% of voting packages were sold as Early Bird

This meant the sales team secured the majority of campaign revenue before the ballot even launched, allowing them to focus on acquiring new advertisers throughout the remainder of the campaign.

The presenting sponsor also saw impressive results, generating 280,000 impressions over a two-month period and nearly 900 clicks. As a first-time sponsor, their experience was so successful that they renewed for 2026, increased their annual ad spend, and expanded their presenting sponsor package.

Overall, the team at The Pilot secured $375,000 from the Best Of the Pines ballot revenue, special edition magazine ad sales, event ticket sales, and annual ad packages offered to first place winners.

The Pilot’s success demonstrates that even long-running programs benefit from consistent reinvention. By introducing fresh creative, testing new sales strategies, and expanding advertising opportunities, they were able to drive significant engagement and revenue growth!