Case Study

Visit Idaho: Giving Seattle a Taste of Sunshine

Visit Idaho Influencer & Awareness Campaign

Situation

Deep blue lakes, beautiful mountain peaks and miles of trails and rivers to explore. Tiny mountain towns nestled near bubbling hot springs and trails lined with wildflowers, all under ample blue skies and sun. Idaho has a lot to offer so Visit Idaho sought to share some sunshine with their neighbors in the notoriously rainy city of Seattle, Washington to draw more interest in the Gem State as a vacation destination.

Strategy

A targeted guerilla marketing campaign was developed that included both on-site and online engagement within the Seattle market. With social engagement a primary focus, Visit Idaho partnered with four local Seattle bloggers who have a substantial following to encourage participation from their online community and amplify the campaign.

Tactics

In collaboration with Drake Cooper and Uber Seattle, Visit Idaho sponsored free Uber rides in the Seattle area for one day in January, 2016. From 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Uber riders were given a bright blue Visit Idaho umbrella that opened to reveal a vivid yellow sun. Simple instructions were also printed inside – take a photo with the umbrella and share it via Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter with #VisitIdaho. Idaho-centric prizes like Treefort Music Fest passes, lift tickets to Idaho ski resorts, weekend hot spring getaways and more were given away at random to participants.

In addition to real-time giveaways, the four selected bloggers each held a giveaway on their own blog and social channels. Each prize included elements for an Idaho getaway.

Results

Monitoring the hashtag across the three social media channels, more than 300 participants were engaged in conversation, liked and retweeted for an estimated social media reach of 87,594. In addition, the hashtag #VisitIdaho was trending on Twitter throughout the day.

“Earned media is a big megaphone for us. Red Sky has been able to do, is through their deep media relationships, they’ve been able to make touchpoints about Visit Idaho and why it’s special and engage and make pitches to the media where they elevate the messages in our campaign.”

Diane Norton

Tourism Manager

About Red Sky

Red Sky is a strategic partner skilled in illuminating the key audiences and most effective channels for sharing your story. We align communication strategy with your business goals.