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:
If You Know Idaho was created for opportunity audiences, like millennials and gen z as a fresh take on Visit Idaho's brand platform and legacy campaign, which had previously targeted young families alone and had been running for 5 years. Some of our discovery conversations enlightened us and e found out that Idaho had been known to many as, well, Iowa. This was an entirely fresh take, capitalizing on a tongue-in-cheek approach to ignite a sense of exclusivity and FOMO amongst viewers and visitors.
action:
I developed a concept that built upon the psychological phenomenon of the curiosity gap; it was all about leaning into the fact that Idaho was still only recognizable to insiders. We wanted to make creative that was playful and enjoyable coming out of a time that left many people feeling anxious. IYKYK/I would be an embodiment of a new era for Idaho, intriguing the next generation of Idaho visitors. If you don't know about Idaho, you're the one missing out.
concept photography inspiration
outcome:
If You Know was one of 3 concepts that made it into the final round for selection but was unfortunately not chosen; the main critique was that it felt like too much of a departure from the creative that had been previously running and there was too much emphasis on these new opportunity audiences.
