merit
The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village have a unique vibe that far surpasses their status as mere mountain towns. They’re a little offbeat, yet sophisticated. Cultured, but a little funky. And above all: authentic. In order to represent not just what the towns look like, but what visiting them feels like, we knew we couldn’t rely on the same-old pretty pictures that are far too common in mountain town tourism.
Instead, we designed fantastical dreamscapes that weave together real-life activities and natural beauty by bending space and time. The surreal visuals and language of the “Beyond It All” campaign evoke the feeling of visiting the two towns, creating a unique aesthetic only Telluride and Mountain Village can own.
Everyone knows mountain towns are scenic. The problem is, they all market themselves the same way, showcasing vistas which–while awe-inspiring–are indistinguishable from every other upscale mountain resort. With the towns of Telluride and Mountain Village marketing themselves as a single destination for the first time since 2019, we needed to stand out in the sea of sameness from the get-go.
We also knew an integral piece of the campaign would be highlighting the towns’ authentic mountain character. In an article for InsideHook.com, Jason Diamond wrote: “It has that locals-first vibe that you don’t get in other well-known ski towns… There’s a lot of North Face and Patagonia, but not a lot of the pretentiousness you might associate with an upscale mountain town as beautiful as Telluride.”
Our challenge, therefore, was to reflect the offbeat, authentic vibe of the towns in a way that stood out from other high-end mountain towns. All while showcasing the two towns equally.
We started by thinking about what makes the towns unique: the vibe. It’s the unmistakable feeling you get from the beauty, dreaminess, and offbeat nature of the locals.
Few places evoke awe and authentic vibes like Telluride and Mountain Village. The “Beyond It All” campaign captures this through surreal visuals and language, appealing to our affluent audience with an artistic approach.
Our media strategy balanced premium publishers like Disney/Hulu with strategic partnerships like Meta, display, and online video. The campaign delivered 18MM impressions, 120k clicks, and a 0.67% CTR—beating benchmarks by +500% and last year’s performance by +18%. Site actions increased by +95% compared to summer 2023.
The best feedback came from locals, who felt the campaign authentically represented the two towns, helping to unify the destination for the future.
Although Telluride and Mountain Village are forever intertwined based on proximity and a free gondola that connects the two, they’ve historically been competitive. The two towns have often marketed themselves as individual entities rather than a single destination, so this campaign helped bring them together and made the destination’s marketing more cohesive.
We made every deliverable ourselves by compositing both stock and owned imagery together. However, we were asked a couple times if the campaign was AI generated. Due to its fantastical, surreal nature, the final result has a slightly AI feeling.
