Situation
Whether it’s because of the sky-high elevations, nearly year-round sunshine, or fresh mountain and prairie air — every experience in Colorado feels brighter. While most visitors come to glimpse Rocky Mountain vistas from dusty trails, feel the vibrancy of quaint mountain villages and soak in views of the alpenglow from cozy cabins, many journey to the state for its outstanding music scene.
With venues set on pristine lakes, tucked within red rocks and under starry skies, the state’s live music scene is unlike any other. Here in Colorado, music just shines brighter. Having noted a dip in music tourism, we knew that people needed to be reminded of the one-of-a-kind music venues, shows and adventures waiting for them in Colorado.
In a first-ever partnership with a tourism brand, iHeartRadio joined the “Music Shines Brighter” campaign to help establish Colorado as the ultimate live music destination. Knowing that everyone loves a hometown hero, we partnered with the Denver-based band Tennis, inviting them to become Colorado Tourism Office ambassadors, and sponsored several of their shows in Chicago and Dallas.
Action
While iHeartRadio and Tennis captivated audiences’ ears, we created a series of bold yet minimalistic illustrations of iconic Colorado music venues to excite their eyes. These graphics were applied to stickers, T-shirts and koozies that were featured throughout the event.
T-shirts were worn by ambassadors, clients and MMGY team members to ensure no conflicting sales with Tennis merchandise. Koozies went straight onto beer cans and were carried into the Colorado-branded photo booth as props. After getting a photo strip of their best poses against the backdrop of famous outdoor Colorado music venues, they entered to win an all-expenses-paid trip to a concert of their choice in Colorado — thanks to another first-of-its-kind collaboration with a tourism partner for Colorado-based live music producer AEG.
Results
Our audience showed nothing but love for Colorado. We garnered over 24 million impressions with a 10 times increase in people exposed to Colorado messaging over the previous year. Listeners actively engaged with our audio for more than 46 thousand hours. And we exceeded the campaign cost per engagement goal by 20% and produced an ROI of $26:$1.
Ultimately, our audience came to Colorado — 2% of the people exposed to the “Music Shines Brighter” campaign traveled to attend a Colorado concert in 2023, a 1.6% increase over 2022. As audiences discover – and rediscover – the magic of music in Colorado, we know they’ll keep coming back for more.
