This client project was assigned by the redthread team.
Project Description
The Grand Island Tourism campaign aims to boost brand awareness, encourage longer visits, and increase website traffic by implementing a dual strategy. This includes broad, continuous promotion of the "Simply GRAND" brand across various digital channels and targeted quarterly campaigns highlighting specific attractions for key audience segments (Families, Outdoor Enthusiasts, Event-Goers, Cultural Connoisseurs). The project will leverage existing branding, expand visual assets, and launch a mobile-friendly website to showcase Grand Island's diverse offerings beyond its event-driven reputation. Success will be measured through website data and the identification of effective audience engagement strategies via ongoing testing.
Client Asks
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Increase Brand Awareness: Improve overall recognition of Grand Island as a tourism destination.
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Encourage Travel & Longer Stays: Motivate people to visit Grand Island and extend the duration of their trips.
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Increase Website Traffic & Data Insights: Drive more visitors to the Visit Grand Island website and gather data on user behavior.
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Deliver an Annual Campaign & Rebrand Elements: This implies the need for ongoing marketing activities and potentially evolving the existing brand.
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Target Specific Audiences: Effectively reach and engage Families, Outdoor Enthusiasts, Event-Goers, and Cultural Connoisseurs with tailored messaging.
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Address Event-Driven Tourism: Overcome the perception that Grand Island is primarily for specific events and highlight the breadth of other attractions.
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Maintain Brand Consistency: Adhere to the established "Simply GRAND" brand visual and messaging guidelines.
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Develop a User-Friendly Website: Create a new website that is informative, caters to both visitors and businesses, utilizes existing branding, and is mobile-optimized.
Working with a Pre-Existing Branding Style
Key Takeaways from Project
Designing the quiz feature taught us the importance of building an algorithm that flows intuitively—where each step feels natural, aligns with user intent, and ultimately encourages exploration. The structure of the quiz became a storytelling device, leading users to discover the best of Grand Island based on their interests
Prioritize Experience-Led Design for Interactive Features
This project underscored the value of treating the design brief as a living, evolving document. By staying open to change and feedback throughout the build, we created a site that could shift with the campaign’s real-time insights and audience data—ultimately making the platform more responsive to both the brand’s needs and the users’ behaviors.
Collaborative Strategy Requires a Flexible Foundation
With such a diverse target audience, from cultural travelers to outdoor enthusiasts, the site needed to feel unified yet adaptable. We balanced vibrant visuals, clear navigation, and mobile-first usability to reflect Grand Island’s approachable, cheeky, and confident