Travel Portland- 2021 Summer campaign
Creative Director
I have lived in Portland since 2002, and I have seen a lot of changes, both good and bad. As the world settled into the reality that COVID is around for the long haul, Portland had been painted with a Fox News-fueled label as a city of anarchy. Our challenge was to bring tourism back to Portland—the proverbial heads in beds—but as a city that authentically has something to say, how do we say that it’s safe here without minimizing the voice of the city and its people?
The opening salvo was a full-page letter in the New York Times. It grabbed attention almost immediately, in particular with the conservative news pearl-clutching crowd. We followed the letter with a film set to the same story. Once word was out that Portland was throwing open its arms to all visitors, we released a suite of six second videos, each highlighting a unique aspect of the city—and something concrete worth visiting for. This made national news and sparked a city-wide conversation.
