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SF Ballet
Visit California
Reigniting joy through play
- Campaign Development
- Media Strategy & Buying
- Brand Strategy
Challenge
California’s brand had lost its spark. Years of wildfires, political polarization, and negative headlines had eroded emotional affinity, and the once-iconic “California Dream” no longer resonated. Research revealed a deeper cultural truth: people were profoundly fun-deprived. With well-being down and stress up, Visit California needed to make the state feel joyful, relevant, and worth traveling for again.
Solution
We launched a bold new brand platform: California is The Ultimate Playground. It reframed the state as a place to rediscover joy, spontaneity, and personal forms of play. The debut Let’s Play campaign brought the idea to life through a cinematic hero film, using a beach ball as a unifying device across landscapes, cultures, and experiences. Set to “Mr. Blue Sky,” the work scaled through an integrated global media system — from streaming and linear TV to social, cultural partnerships, and immersive OOH — turning play into something people could feel everywhere.
Impact
The campaign became Visit California’s strongest brand launch ever. It delivered the highest recall of any new brand spot in the organization’s history, drove an over 17-point year-over-year lift in recall, and sparked an over 19-point increase in likelihood to visit — the highest since 2021. Emotional affinity rebounded across key audiences, especially among Millennials and Boomers, showing that joy still travels.
