THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

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Special Project

Special Project
From the 16th Annual Shorty Awards

Wildly Wyoming

Entered in Branded Series

Objectives

In this original content series, three teams of Bronco Ambassadors set out to explore Wyoming’s wild places and connect and support with the people and organizations that help keep Wyoming wild. Teams used their Broncos to travel three distinct routes across Wyoming, traversing diverse landscapes to take on their challenges. Outside captured it all through an authentic, storytelling lens which was then produced and distributed through five 15-minute episodes, a custom interactive hub and across nearly all available avenues.

 

Each day of the journey, along each separate route, teams were faced with several physical, Bronco-based and giveback challenges to earn them Wyld Points. Along the way, teams met up with Wyoming-based organizations focused on access, preservation and stewardship of the land to award a generous $70,000 in grants from Bronco Wild Fund.

 

At the end of the journey, the team with the most accumulated Wyld Points was crowned the winning Wildly Wyoming team and given an additional Bronco Wild Fund grant to donate an additional $10,000 to their favorite organization.

 

Wildly Wyoming was an awareness driving tactic set by the Wyoming Office of Tourism, focused on supporting discovery of the destination with new audiences. As such, aggressive goals of 8.5MM impressions and 6.2MM video views were set and outperformed due to compelling content and groundswell of interest in the series.

Strategy and Execution

Wildly Wyoming embarked on an immersive journey across the state, aiming to showcase its diverse landscapes, rugged comradery, and authentic adventures. Split into three teams starting from different corners of Wyoming, the ambassadors were sent out on a multi-day expedition guided by tablet-based custom itineraries. These itineraries not only mapped out their routes but also provided daily challenges that allowed them to engage with locals, organizations, and the natural environment, earning Wyld Points along the way.

 

After three days of individual exploration, the teams converged in the heart of Wyoming's backcountry, the Wind River Range. Here, they faced collective challenges amidst the breathtaking terrain. The pinnacle of the journey took place on the Continental Divide Trail, where the teams shared their experiences and tallied their accumulated Wyld Points. The team with the highest score was awarded $10,000 from the Bronco Wild Fund to donate to a Wyoming non-profit, promoting the preservation of the state's wild spaces.

 

The program was brought to life through a custom TV series blending elements of documentary and competition reality. Six Team Bronco Ambassadors formed three teams, undertaking adventures such as climbing, mountain biking, fly fishing, and off-roading while immersing themselves in Wyoming's culture. Additionally, the Bronco Wild Fund awarded three $20,000 grants to local groups committed to the access, preservation, and stewardship of the state.

 

To further enrich the viewing experience, the series introduced viewers to local guides, explored cultural landmarks like the Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary, and highlighted the importance of outdoor accessibility through activities with Teton Adaptive Sports.

 

The program comprised five 15-20 minute custom TV episodes that ran on Outside Watch’s connected TV channel, lived on demand on the Outside Watch app, and were featured on a custom hub on OutsideOnline.com. These episodes were then edited into a 2-hour special that ran on the Outside linear channel throughout the fall. The episodes were also cut down into 30 and 60 second trailers that ran across owned social media and additional earned placements on each of the 6 ambassadors social channels.

 

An interactive hub on OutsideOnline.com provided viewers with additional content, including interactive maps of the ambassadors' routes, details about the point system and challenges, information about the participating charities, and profiles of team members and their Broncos and more.

 

The promotional strategy leveraged the networks of talent, crew, and owned media channels from the Outside network, ensuring widespread visibility and engagement with the program.


In summary, Wildly Wyoming combined adventure, competition, and philanthropy to celebrate the beauty and spirit of Wyoming while promoting conservation efforts and outdoor accessibility. Through engaging storytelling and innovative media distribution, the program reached audiences far and wide, inspiring appreciation for wild spaces and community stewardship.

Results

The success of the program came through in both quantitative and qualitative results. We have received feedback across industries about how powerful the storytelling was, how engaged viewers were, and what a meaningful experience it was for everyone involved. 

 

Quantitatively, the Wildly Wyoming series outperformed every network benchmark and beat out editorial content, placing in the top pages of Outside’s vast network ultimately delivering over 11.3M impressions that generated brand awareness (+32% over-delivery). These impressions included episode views, display, social impressions, video cutdown views, content pageviews, and more. All together, these impressions have driven over 8M video views of branded content (+30% over-delivery), 1.1M social views (+85% over-delivery) and 6M linear TV views (+20% over-delivery). In addition to filming 3 teams in 28 locations spanning 1,300 miles, 10 tattoos plus $70,000 donated to local organizations.

 

We are actively working on updating materials to leverage these deliverables a second time this spring as the tourism planning season begins.

Media

Video for Wildly Wyoming

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Outside Inc, Wyoming Office of Tourism

Links

Entry Credits