Situation:
Every year, the Visit Idaho & Madden Media teams sit down together and come up with that year's campaign for the "prime" season, (May-August). This is traditionally the biggest travel season and is generally the largest campaign push of the year (i.e. so very important).
Challenge:
We needed to come out swinging for this first pitch. We won this account in Dec. 2020 and had been running standard Covid-19 messaging for a year; it was our first opportunity to bring entirely new ideas to the table. The state of Idaho had been experiencing rapid growth and the Visit Idaho team was looking for something that really set them apart in this new chapter.
Strategy:
Beyond Words was created as a response to the fatigue many audiences had been feeling coming out of the pandemic. As destinations and attractions began re-welcoming visitors, the need for physical experiences was at an all-time high. People were tired of getting their dopamine hits through a screen; Beyond Words was the experience people were hoping to find but didn't know it yet.
With an emphasis on physical sensory experiences, Beyond Words was pitched as a legacy campaign to last Visit Idaho years. Its copy-light approach was intended to stand out against other advertising noise and show people what awaits them in Idaho.
action:
Countless conversations ensued once Beyond Words was chosen. Word banks have been assembled. Experiments with emojis, doodles, and onomatopoeias have been carried out. All efforts have been made to say it without saying it since it really was supposed to be beyond words. Peaceful and serene ASMR-like videos have been created to inspire visitors to pay attention to their experiences. The aesthetic of Beyond Words is clean, crisp and simple; drone shots and wide open vistas intermingle with macro details of these experiences to tell the complete story.
sampling of the fall catalog I delivered
outcome:
Beyond Words has been running since February 2022, and the state of Idaho reported an increase of 40% in YOY growth after launch. This integrated-campaign turned brand-platform won a Gold and Platinum HSMAI Adrian Award the first year it was submitted. It continues to be a favorite of the internal team stakeholders that will only keep building momentum for all audiences.