Stuart Butler is a rocket scientist by training turned content marketing rock star.
Although his career as a rocket scientist didn’t last, he applied what he learned into a 20+ year career in marketing. Now, as chief marketing officer Visit Myrtle BeachStewart wants to disrupt not just the destination marketing space, but the entire marketing landscape.
It seems to be working.
Stewart and his team created spectrum travelis a heartwarming, unscripted six-episode series that follows three autistic families as they go on vacation (in Myrtle Beach, of course).
A deal with a well-known streaming service is expected to be announced soon. But for now, you can watch the trailer embedded here.
From storytelling to marketing strategy to distribution planning, Stewart is doing something he thinks few marketers are willing to do: put brand egos aside, stop controlling the message, and realize that great content always brings authenticity Sex comes first.
You can watch my interview with Stewart here , or read on to learn more about the project and its marketing philosophy.
Leaning towards the media company model
“We want to try things that people haven’t tried before and do them in new ways,” Stewart said.
When Stewart started his business three years ago, he knew times were changing. Destination marketing organizations like Visit Myrtle Beach spend the majority of their budgets on paid media. But when he learned about running a B2B agency in the hotel sector, paid media As consumers increasingly reject ads, starting with adding pop-up blockers to their browsers, they are becoming less effective. On top of that, platforms like Google and Facebook are increasingly becoming gatekeepers of content and raising ad prices.
But Stewart had a plan. He believes the best way forward is to reach audiences through owned media – what he calls “branded entertainment.”
“We don’t want to sell people a product, but we want people to make their own decisions and have their own thoughts and feelings; to influence their behavior so that they choose to come to Myrtle Beach as a destination, rather than being told (to come) ),” Stewart said.
Adhering to this concept, Stewart began to create a series called “Beach Chef Swap” Highlighting Myrtle Beach’s 2,000 restaurants and amazing food scene. The show invited two local chefs to swap kitchens and create a surprise meal for the judging panel. Now it airs on the Cooking Channel and other streaming networks, and it just released its second season.
Stewart said the Beach Chef Exchange has been more successful in growing the Visit Myrtle Beach brand in terms of media coverage and audience value than any paid marketing program to date.
They also learned that by following two simple rules—entertain and help the audience—people would not only listen, but tell their friends and come back.
The success of Chef Swap helped Stewart gain support for other projects, but it still took a while. During his first 6 to 12 months on the job, he briefed colleagues and Visit Myrtle Beach’s Board of Directors on the changing media landscape. (He says his background in physics helps here because he knows how to frame problems from first principles.) He knows convincing them to reduce their reliance on paid media is a huge leap, and Invest in owned media projects.
“We’re really methodical about putting bricks and scaffolding around the argument,” Stewart said. “We want to do it in a way that’s comfortable and understandable for people.”
So he started by asking them to allocate 10% of their budget to some test projects in owned media. efficient. It also helped Stewart gain support for his pet project, Travel Spectrum, which he said was the culmination of a three-year strategy to shift away from traditional marketing and toward a more progressive perspective.
Storytelling is the core of marketing
Myrtle Beach is known for its 60 miles of beautiful sunny beaches, stunning attractions, and award-winning restaurants. But what people may not know is that the region is a pioneer in autism-friendly tourism.
2016, Champions Autism Network (CAN) has announced its hometown of Myrtle Beach as the first certified autism-friendly destination in the United States. Myrtle Beach International Airport has partnered with CAN to open quiet rooms where families can comfort children who are having meltdowns. It became a model for airports around the world.
Additionally, Stuart and his team work with CAN to autism travel club, and travel ability create Beaches for everyone, sensory friendly commitment. Dozens of hotels, restaurants and attractions signed the agreement, agreeing to train frontline workers on the challenges faced by neurodiverse patients and how to accommodate them. Stewart’s team created a Special areas on the Visit Myrtle Beach website Share resources for families traveling with a member of the autism spectrum.
Having laid the groundwork, Stewart’s team began making people aware of Myrtle Beach as a included, a place where autistic families and neurodiverse people are welcome to visit. Inspired by the reality show Love on the Spectrum, Myrtle Beach marketers came up with the concept to highlight the good, the bad and the breakdown experienced by families with members on the autism spectrum.
Stewart had a clear vision for the project. “We don’t want this show to be about Myrtle Beach. We want it to be about the challenges that autistic people face when traveling. We don’t want to say to people, ‘Come to Myrtle Beach, because we’re very passionate about it. Very sensory friendly. “
“We want to spread the word: 87% of families with children on the autism spectrum will not travel. We believe this is an injustice that needs to be addressed. If it doesn’t look like a promotion from a destination, we will Make a bigger impact on the world.
Stewart took advantage of the Philadelphia-based seminar content studio, The company worked on Chef Swap and later Traveling the Spectrum. The series will take viewers behind the scenes to showcase the unique experience of exploring sensory-friendly travel in Myrtle Beach. The show features three families: the Tealke family, which includes 28-year-old Max from Michigan; the Gielink family, which includes 14-year-old Brayden from Ohio; and the Hills, which includes 28-year-old Max from Texas. 2 year old Mikko.
“This is going to change the world. It’s going to change the way people look at autism. It’s going to show that there are levels on the spectrum,” Stewart said. “This will show that people can be part of the solution by showing more empathy and more understanding of those who are different from themselves.
“I think the Myrtle Beach community is going to be proud of this because it shows how welcoming we are.”
Stewart’s team is also working on other innovative, non-promotional ways to tell the story that Myrtle Beach is an autism-friendly place. They teamed up with author Lynda Farrington Wilson to create a children’s books ——“Plop, plop, quack! Find joy in a sensory-friendly holiday.
They also have a podcast, “Life is a beach…and then you die,” tells the story of the human experience, including that of people on the autism spectrum. A multi-platform strategy ensures message consistency. But to Stewart, it was just one thing.
“I believe marketers are storytellers. I believe a job is Illuminating existing positive stories, whether it’s a business, a service or anything we’re trying to promote. So in this case, it’s really easy because we get to tell real stories about real people.
measure success
But how to visit Myrtle Beach measure impact Spectrum travel?
Stewart said he thinks Myrtle Beach will attract more visitors who realize they can still travel despite the challenges. It seems to be working. Stewart said people discovered organically that Myrtle Beach was behind the Spectral Travel project and are spreading the word. The tight-knit autism community shares resources with each other.
“When you can reach a public audience, adoption accelerates. So we see word of mouth, which is always the most powerful form of marketing,” Stewart said.
This word-of-mouth marketing appears on The Traveling Spectrum’s website, which shows more than 870,000 visitors supporting its message, just below its social media sharing buttons.
The “Spectral Travels” trailer has been viewed more than 750,000 times on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. media mentions Already broken through the roof.
Stewart said looking at these core key performance indicators alone showed that the series was a home run even before it hit the streaming platform. While he believes Spectrum Travel will result in a significant increase in travel to Myrtle Beach, especially among its most valuable first-time visitors, he thinks it will be even better.
“This is going to change the way people think about Myrtle Beach. People are going to look at us in a completely different light. It’s going to elevate our brand to a level we’ve never seen before,” Stewart said.
“Some of it is measurable and some of it is not. But even before the show started, we were very, very happy with the results we were getting. Once it launches, I think it’s going to be even better.
If you would like to help spread the word about the Spectrum Travel movement, please visit this website, Sign the commitment letterand share it on your social platforms (or through word of mouth).
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
