This past winter it got so cold in Minnesota, USA, that literally freezing your pants off became a social media trend. People dipped their pants in water and took them outside, where sub-zero temperatures froze them in a matter of seconds. Many got creative shaping their pants into funny poses and posted pictures of them on social media using the #FrozenPantsChallenge hashtag. Soon enough the entire world went on a frozen pant frenzy. Puerto Rico never wastes an opportunity to join a social media conversation, especially when it can show its warm personality. So we asked three Puerto Ricans to join the challenge, even though our tropical climate didn’t promise the same results.

We filmed three Puerto Ricans who decided to join the #FrozenPantsChallenge in spite of Puerto Rico’s tropical climate. The outcome was markedly different from the usual submissions, and particularly hilarious. We then shared the video in all of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company’s social platforms and intercepted conversations about the #FrozenPantsChallenge, particularly targeting users from cold winter climates.

A video documenting Puerto Rico’s participation in the #FrozenPantsChallenge instantly became one of the most popular pieces of content among the Puerto Rico Tourism Company’s social media platforms. Most importantly, as part of an overall strategic shift from big-budget TV campaigns to more cost-efficient direct marketing efforts, the effort has also contributed to making tourism one of the only economic sectors in Puerto Rico that is actually growing. The most recent numbers from the first quarter of 2016 show an all-time high 71% hotel occupancy rate and a 20% increase in total visits to the island vs. last year.