The Adventure Under the Radar in South Dakota program aimed to tell authentic stories through exploration and adventure, ultimately working to position South Dakota as a top-of-mind destination for travelers. Targeting three archetypes, Memory Makers, Moment Seekers, and Thrill Chasers, the narrative reflected the diverse experiences the state has to offer. Leveraging creators from the Outside Creator Network and residents alike, the program offered an insiders perspective, enhancing authenticity and driving engagement. L. Renee was the guiding voice of the South Dakota episode of US Outside, taking viewers through the state and navigating her adventures along the way.
Overall, the objective was to engage with identified target audiences and drive awareness to South Dakota’s diverse offerings. Boosting consideration and visitation to South Dakota by showcasing the state's unique experiences through authentic storytelling and diverse perspectives was kept at the forefront of the program. Measurable goals of 12.5MM impressions and 11MM video views were set across the program and saw excellent over-delivery and strong engagement across each tactic.
The video forward Travel South Dakota program leveraged a wide breadth of tactics to capture audiences across the Outside Network and beyond, the most notable being a 22-minute episode of US Outside. A range of socially optimized video cutdowns, a hefty promotional schedule including leveraged creator channels, and an accompanying high-impact digital program were also included to round out a full suite of activations.
The 22-minute custom TV episode ran on Outside Watch’s connected TV channel, lived on demand on the Outside Watch app, and was featured on a custom hub on OutsideOnline.com. To further enrich the viewing experience the episodes were then edited into 150 and 30 second trailers that ran across Outside TV and additional short form cuts created to publish on owned social media channels.
Using the US Outside episode as an anchor in developing the program, a custom interactive hub was designed to elevate the places and spaces visited in the episode and drive engagement from the three audience segments of Memory Makers, Moment Seekers, and Thrill Chasers. The hub included custom area maps, highlight reels and tips in addition to featuring the full length episode. In addition to the hub, three custom teaser articles were created to further engage the identified audience segments, the articles were highly specific and syndicated to relevant titles within the Outside Network. Explore South Dakota’s Hidden Adventure Paradise was published to Backpacker, The Family-Friendly Adventure Destination No One Knows About (Yet) to Yoga Journal and 5 Rare and Exciting Species of Wildlife You Can Find in South Dakota’s Badlands to National Park Trips to match and further engage these demographic and psychographic audiences. Two separate full-page or spread print placements were also included in the May/June and July/August publications of Outside Magazine.
In summary, the Travel South Dakota program combined adventure, culture, and exploration to position South Dakota as the ultimate travel destination for any interest. Through engaging storytelling and diverse media distribution, the program reached audiences far and wide, inspiring appreciation for unique and off the beaten path lands, as well as their people.
By leaning into high performing tactics the Adventure Under the Radar in South Dakota program earned over 21.2MM total impressions, over-delivering on the promised KPI by more than +59%. Key tactics such as video views earned an equally impressive over-delivery of +32% of equal to 4MM total video views of the full length episode. The supporting social promotions drove high amounts of quality traffic to the branded hub and custom articles where visitors interacted with content, consumed videos and clicked through to explore more on Travel South Dakota sites directly.
