Creative Campaign Development

Now it was time to bring the new brand platform and identity to market through our first campaign. This campaign had to introduce – and celebrate – the new brand positioning, while at the same time acknowledge that our core audiences had a surprisingly low level of familiarity with the Island. Multiple campaign concepts were developed, which were narrowed to three options. Once again, Discover Puerto Rico took to the road, executing in-person focus groups in a number of key source markets and adding a diaspora group to the testing to better understand potential on-island sentiment for the new campaign. Island residents were also included in the testing to ensure that the position resonated with the people of Puerto Rico.

Over 125 consumers in six mainland markets and in San Juan provided feedback on three fully developed creative concepts for the first campaign of the Discover Puerto Rico brand. Ever present in the discussions were consumers’ top-of-mind perceptions of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Even 18 months after the hurricane, “devastation” continued to be the prevailing image of the Island. Consumers continually referenced Puerto Rico’s key points of differentiation:

Physical assets
Ease of access
Culture of the Island
People of Puerto Rico

It was clear during the conversations with the target audience, diaspora, as well as residents that one campaign was able to not only capture these key points, but would also have the greatest potential for generating visitation. One campaign concept was an opportunity to offer an invitation – a nod that the Island was ready for business.

In the end, Discover Puerto Rico landed on a campaign that reflected the Island’s resilient spirit, passionate brand position and unique, welcoming culture. The “Have We Met Yet” campaign, launched in spring 2019 alongside an all-new, state-of-the-art website, became the first execution of the newly positioned brand for Puerto Rico.

In January 2020, Discover Puerto Rico’s work was recognized with a Platinum Adrian award, the highest honor a destination can receive in the industry for Complete Campaign Development, including brand positioning. More importantly, the campaign would prove instrumental in driving a rapid growth in visitation in its first 12 months, accelerating recovery for the Island’s tourism economy.

Since spring 2019, Discover Puerto Rico has continued to evolve campaign messaging in order to take advantage of the opportunities – and confront the challenges – of the moment. All the while, the core brand has and will continue to, remain rooted in the positioning developed through this robust process.