In 2018, tourism from New York to Hawaii was lagging. In fact, our research found that New Yorkers were taking fewer vacations overall, with less than 50 percent of them using up their available vacation time. We needed a way to convince New Yorkers to leave the office and make Hawaii top-of-mind for their next vacation destination.

New Yorkers are obsessed with their careers, but they hate the office. In a survey we conducted, we found that 96 percent of millennials in the Empire State agreed that getting away from their work routine was essential to fueling their creativity. National data reveals more Americans are choosing to work remotely to accommodate demanding careers, but that trend has not seemed to spread to career-obsessed New Yorkers. So, rather than try and convince New York workaholics to give up their hustle, we decided to let them know that Hawaii is the perfect muse to take their work to the next level.

That sprung the idea to encourage people to drop their mundane routines, change their scenery and WFH (Work from Hawaii). This unique travel campaign repositioned the islands as the perfect destination for remote work or a working vacation. We created six bespoke residences – one on each of Hawaii’s six islands – curated and designed specifically to entice New York’s top six professional industries. Then we advertised the residencies in places where workaholics frequent most: LinkedIn, WeTransfer, WeWork spaces and OOH ads directly on their commutes.

From the thousands of applications we received, we selected our ideal first residents and followed them to Hawaii to capture their transformative experiences. Then using highly targeted ads across each social platform, we shared each of our residents’ stories to peers directly in their fields. At the end of each inspiring ad, we gave our viewers exactly the tools they needed to book their very own WFH trip.