Back in September of 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria which resulted in devastating damage to the neighborhoods, and islands that need support. There was a search for resources, assistance, and guidance by the population – but through all of it, this vibrant island still held you in hope.
Enter Discover Puerto Rico, founded in the same year was the destination marketing organization of the island.
While the hurricane’s harsh reality threw the tourism industry for a loop, Jean-Paul (JP), who was the Director of Creative Strategy and Production at Discover Puerto Rico saw this as an opportunity for showing the world the reason why this DMO in the first place was created. His team later sprang into action, and ended up highlighting the resilience, strength, and welcoming nature of the people of Puerto Rico, and challenged the media for #CoverTheProgress.
This campaign ended up bringing light to recovery efforts that were taking shape around the island, and as a result, brought in over 1 billion online impressions worldwide. As Discover Puerto started with its rebranding and changing the narrative, it ended up creating engaging content with a team of in-house creatives for highlighting the key aspects of the allure of the island, which then included its culture, art, cuisine, and more.
JP’s interview was then taken at 20/21 Vision: The Strategy Summit for hearing about his team’s content strategy’s evolution throughout the last few year’s courses and in particular how this brand is there bringing different in-person experiences to a digital stage for keeping Puerto Rico top of mind as there are people who are starting to travel once again. As said by him, and quoted by us “Puerto Rico is a vibrant, colorful celebration infused with a fiery passion, dancing to a beat unlike anywhere else in the world. Sophisticated yet sexy, rooted in authenticity. Its soul is infectious. Un abrazo – enveloped with pride and unapologetically its own, welcoming everyone to share.
In Puerto Rico, you’re not just invited to the party, we want you to dance.”
The Journey of Recovering and Returning
All Over Trip recently there interviewed JP to learn about his team’s plans they carry for 2021, why there is a need for remote work to stay, and also to see how Discover Puerto Rico is welcoming the visitors back to the island in exciting, and new ways.
Upon being asked about how his content strategy and visual storytelling is changing as things are beginning to open up again, JP said throughout the days of the pandemic they consciously decided to be very active with their visual and storytelling assets. While they knew that there is a need for them to go against their instinct for promoting the island, we further came up with the different creative video approaches that were to assist in keeping the island top of mind while also giving out an assurance of health and safety messaging.
While some stop motion videos were also produced by then over 16 spots for OTT, digital, and TV distribution, and conceptualized, distributed, and produced our first narrative-driven series that is called “Sounds like Puerto Rico”, which then will be submitted by them to the various Emmy Awards. Production habits and protocols were also reconsidered by them, and streamlined production workflows came as a key to ensuring minimal contact, high-quality standards, and social distancing.
The next question that was asked was what processes or remote tools will be kept by them in place now that you have adjusted their creative workflow to reflect this remote working environment?
For this, he said that remote work is here to make a stay. Their production staff is empowered for making their own decision on when they need to work from the field, from home, or from the office. This was always part of their culture and now it further has been validated.
The last question which was asked by us was about the recent campaigns that they have launched, and he was also asked about any sort of exciting plans that are coming in for the upcoming months.
And, it was told by JP that currently they have a few key campaigns going on and others are there in the pipeline, and it is because they have kept an online brand presence throughout the pandemic, which has led them to their destination as being the most googled destination among US markets, our target audience.
During the pandemic, the campaigns led by the “All in Good Time”, which was later led to “It’s time to plan your trip”, (this is their current one). These campaigns were helped with key content series like their stop motion videos, which are there promoting remote work on the island.
