A Bison Mascot, Bingo Challenge, and America 250: Visit SoIN's Recipe for Passport Success

Background

SoIN Tourism’s first passport program was a paper pass called the SoIN Fun Trail. It was successful, but keeping track of everything in a paper format posed a challenge. “It was a lot of work, but people loved it,” said Katerina Koehler, Senior Marketing Manager for SoIN Tourism. “We had huge engagement from locals and out-of-town visitors, so we wanted to do it again, but, as a small team, we said we can’t take on this paperwork again.” 

That’s when they started working with Bandwango. The move from a paper to digital pass was a game-changer. “It was less work on our end, and offered more trackability and better data," she explained. “I would never go back to a paper pass.”

That was six years ago, and since then, they’ve developed an array of passes, including  Scenic SoIN, Inspired SoIN, and Stranger Things of SoIN. They’ve also worked with Bandwango to create a self-guided video walking tour of haunted places called the Haunted History Jeffersonville Passport. Unlike their other free check-in challenges, the walking tour is an experience that visitors pay for and it gives them an opportunity to cross promote with a partner - Boo 812, a non-profit working to preserve and share Southern Indiana’s haunted history. Their latest pass may be the coolest one yet, though. Not only is it built around a timely topic (America 250), and uses the newest Bandwango Bingo feature, but it also spotlights a new mascot they’ve created: Billie the Bison. 

The Importance of Building a Meaningful Tourism Experience for America 250 

Koehler shared some words of advice for other DMOs in regards to America 250. “It’s happening, and you need to be involved somehow.”

SoIN Tourism’s Marketing Specialist, Marissa Murphy, first got inspired when she saw a story in Bandwango’s newsletter about how tourism destinations can turn America 250 into a long-term destination impact. She knew her organization needed to do something in honor of the year-long celebration, and as a way to promote their area’s ties to significant moments in the country’s past. So they got to work on a new pass to share the history of Southern Indiana, and they developed an experience that is exciting for everyone. “It's created at a level where both children and adults can understand it, and it just makes it a fun way to explore and learn more about history. Using a Bingo passport to tell the story makes it more engaging and digestible,” said Murphy. 

Koehler explained the locations on the pass, saying, “They aren’t all museums. Our pass takes users to locations where history has actually happened, like where Lewis and Clark first met before embarking on their expedition and where Colonel Sanders was born.”

Although the pass was launched in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the United States, this will be a pass that stays active after 2026. “When a lot of people travel, they want to know the history of the area and what's happened there,” Murphy said. “We wanted to showcase the story of our area and the ties to the United States overall.” 

Using Bandwango’s New Features to Make Passes More Engaging

“We’re always among the first to do something,” Koehler joked. “We are always going to be the guinea pig.” The DMO was one of the first to start using some of Bandwango’s new features throughout the years, adding the quiz check in feature to their SoIN Fun Trail in 2025. “It was the most engaged Fun Trail there's ever been,” said Koehler. “It makes it a little bit like a video game for a kid.”

After seeing success by thinking outside the box and using new features, they decided to have a little fun and get creative again. When they wanted to launch a pass for America 250, they looked at the newest features and decided to create a Bingo-style check-in challenge called Historic SoIN: Red, White, and Billie. 

Passholders have embraced the new Bingo feature and have found it easy to use. “We haven’t had any questions about how to use it,” said Koehler. “It’s so different from anything else you do with Bandwango, but people know what a Bingo card is.”

Since they are a two-county DMO, and many of their locations are spread out, they wanted to make it fairly easy for people to be able to get a prize. Passholders only need to visit four locations, but they added on an additional prize for people who want to continue exploring, covering their entire Bingo card. In one month, the pass has exceeded their expectations and they’ve had people who’ve checked in at all locations. 

“I think it’s more rewarding to see all of those little boxes cleared,” Koehler said. “Optically, it gives you a sense of satisfaction,” added Murphy. While they attribute success of the pass to the new Bingo feature, there’s another quirky thing that has also helped – the inclusion of a mascot. 

Billie the Bison started as a stuffed animal that Koehler took around to locations to promote SoIN on social media. “But then, Marissa completely latched onto it and we had a cartoon made of it,” she said. Billie was included on a historical timeline in their 2026 visitor guide, but they decided to incorporate Billie into the new America 250 pass as a way for visitors to interact with the new mascot once they’re in market. “We just like cute, quirky little things,” said Koehler. “We know that it gets engagement and it’s appealing to children.” They feel that the pass wouldn’t have the same level of excitement without Billie. “It wouldn’t have been as fun,” said Murphy. “Using Billie to tell the story grabs people’s attention.” 

Results and Measuring Success

In only one month, SoIN Tourism has seen success with Historic SoIN: Red, White, and Billie. Even better, these numbers reflect sign-ups and check-ins before July 4th, which will bring a substantial amount of promotion for the pass. 

‍Sign-ups: 494 pass sign-ups ‍

Check-ins: 496 check-ins 

They’ve also had visitors that have already claimed prizes. Some have even covered the entire card, earning a special prize. 

Koehler said sign-ups and check-ins are KPIs that she looks at, and she’s able to easily see exact, real-time numbers in her reporting dashboard. However, there’s another factor that’s important to her when measuring success. “What I really like to see is the ratio of check-ins to sign-ups, and all of our passes have really good ratios. We know not everybody who signs up uses them, but a good percentage of them are using the passes,” she said. 

She’s also been impressed by the number of people she’s seen from outside of the state using the passes. The DMO also feels that they’re getting new visitors to come and stay overnight because of the pass. Koehler said, “There’s no direct way to see it, but I certainly like to think so. People like to be told what to do, and having this as an option for the destination of a pre-planned activity, they don't have to do anything more than book a hotel room.” 

“There’s also the non-tangible success of just engaging our partners,” said Koehler. “It gives us an opportunity to directly collaborate on a marketing campaign. We don't have many campaigns that they really feel involved in. When they can say they’re a part of a pass and promote it as well, I think that it gives them ownership, plus a better understanding of the work we do to promote the destination as a whole.” She explained that it answers that question of "What have you done for us lately?” The diversity of their passes has helped keep the opportunity open to all tourism-related businesses as well, “There's a passport that pretty much any of our partners can be on at this point.”

SoIN’s Tips for Creating a Successful Pass

Make it unique. 

“Don’t be afraid to be goofy,” said Koehler. “We know Billie’s goofy, but that’s the kind of stuff people like. Billie was silly enough that both kids and adults liked it.” 

‍Create a good landing page.‍

Koehler said, “People are looking for things related to America 250, and it’s important to have a good landing page so that it makes your destination top of their list of places to go.” On the landing page, they have the passport displayed, and include blogs about the history in the area and events. Murphy shared, ”It’s a way to get our page to show up on Google and all of the search engines.” 

‍Give people prizes they want. 

“Match your prizes to current trends,” advised Koehler. For the history-themed pass, they have prizes that include a Billie sticker sheet, a patch, and a lapel pin. She said, “We thought that would cover some different generational interests.” They also have a retro metal lunchbox as one of the additional prizes for passholders to complete their whole Bingo card, and it’s been a hit. For their SoIN Fun Trail, passholders can win a squishable plush Billie and a Billie building block set. They’ve also used posters designed by local artists for prizes for other passes, and those have been a hit as well. They unveil a new poster each year. 

‍Stay top of mind with your passholders. 

SoIN uses Bandwango’s targeted messaging platform to stay in touch with passholders and to remind them to use their pass. Murphy said, “I’ll do special messaging around the holidays, like Flag Day.” She also creates social media messaging about the pass to stay engaged with passholders. 

‍Promote your pass to the media.  

“We do a press release for each new pass,” explained Koehler. “We have different travel writers come in and use them, and they get traction.” They’ve had successful earned media placements with regional and national publishers for their Stranger Things push, such as Midwest Living and Forbes. So far, the Historic SoIN passport has been promoted in local media, such as Wave 3 and the News and Tribune.

‍Use the pass as an itinerary for visitors looking for things to do. 

“We encourage our travel counselors in our visitor center to use these as suggestions for itineraries,” said Koehler. The team asks visitors a series of questions and is able to determine the appropriate pass for them. She said, “It takes out the stress of the person having to write down what they are suggesting the visitor do because it is within the pass already. It’s even got the map in there.” 

‍Throw a party.

‍Having a party to celebrate a pass is always a fun idea. “We do something called the Summer Passport Party,” said Koehler. “It is a party that is free to the public, and we use it to promote all of our passes and unveil the new posters for our passes that use those as prizes. We started it last year, and it was a huge hit. During last year’s party, we had 135 new passport signups. We're doing that again on July 8th at our visitor center, which helps us meet other goals, including increasing foot traffic and building brand awareness.” 

Conclusion

When asked about SoIN Tourism’s goals for their passes moving forward, Koehler smiled as she said, “I just want to get weirder and quirkier with our passes. People like super niche, weird, specific things.”

Although they have a series of successful passes, they’re also looking at new passes for the future, and they’ve thrown out the idea of a holiday-themed pass. “When looking at our top-performing web pages every year, one of them is light displays in southern Indiana. So we're looking at what we already know is popular so that we can build on that momentum.”  

In conclusion, Koehler has a final piece of advice to other DMOs: “Joining Bandwango will make all of your campaigns in the future easier.”

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If you’re looking for ways to create unique, successful tourism marketing campaigns, we encourage you to book a demo with our team to learn more. We’re happy to chat about ideas for America 250, holiday-themed ideas, or whatever it is that makes your destination special. 

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