Case Studies

As the marketing lead for Visit Winona, I recognized that our previous brand identity—anchored in parchment headers, conventional voice, and content skewed toward a Baby Boomer audience—was not only outdated but actively deterring younger travelers and reinforcing outdated perceptions. A data-driven brand assessment, including survey results and perception metrics, revealed that Winona was underperforming in brand appeal for, Gen Z, Millennial and younger Gen X audiences. It also showed that neighboring destinations with far fewer amenities were erroneously perceived as more dynamic travel options.

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In response, I designed and implemented a full brand overhaul centered on a bold new identity: 'The Miami of Minnesota,' based primarily on the fact that we are in the far southeastern corner of the state, just like Miami. This started as a seasonal winter campaign, and evolved into a year-round brand identity that infused humor, storytelling, vibrant visuals, and a wink of satire into our print, digital, and social advertising. Our goal was to position Winona as fun, confident, unexpected—and a bit cheeky. Our ads gradually became sprinkled with people wearing flamingo pool floats in a variety of comical situations, and I leaned into an aesthetic and tone that stood out dramatically from the sea of conventional Midwest travel advertising.

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The result? Record-setting lodging tax revenue nearly every year since the rebrand and millions of dollars in earned media exposure from national press and social media virality. It was an audacious repositioning—and it worked. Humor, done well, made us unforgettable. Our playful voice cut through the noise and reframed perceptions about what Winona had to offer.

Coming out of the pandemic, tourism was facing a challenge deeper than budget shortages — people were exhausted. Destinations everywhere were trying to buy their way back into relevance, but the world didn’t need more polished ads. It needed levity. Humanity. A reason to smile again.

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With limited resources and a hunger to reconnect with audiences in a meaningful way, I created one of our boldest and most beloved April Fool’s campaigns: the Winona Gator Park.

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Announced with a straight face on April 1, the entirely fictional attraction promised visitors the chance to ride alligators, zipline over gator-infested swamp pits, soar into the sky on giant flamingos, and generally experience the most un-Minnesotan “adventure park” imaginable. The more outrageous it became, the more people shared it — and the more they loved us for it.

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The Challenge

Post-pandemic tourism messaging risked sounding tone-deaf, transactional, or simply forgettable. Winona needed:

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• A moment of joy when people were starved for it

• A way to stand out without increasing spend

• A campaign that would travel organically

• A creative narrative big enough to rally our community and our followers

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We couldn’t compete with big budgets.

But we could compete with big ideas.

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The Idea

Build a completely fake alligator theme park — and commit to it fully, website, merch, and all.

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The concept was deliberately ridiculous, but executed with absolute seriousness. That tension is what made it irresistible.

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Each year, the Gator Park returned with new “expansions”:

• Gator Rides 

• Flying on Flamingos for the Kiddos

• A "Gator Gauntlet" Zipline

• New “safety updates” for nervous riders

• A fictional ride lineup that grew increasingly unhinged

The campaign became a tradition followers looked forward to — not something they stumbled across.

Execution

We produced social content, teaser graphics, mock attraction descriptions, and storyline updates that looked uncannily like real promotional materials. The posts were straight-faced, polished, and proudly absurd, which made the joke land even harder.

The humor was accessible, the tone was joyful, and the timing was perfect: a clean hit of happiness delivered exactly when people wanted something — anything — to laugh about.

And the numbers confirmed what we felt in the comments section:

The world was craving joy, and Winona delivered it.

Results

Over three years, the Gator Park campaign evolved into a viral powerhouse:

• Tripled performance in year two

• Doubled again in year three

• Surpassed 5 million total views and interactions across platforms

• Attracted press coverage nationwide and overseas

• Ignited massive organic sharing and user-generated humor

• Became one of Winona’s most anticipated annual digital events

• Strengthened the city’s reputation as a destination with creativity at its core

The campaign didn’t just make people laugh — it made them love Winona.

Impact

The Winona Gator Park proved something vital:

In moments of cultural fatigue, playfulness is a strategic advantage.

By embracing irreverence, leaning into world-building, and tapping into the collective desire for joy, the campaign positioned Winona as a place that understands the human side of tourism — a place where imagination matters, humor matters, and connection matters.

This wasn’t just an April Fool’s joke.

It was a masterclass in cultural timing, creative storytelling, and the power of delight as a marketing tool.

For more than a decade, Visit Winona’s annual Visitor Guide operated under a legacy structure that placed its development in the hands of staff whose roles centered on partnership administration rather than marketing or creative strategy. While well-intended, this arrangement left one of our most visible brand assets without the editorial vision, design leadership, or strategic direction needed to function as a true marketing tool. The result was a publication that changed constantly but rarely improved.

Year after year, the guide cycled through new cover fonts with no adherence to brand standards. Inside, little evolved: long lists, rigid thumbnail grids, minimal narrative, and a full-page mayor’s column occupying valuable real estate despite offering no relevance or sales value to visitors. A static event calendar took up an entire spread—even though the same information was updated daily on our website—further displacing space that could have been used to inspire travelers. Suggestions to modernize the guide had been repeatedly deferred under the previous ownership structure, and as the guide grew more out of sync with contemporary destination marketing practices, so did the urgency to correct its direction.

Although I contributed small written pieces over the years, the guide remained tightly held, and opportunities for meaningful improvement were consistently out of reach. Only after the 2022 edition was printed was there finally an opening to realign the publication with the department best equipped to steward it. After sustained advocacy and a clear case for strategic oversight, the Visitor Guide was transitioned to the marketing department—a shift that immediately unlocked its long-dormant potential.

In 2023, I led its complete reinvention. For the first time, the guide was approached as an editorial product rather than a directory. I pushed our graphic designer—whose talent had been constrained by years of list-based layouts—to break free of the old template and design a magazine-caliber publication with bold photography, clean typography, rich storytelling, and intuitive flow. We replaced the static event calendar with a narrative “By the Seasons” section that used the same page space but delivered exponentially more value by giving visitors a sense of Winona’s year-round rhythm.

We expanded the guide from 48 to 74 pages, creating space for immersive features, itineraries, cultural highlights, and beautifully crafted “things to do” and “visitor favorites” sections that finally showcased Winona’s character. Partner ads, once segregated at the back, were strategically integrated throughout the book, increasing their visibility and impact. The difference between the inherited design system and the new approach was apparent on every page.

The transformation produced immediate results. Visitor engagement increased, demand for the printed guide surged, and ad sales climbed enough to more than offset the increased page count. Partners expressed pride in how their businesses were represented, and the guide quickly became one of our strongest brand touchpoints—something people wanted to read, not just pick up.

What had been a static, list-driven publication constrained by a misaligned process is now a dynamic, widely praised editorial piece that reflects the experience of Winona itself. This project stands as a clear example of how aligning responsibility with expertise—and providing strong creative direction—can elevate a once-overlooked asset into a powerful driver of brand perception and visitor interest.

Merrimack Canoes holds a rare place in American craft history. Founded in 1954, it was the first canoe maker to pair the warmth and beauty of wooden ribs with the performance and strength of a composite hull — a fusion of tradition and innovation that paddlers came to cherish as heirloom pieces. When the brand went dormant, countless owners held onto their boats like family artifacts. And when word spread that the molds had been rescued — literally driven a thousand miles out of a stranger’s garage — those same paddlers surfaced with hope, nostalgia, and a fierce desire to see Merrimack alive again.

The young builders who revived the brand, many of them from the artisan paddle company Sanborn Canoe Co., possessed extraordinary talent, humility, and heart. Their shop felt like a creative outpost tucked into the woods — part workshop, part cathedral — where each canoe was shaped by hand, built to be paddled, admired, and loved. But despite the artistry, the revived brand needed visibility, storytelling, and a reintroduction worthy of its legacy. That’s where I came in.

Giving a Heritage Brand Back Its Voice

My first step was to help Merrimack amplify its tone — not marketing jargon, but something intimate and soulful that resonated with the kind of paddlers who treat waterways as sacred places. We crafted a voice that was warm and reverent but never precious; aspirational yet grounded in the dirt-under-your-nails authenticity of the shop floor. This voice guided updated website headers, social media language, and digital content that honored both the heritage of the molds and the modern artistry of the team rebuilding them.

As part of this foundation, I created signature creative concepts — including poetic lifestyle ads and storytelling-driven imagery — designed to speak directly to paddlers’ emotional connection to craft. These pieces became some of Merrimack’s most shared and recognizable materials.

Building Tools for Growth: Collateral, Showroom Presence, and Sales Support

To expand the brand’s reach beyond the digital sphere, I developed Merrimack’s first-ever printed brochure — a beautifully visual piece that translated the canoe’s artisan features into something tactile and aspirational for customers. When we secured their first retail showroom placement in a high-end outdoor store, I also designed sales staff guides and binder systems to help associates walk customers through customization options, photographs, deck plates, ribs, paintwork, and the legacy behind each model.

These tools became essential to introducing Merrimack to buyers who valued craftsmanship but needed a thoughtful way to understand what made these canoes extraordinary.

Designing a National Contest That Captured Hearts

The most ambitious project came when the team asked for a campaign that could broaden visibility and re-engage canoeists nationwide. They provided the initial spark: a connection to Riverhorse Nakadate — Patagonia ambassador, writer, and legendary voice in paddling culture — who loved Merrimack and owned several of their canoes.

With Riverhorse’s blessing, I architected the Save the Boundary Waters Contest, a nationwide call for prose celebrating the protection of sacred waterways. The concept fused conservation, creativity, and craft — a perfect alignment with Merrimack’s values.

I handled the entire structure:

- researching legal parameters for contests of skill,

- designing the format and entry process,

- building marketing assets and promotional plans,

- managing entries and donor relationships,

- coordinating with the builders and with Riverhorse himself,

- and ensuring every element honored the emotional heart of the cause.

Entrants submitted short pieces about why water matters — why it sustains them, shapes them, heals them. Riverhorse read every single entry, selecting six finalists and one grand prize winner. The grand prize was a fully customized Merrimack canoe — an exact replica of one he had commissioned himself, worth over $3,000.

The contest became a national moment for the brand. We had more than 48,000 visits to the contest website and received more than 450 entries from across the United States, each one a love letter to the waterways Merrimack boats were built to explore.

The Reawakening: Demand, Recognition, Momentum

The response was overwhelming. Paddlers rediscovered Merrimack’s story. Former owners surfaced with decades-old boats. New buyers clamored for custom builds. And orders rolled in with such velocity that the shop’s schedule filled months out. The revival was no longer theoretical — Merrimack was back, not only as a brand but as a symbol of craftsmanship, heritage, and the enduring romance of a handmade canoe.

Their growth accelerated. Their visibility expanded. Their voice became clear.

And through it all, I served as a strategic partner helping them navigate tone development, digital reach, advertising concepts, retail expansion, collateral creation, and the execution of a national contest that pulsed with meaning.

Believing in the Brand — and Investing in It

I believed in Merrimack so deeply that I structured my contract as half cash, half credit toward a custom canoe of my own — a piece of living art I wanted not as payment but as a connection. You don’t do that for products you merely admire; you do it for products you love.

A Legacy Reborn

Today, Merrimack Canoes stands again where it belongs: in the small but powerful circle of American makers whose work becomes part of people’s lives. Their shop hums with new orders, new customers, and new excitement. They are back on the artisan stage — fully, proudly, beautifully.

And I’m grateful to have played a part in bringing a legend back to life.

When I stepped into the marketing lead role in 2017, Winona’s brand identity was stuck in a different decade—literally. The long-running “torn parchment” look created by an outside agency had grown stale, safe, and easy to overlook. Our visitor metrics reflected it. A commissioned perception survey showed that travelers under 65 ranked Winona significantly lower in appeal than nearby communities with far fewer amenities, and on social media, our audience skewed heavily 65+. If Winona was going to compete, we needed more than a facelift—we needed a new attitude.

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My goal was to reintroduce Winona to younger travelers through cleverness, confidence, and a fresh, creative voice. We started small but bold. One of the first breakthroughs was the “Vermont, was it something we said?” campaign—born from a quirky fact in our visitor-center sign-in sheets: we had hosted visitors from every state except Vermont. Instead of ignoring it, we turned it into a playful digital campaign (including geo-targeted ads in Vermont) that made people stop, smile, and wonder what Winona was up to. Engagement spiked immediately.

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From there, we abandoned forgettable quarter-page ads in favor of full-page, story-driven creative with humor and aspiration baked in—pieces that felt more like editorial features than tourism ads. We produced a six-part video series blending man-on-the-street interviews with cinematic footage of Winona’s landscapes, festivals, and quirky personality—content intentionally designed to resonate with viewers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. I trained my assistant to create short-form reels geared toward younger audiences and infused our entire social presence with more playfulness, confidence, and modern storytelling.

During this same period, I launched our Facebook Live series, which immediately became one of our most successful engagement tools. These live segments humanized the destination and gave younger viewers the behind-the-scenes access and authenticity they gravitate toward.

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The result was a dramatic demographic shift. Before the refresh, only 3% of our engaged Facebook audience was aged 25–34. Within two years, that number had grown to nearly 10%. Our 35–44 audience expanded from 6% to almost 15%, and for the first time, the combined 35–64 cohort matched the once-dominant 65+ audience. Winona—once perceived as sleepy and old-fashioned—was suddenly interesting, innovative, and worth a second look.

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This foundational work set the stage for the major brand evolutions that followed, proving that when you change the story you tell about a place, you can change who hears it.

More Case Studies to Come

In 2018, long before DMOs understood the potential of real-time storytelling, I launched a Facebook Live series built on a simple belief: people would rather talk to a person than be marketed to by a logo. Facebook Live was new and underutilized, especially in tourism. Most destinations were still posting static images and promotional copy. I built something entirely different.

I created an unscripted, follower-driven adventure series that sent my marketing assistant and me into the community each week to film whatever places or experiences our audience chose. The result was a wildly human, utterly unpredictable, deeply connective weekly ritual that became one of Visit Winona’s most beloved and high-performing campaigns.

The Challenge

Winona’s social channels were growing — but not in the ways that mattered.

Our metrics revealed a truth most DMOs overlook:

85% of Visit Winona’s Facebook audience did not live in or near Winona.

These weren’t locals waiting for weekend events. These were alumni, former residents, summer visitors, college parents, road-trippers — people who loved Winona and wanted to feel close to it again.

At the same time, younger generations were openly rejecting faceless, polished marketing. They wanted authenticity, personality, unscripted humanity. They wanted to participate.

Tourism marketing, as an industry, wasn’t built for any of that.

So I built something that was.

The Idea

A weekly Facebook Live series where the audience chooses the next adventure — and nothing is off-limits.

Every Monday, we asked:

“Where should we go next?”

Suggestions poured in, ranging from heartfelt to hilarious to absolutely outrageous. To honor that trust and maintain the integrity of the crowd-sourced concept, we did everything they asked — including:

• Climbing Winona’s 500-foot bluff on camera

• Milking a cow at an award-winning local dairy farm

• Scaling the Winona Ice Park wall by myself and filming from halfway up

• Trying on shoes in boutiques, doing spontaneous walking tours, and tasting local treats

• Exploring beloved landmarks and historic spaces through live storytelling

• And in one unforgettable episode: riding the scariest carnival ride at Winona’s annual festival — screaming almost the entire time while thousands of viewers howled with laughter in the comments

The humor was self-deprecating. The format was unpredictable. The vulnerability was real. And audiences adored it.

No script. No “tourism voice.” Just a real person exploring a real place in real time.

Execution

The setup was intentionally simple: a smartphone, a microphone, and my assistant signaling live comments so I could weave viewer names and reactions directly into the broadcast.

As the series gained traction, something remarkable happened:

Episodes began regularly reaching tens of thousands of viewers — sometimes upward of 40,000.

Many of these viewers were not existing followers of Visit Winona. As local businesses shared their episodes and fans tagged friends, the Lives spread far beyond our core audience, introducing Winona to entirely new circles of potential visitors.

Engagement wasn’t just strong — it was magnetic.

Why It Worked

1. It humanized the brand.

People weren’t watching a marketing bureau. They were watching a person they knew — climbing, laughing, struggling, discovering.

2. Vulnerability built trust.

The bluff climbs, cow milking, ice-wall scaling, and carnival-ride screaming weren’t stunts. They were acts of genuine willingness, and audiences rewarded that humanity with fierce loyalty.

3. Businesses became heroes, not advertisers.

Being featured on the Live became a point of pride.

Shops, restaurants, and makers regularly shared their episodes because the coverage felt authentic, joyful, and earned — not transactional or sales-driven.

4. It delivered an experience, not a message.

Instead of telling people Winona was amazing, we let them feel it — week after week.

5. It activated nostalgia for remote followers.

The 85% of fans living elsewhere used the series to stay connected to a place they cared about.

Results

• Episodes frequently reached tens of thousands of viewers, with some surpassing 40,000 views.

• The series expanded Visit Winona’s audience significantly as interactions pushed the episodes into new networks.

• Businesses reported meaningful boosts in visibility, foot traffic, and pride simply from being featured.

• The Live series became one of Visit Winona’s most recognizable brand elements.

• Two major tourism awards recognized this innovation in destination storytelling.

• The program positioned Visit Winona as an early leader in authentic, human-first digital marketing.

• The series became a repeated reference point in media stories, tourism presentations, and peer DMO conversations.

Impact

The Facebook Live series transformed the way Winona told its story. It broke the mold of tourism marketing by centering humanity, humor, and community-led discovery.

When a destination becomes a friend — audiences show up.

When the storyteller is vulnerable — audiences lean in.

And when the community gets to choose the adventure — they never miss the next one.

This wasn’t just content.

It was connection.

And it changed the way a city was seen.

More to come.

More Case Studies to Come