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.