The Brief

Brand USA is the organization responsible for marketing the United States as a travel destination, and they’re known for pushing the boundaries of creative storytelling — from social content to giant-screen IMAX documentaries. They needed an industry-facing message that matched their consumer-facing creative ambition: something that would inspire destination marketers across the country to become better storytellers.

The Approach

I created “Destination Storytelling: A Guide to Telling Great Stories,” a multi-format campaign built on original research. We designed and fielded a comprehensive industry survey to 400+ destination marketers and content creators, covering storytelling strategy, campaign measurement, content distribution, and creative priorities. To balance data with creative insight, I conducted interviews with seven destination leaders behind the best content marketing in the industry — Tourism Australia, Faroe Islands, Destination DC, Newfoundland & Labrador, Travel Oregon, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Brand USA. The findings were published as a custom interactive microsite with dynamic data visualizations and in-depth case studies. I brought the campaign to life at Skift Global Forum by moderating an executive panel on how great stories inspire travel, with creative leaders from Brand USA, Travel Oregon, and Las Vegas.

The Outcome

The platform gave Brand USA — and the broader destination marketing community — a data-backed framework for evaluating and improving their storytelling. The research became a reference point for DMOs benchmarking their own practices, and the campaign demonstrated how branded content can function as genuine industry utility rather than marketing.