Myrtle Beach Rockets Tourism with Autism Travel Series and Chef Swap

Stuart Butler is a educated rocket scientist turned content marketing rock star.

Although the profession as a rocket scientist didn’t stick, he utilized what he discovered to a 20-plus-year profession in advertising. Now, as chief advertising officer of Visit Myrtle Beach, Stuart needs to disrupt not solely the vacation spot advertising area however ALL of promoting.

And it appears to be working.

Stuart and his workforce created Traveling the Spectrum, a heartwarming, unscripted six-part video sequence following three households dwelling with autism as they go on trip (in Myrtle Seaside, after all).

A take care of a well known streaming service is predicted to be introduced quickly. However for now, you possibly can watch the trailer embedded right here.

From the storytelling to the advertising technique to the distribution plan, Stuart is doing one thing he believes few entrepreneurs are keen to do: Set their model ego apart, cease controlling the message, and notice that nice content material all the time places authenticity first.

You may watch my interview with Stuart right here or learn on to study extra in regards to the undertaking and his advertising philosophy.

Leaning into the media firm mannequin

“We need to strive issues that folks haven’t tried earlier than and do them in a brand new means,” Stuart says.

When Stuart began three years in the past, he knew instances have been altering. Vacation spot advertising organizations like Go to Myrtle Seaside spent most of their budget on paid media. However, as he discovered operating a B2B company within the resort area, paid media was turning into much less efficient as a result of shoppers more and more rejected promoting, beginning with including pop-up blockers to their browsers. On prime of that, platforms like Google and Fb had more and more turn into the gatekeepers of content material and raised their promoting costs.

However Stuart had a plan. He believed the perfect path ahead was constructing their audiences via owned media — what he calls “branded leisure.”

“As an alternative of promoting to individuals, we wished individuals to make their very own choices, have their very own ideas and emotions; to affect their behaviors in order that they selected to come back to Myrtle Seaside as a vacation spot as an alternative of being advised to [come],” Stuart says.

With that philosophy in thoughts, Stuart tackled the creation of a actuality cooking competitors present referred to as “Chef Swap at the Beach” to spotlight the two,000 eating places and wonderful culinary scene in Myrtle Seaside. The present featured two native cooks who swapped kitchens and created a shock meal for a panel of judges. It now airs on the Cooking Channel and different streaming networks and has simply launched its second season.

Stuart says “Chef Swap on the Seaside” was extra profitable at elevating the Go to Myrtle Seaside model by way of media protection and viewers worth than any of its paid advertising initiatives up to now.

Additionally they discovered that by following two easy guidelines — entertain and assist the viewers — individuals is not going to solely pay attention, however they’ll inform their mates and are available again.

The success of Chef Swap helped Stuart get buy-in for different initiatives, nevertheless it nonetheless took some time. He spent the primary six to 12 months on the job educating his co-workers and Go to Myrtle Seaside’s board of administrators on the altering media panorama. (That is the place he says his background in physics helped, as he knew tips on how to deconstruct an issue to the primary rules.) He knew it was an enormous leap to persuade them to rely much less on paid media and put money into owned media initiatives.

“We actually have been very methodical in constructing the bricks and the scaffolding across the argument,” Stuart says. “We wished to do it in a means that was snug for individuals, that was digestible.”

So, he began by asking them to commit 10% of the price range to some check initiatives for owned media. It labored. And it helped Stuart get buy-in for his ardour undertaking, Touring the Spectrum, which he calls the end result of a three-year technique to maneuver from typical advertising to a extra progressive view.

Storytelling is the guts of promoting

Myrtle Seaside is greatest recognized for its 60 miles of lovely sunny seashores, wonderful points of interest, and award-winning eating places. However individuals could not know that the world is a pioneer in autism-friendly journey.

In 2016, Champion Autism Network (CAN) declared its hometown of Myrtle Seaside as the primary autism-friendly licensed vacation spot in america. The Myrtle Seaside Worldwide Airport, together with CAN, opened the Quiet Room, the place households can soothe a baby throughout a meltdown. It grew to become a mannequin for airports all over the world.

Moreover, Stuart and his workforce partnered with CAN, Autism Travel Club, and TravelAbility to create The Beach is for everyBODY Sensory-Friendly Pledge. Dozens of resorts, eating places, and points of interest signed it, agreeing to coach their frontline employees in figuring out the challenges of individuals with neurodiversity and tips on how to accommodate them. Stuart’s workforce created a special area on the Visit Myrtle Beach website to share their sources for households touring with members on the spectrum.

With that groundwork laid, Stuart’s workforce got down to create consciousness that Myrtle Seaside is an inclusive, welcoming place to go to for autistic households and other people with neurodiversity. Impressed by the fact present Love on the Spectrum, the Myrtle Seaside entrepreneurs got here up with the idea to spotlight the great, the unhealthy, and the meltdowns skilled by these households with members on the autism spectrum.

Stuart had a transparent imaginative and prescient for the undertaking. “We don’t need this present to be about Myrtle Seaside. We would like it to be in regards to the challenges of touring with autism. We don’t need to be saying to individuals, ‘Come to Myrtle Seaside as a result of we’re sensory-friendly.’

“We need to be spreading the message that 87% of households who’ve a child on the spectrum don’t journey. And we expect that’s an injustice that must be solved. We’re going to have extra influence on the world if it doesn’t look to be a promotion from a vacation spot.”

Stuart tapped the Philadelphia-based The Workshop Content Studios, which had labored on Chef Swap, to develop Touring the Spectrum. The sequence takes viewers behind the scenes and showcases the distinctive experiences of exploring sensory-friendly journey at Myrtle Seaside. The present consists of three households — the Tilks, together with Max, age 28, from Michigan; the Gielinks, together with Brayden, age 14, from Ohio; and the Hills, together with Mikko, age 2, from Texas.

“It’s going to vary the world. It’s going to vary the best way individuals see autism. It’s going to indicate that there are levels of the spectrum,” Stuart says. “It’s going to indicate that folks could be part of the answer by exhibiting a bit extra empathy and a bit extra understanding to people who find themselves totally different than themselves.

“And I feel it’s one thing that the group in Myrtle Seaside goes to be actually pleased with as a result of it exhibits that we’re very welcoming and hospitable.”

Stuart’s workforce can be engaged on different modern, non-promotional methods to inform the story that Myrtle Seaside is an autism-friendly place. They labored with creator Lynda Farrington Wilson on a children’s book — “Splish, Splash, Squawk! Discovering Pleasure in a Sensory-Pleasant Trip.”

Additionally they have a podcast, “Life’s a Beach … And Then You Die,” that tells tales of human experiences, together with these on the autism spectrum. The multiplatform technique ensures a constant message. However to Stuart, it’s all about one factor.

“I imagine that the entrepreneurs are storytellers. I imagine {that a} job is to shine a light-weight on the constructive story that exists, whether or not it’s a enterprise, a service, or no matter we’re making an attempt to advertise. And so, on this case, it’s very easy as a result of we will inform actual tales of actual individuals.”

Measuring success

However how will Go to Myrtle Seaside measure the influence of Touring the Spectrum?

Stuart says he thinks Myrtle Seaside will appeal to greater than its justifiable share of vacationers who will notice they’ll journey regardless of the challenges. And it appears to be working. Stuart says individuals are discovering out organically that Myrtle Seaside is behind the Touring the Spectrum undertaking and are spreading the phrase. The tight-knit autism group shares sources with one another.

“When you possibly can type of faucet into an viewers that’s that communal, it type of accelerates the adoption. And so, we’ve seen that phrase of mouth, which is all the time going to be essentially the most highly effective type of advertising,” Stuart says.

That word-of-mouth advertising seems on The Touring Spectrum web site, which exhibits that over 870,000 guests assist its message, slightly below its social-media share buttons.

Between YouTube, Fb, and Instagram, the trailer for Touring the Spectrum has been considered greater than 750,000 instances. Media mentions have gone via the roof.

Stuart says taking a look at these core KPIs alone exhibits that the sequence is a house run even earlier than it hits the streaming platform. And whereas he believes Touring the Spectrum will end in a tangible improve in journey, particularly for essentially the most helpful first-time guests, to Myrtle Seaside, he thinks it’ll do one thing even higher.

“It’s going to vary the notion of who Myrtle Seaside is. Persons are going to have a look at us in a completely totally different mild. It’s going to raise our model to this stage that we’ve by no means seen earlier than,” Stuart says.

“A few of that’s measurable, a few of it’s not. However even earlier than the present (has) launched, we’re very, very pleased with the outcomes we’ve gotten. And as soon as it’s launched, I feel it’s simply going to be subsequent stage.”