Our Live Boricua omnichannel campaign was born from the need to drive economic recovery following multiple challenges that damaged Puerto Rico’s reputation. The objective was to redefine what we think of as travel, erase the often-harmful distinction between a destination and its people, and do so authentically. An authentic expression of Puerto Ricans, Live Boricua is based on research and input from a range of locals who appear both in front of and behind the camera. It shows how travel allows us to live differently and be inspired by the culture and people we interact with by exchanging customs, ideas, values, history and stories. To help set the destination apart from the 20 other Caribbean destinations targeting travelers, we deployed marketing efforts across a variety of mediums, including addressable TV, spot TV, print, social/native, and SEM/travel sites to reach purposefully targeted audiences throughout U.S. domestic and select markets.

Our testing process, which included vetting of the campaign through 16 focus groups and two quantitative studies, yielded a one-of-a-kind launch of the Live Boricua campaign: It was clear that there were familiar and unfamiliar audiences and markets. Mature audiences were aware of Puerto Rico and the product offerings of the Island; however, less familiar emerging markets needed to build a base of product awareness. Two versions of the campaign were deployed, based on audience familiarity, with tailored messages and visuals. For the more seasoned traveler and mature audience, culturally centric executions highlighting the gem of culture were deployed to 16 mature market, Puerto Rico diaspora, and LGBTQ+ audiences. For the new emerging market and audience, we deployed messaging that focused on outdoor and beach emphasis to educate the audience on the destination’s product offering as a first step in their journey of immersive travel.

Between its initial launch in May 2022 and now, we have executed the Live Boricua campaign across a wide variety of medium to reach diverse audiences in meaningful ways. The media placement was informed by research methodologies aimed at gleaning greater insights into the audiences we aimed to target. This including two quantitative studies across eight markets including diaspora and local audiences and vetting of the campaign through 16 focus groups. Live Boricua has been released across channels that includes addressable television, spot TV, OTT, cinema, online video, social/native, SEM/travel sites and print marketing, across US domestic and select markets.

Amid the most extreme challenges the people of Puerto Rico have faced, the Island's travel sector and the local economy went from surviving to thriving following the launch of Live Boricua. We employed strategic methods for media placement amongst targeted audience groups, including Puerto Rican diaspora and LGBTQ+ audiences, as well as new and emerging audiences. Since the launch, the Island has exceeded visitation goals, surpassing previous record-breaking years. Revenue is 24% higher than 2021 and 69% higher than 2019. Visitor spending topped $8.9 billion, while the U.S. average remained down 1%, for an economic impact of over $380 million as of January 2023, and we saw an ROI of $54 to every $1 spent. The campaign has been successful in all aspects of its marketing workstreams, generating more than 515 million earned media impressions, increasing familiarity and consideration of visiting the Island.