71% of travelers watch video in planning their trips. And our audience absolutely loves the travel planning process. This inspired us to move beyond a traditional ad campaign and create something bigger. A branded content channel, called VISITSEATTLE.tv, featuring immersive video content that told the story of the city better than any ad could ever do. And Seattle has an amazing music story to tell, from Quincy Jones to Nirvana to Macklemore. We tapped into this by creating “Sounds By The Sound” – an episodic, long form music show that paired Seattle musicians with unique Seattle locations. Quite literally, it brings to life both the “sounds” and the “sights” of Seattle. Featuring live performances and interviews, each episode is a 30-minute love letter to the Seattle music scene, not to mention a deeply engaging piece of travel inspiration for our audience.

We mapped out each season’s episodes, then booked artists and locations that matched our theme. For instance, for the “Art and Music” episode we put “chamber-pop” band Hey Marseilles inside the stunning Chihuly Garden and Glass. “Sounds By The Sound” was broadcast live weekly on REVOLT TV, and was available anytime online at VISITSEATTLE.tv. We promoted the show with :15, :30 and two minute trailers in social and digital media, as well as with digital display on sites where our audience visited for content about music, art, travel, food and more. In addition, we recently partnered with Amazon to create the Visit Seattle Amazon Fire TV app, allowing “Sounds By The Sound” to be enjoyed by an even larger audience.

The results: Visit Seattle started to engage more travelers from a more national perspective, highlighted by a 310% increase in site traffic from New York, a 252% increase in site traffic from Chicago, and a 178% increase in site traffic from LA. And from a music perspective, “Sounds By The Sound” gets more viewership in one show than VH1 gets all day.