Zimmerman Agency Review: Hospitality PR
Agency Background and Structure This Zimmerman Agency review examines one of North America’s more established hospitality PR and destination marketing firms. Curtis and Carrie Zimmerman founded the agency in 1987 in Tallahassee, Florida. The founders had previously spent approximately a decade working in Atlanta before relocating south, seeking the lifestyle that a smaller city offered. That founding spirit, according to the agency’s own documentation, still shapes how it operates today. In 2004, the agency joined Omnicom Group, one of the world’s largest marketing communications holding companies. This transition gave the agency access to broader resources, media buying scale, and global reach. However, the agency reportedly maintains its original entrepreneurial character, which may appeal to hospitality brands that value agility alongside infrastructure. Read Also: Crosby PR Agency: Bold Repositioning That Wins Clients Key structural details: Founded: 1987 Headquarters: Tallahassee, Florida, USA Parent company: Omnicom Group Estimated staff: Somewhere between fifty and one hundred ten employees, depending on reporting period Primary sectors: Hospitality, tourism, travel destinations, and lifestyle brands The agency describes itself as a “hyper-integrated” communications firm. This means strategy, creative, public relations, digital, social, and media all operate under one roof. For hospitality PR clients, this integration may reduce friction between campaign functions and create more cohesive destination storytelling. Does Zimmerman Deliver in the Hospitality PR Specialist Discipline ? Public relations for hospitality brands operates differently from most other sectors. The timelines are longer. The media relationships are more personal. Furthermore, travel journalism runs on editorial calendars that fill months in advance, which means an agency without established press contacts loses time that most destination clients cannot afford to waste. This context is worth establishing clearly, because it defines the standard any hospitality PR agency should be held to, including Zimmerman. The agency has worked exclusively in tourism and destination marketing since 1987. That tenure means they have operated through multiple industry cycles, the post-9/11 travel collapse, the 2008 recession, and the near-total shutdown of global tourism during 2020 and 2021. Whether that experience translated into measurable resilience for their clients during those periods is not documented in any publicly available source. What the public record does show is a client list with some degree of continuity. Organizations like the Belize Tourism Board and Visit Park City appear across multiple periods of the agency’s documented work. In any service industry, repeat business indicates some level of client satisfaction. However, it does not confirm campaign performance or value for money. The agency also holds awards from both sector-specific bodies, HSMAI, and broader creative competitions, including The One Show and the Webby Awards. That combination suggests the agency competes across two different evaluation frameworks simultaneously. Whether that reflects genuine versatility or selective award entry is difficult to determine from the outside. Zimmerman Agency Review: Hospitality PR Services The hospitality PR offering sits within a broader communications structure. Therefore, understanding the agency’s full service range helps paint a clearer picture of what clients access when they engage this firm. Public Relations The agency’s PR capabilities include: Communications strategy development Creative storyline creation for destination and lifestyle brands Media relations and press outreach News bureau management Promotions and co-branding partnerships Influencer marketing coordination Crisis communications management For hospitality and lifestyle brands, media relations and influencer marketing tend to drive the most visible outputs. The agency targets travel publications, lifestyle magazines, broadcast travel segments, and digital platforms when pitching destination stories. Creative Services The creative function handles: Ideation and campaign development Copywriting and art direction Cross-channel design Brand identity work and positioning Experiential activations In-house content studio and video editing For destination-focused hospitality PR clients, creative storytelling forms the foundation of most campaigns. The agency integrates creative with PR delivery, rather than treating them as separate workflows, a distinction that matters for brands seeking message consistency across earned and paid channels. Digital and Social Digital services cover search engine optimization, search engine marketing, website design, demand generation, and digital CRM. Social services include content planning, community management, paid social management, and influencer coordination. Additionally, the agency runs a social media command center, which it uses to monitor audience behavior and campaign performance in real time. Media Planning and Buying The agency conducts in-house media planning and buying, supported by Omnicom’s substantial buying infrastructure. This scale potentially offers hospitality clients more competitive media rates than smaller independent agencies can access. Destination and Travel Clients This Zimmerman Agency review would be incomplete without examining its hospitality PR client portfolio. The agency’s track record spans tourism boards, luxury resorts, and lifestyle destinations across North America and selected international markets. Beyond traditional hospitality, the agency has served brands such as Leading Hotels of the World, Delaware North, Patina Restaurant Group and TPC Network. The agency extends its hospitality PR capabilities into broader lifestyle marketing territory. Zimmerman Agency review: Strategic Planning Methodology The agency uses a proprietary framework it calls Momentum Planning. According to its website, this methodology develops insights, strategies, actions, and messages intended to influence audiences and accelerate growth. The framework organizes around three pillars: Truths: identifying factors that affect the ability to achieve differentiating business objectives Ambitions: defining how the brand needs to be perceived and positioned to the world Momentum: developing a fresh, differentiating idea to overcome the status quo For hospitality PR purposes, this structured approach may help destination and resort clients articulate clearer narratives before pitching media or launching campaigns. However, like any proprietary methodology, the real-world value depends heavily on execution quality and the team’s destination marketing knowledge. Awards and Industry Recognition The agency reports winning upwards of five hundred creative awards across its history. Recognized competitions reportedly include: The One Show Communication Arts D&AD Webby Awards EFFIE Awards (focused on marketing effectiveness) HSMAI: Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International The EFFIE Awards and HSMAI recognition carry particular weight for hospitality PR evaluations. These recognize measurable outcomes rather than creative execution alone. Nevertheless, independent verification of specific campaign results remains limited in publicly


