There’s Only One DC
There’s Only One DC soft-launched at Destination DC’s annual Marketing Outlook Meeting in August 2023 to an audience of 500+ members of DC’s travel, tourism & hospitality community. To introduce the campaign, we filmed a video with DC’s matriarch, Virginia Ali, owner of famed Ben’s Chili Bowl. Watch the video, below.
Role: creative direction, script writing
CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT
In 2023, I led Destination DC’s first brand repositioning in a decade.
The previous brand positioning, DC Cool—and all advertising campaigns under its umbrella—aimed to prove that DC is more than just the federal government by leaning into the juxtaposition of federal Washington and local DC. Given DC’s image problem, this positioning resonates. But it attempts to change travelers’ minds by playing up their ignorance, leading with a negativity that, unintentionally, serves to keep the misconceptions about the city top of mind rather than banish them.
I argued it was time to evolve our brand to fight any negative perception of DC by owning our truth from a place of strength, positivity and unwavering knowledge of our value proposition.
DC is wholly unique. We match other world-class cities pound for pound in dining, nightlife, arts and culture, sports, outdoor activities, green spaces—the list goes on and on. But no other destination in the country can compete with DC’s number of monuments, museums, memorials, and free things. Add it all up and DC’s diversity of experiences is truly unmatched.
There’s Only One DC.
It’s an undisputed fact—a truth we can, and should, own. It’s a rallying cry for the city’s stakeholders, from Destination DC to the Mayor’s office. And most importantly, it’s a clear consumer-facing campaign tagline that speaks to our audiences in every single market, from domestic to international and everything in between.
Campaign strategy
There’s Only One DC launched in November 2023 with Destination DC’s largest advertising spend to-date—$18.5M—funded in part by DC’s Tourism Recovery District, a unique funding assessment implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The media buy applies a data-based, digital-first strategy targeting consumers most likely to consider Washington, DC for leisure travel across a wide range of regions, domestically and internationally.
The goal of #Only1DC creatively is to highlight DC’s unique experiences and match them to our target audience’s specific interests to drive consideration and booking. Affluent travelers, for example, are interested in upscale dining. To speak directly to this audience’s interests, Destination DC’s in-house creative team developed a suite of static/HTML5 ads and a 15s commercial highlighting the city’s Michelin and world-class restaurants. See below.
Role: Creative strategy
BACKED BY RESEARCH
In summer 2023, I worked closely with destination research company, Future Partners (formerly Destination Analysts), to conduct extensive qualitative and quantitative consumer research to test the effectiveness and impact of There’s Only One DC. Reception to the campaign positioning and visual assets including print & digital ads, photography and commercials was overwhelmingly positive.
“There’s Only One DC makes you proud to be a Washingtonian.” - Brandi, Washington, DC
Role: Research lead
CREATIVE STRATEGY
CAMPAIGN LOGOs
The #Only1DC logos, designed and animated by Destination DC’s in-house design team, truly encapsulate what makes DC unique:
The logo font—called VTC Bayard after civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin—was designed by local font artist Tré Seals and is inspired by signs from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
The Stars and Stripes of the DC flag represent a world-class city full of arts, culture, music, theater, dining, green spaces, water—the list goes on and on.
The icon of the Washington Monument in the “O” represents the unparalleled access to our country’s monuments and memorials.
“The logo perfectly explains DC: you have the stars from the DC flag and the monument in the ‘one’” – Alex, Texas
All possible use-cases were taken into account when designing the logos:
There are variations of the logo designed to work in myriad placement sizes, from ultra-vertical to ultra-horizontal, to ensure consistent branded across-the-board.
Given DC’s international tourism efforts, there is a separate version of the campaign logo for international placements that adds “Washington” to the campaign name: There’s Only One Washington, DC. It’s been proven that the international community does not recognize “DC” alone.
Domestic Logos:
International Logos:
Role: Art Direction
photography
I’ve worked in the travel and tourism space for the majority of my career and, for the most part, destination marketing imagery looks the same: posed, talent-centric lifestyle images. With #Only1DC, I aimed to differentiate us in the marketplace by strategically evolving our photography style to be less talent-focused and more experiential. You see talent fading into the background—they're still there, enjoying everything Washington, DC has to offer, but they aren’t the central focus. This is a distinct departure from imagery used in Destination Marketing.
This new style tested very positively with consumers, who described the style of the images as “modern,” “sleek,” and “contemporary.” Most said the lighting was “bright,” “lively,” and “welcoming” and the colors were “vibrant.” They specifically noted that they are less busy and that it’s easier to picture themselves in the experience.
Imagery for There’s Only One DC was captured by Destination DC’s in-house photographer and cinematographer, Bobby Urteaga.
Role: Creative direction
commercialS
Like photography, destination marketing commercials tend to look similar: you see every possible visitor-type doing every possible activity in one 30s spot. So, I broke the mold. If the goal of #Only1DC is to prove DC's uniqueness as a destination, my argument is that we have to bring the campaign to life uniquely.
First – we're focusing on shorter commercials, given our understanding of how our travelers consume video. Rather than focusing our production time and effort on standard 30s commercials, we’ve created only 15s spots.
Second – each commercial highlights only one unique only-in-DC experience at a time that speaks directly to the interests of one or more of our target audiences.
All commercials for There’s Only One DC were produced by Destination DC’s in-house video team of three: myself as Creative Director, Bobby Urteaga as Director of Photography and Gina Hopkins as Producer. Together, we produced 15 commercials for launch. Voice overs were recorded in-house with local poet, Charity Blackwell. Here are a few:
Role: Ideation, creative direction, script writing
PRINT & DIGITAL ADS
#Only1DC features static/HTML5 ads, and print executions tailored to our audience’s individual interests, from historic experiences to unforgettable nightlife. Within each execution, you will see the same consistent and purposeful design elements:
All layouts feature campaign images laid out in full bleed.
Font, CTA and graphic accent colors match and are drawn directly from the images and help to give a cohesive feel.
The easy-to-read san-serif campaign font (also seen in the logo) is matched with a handwriting script to allow us to call out important value propositions, like “Free.”
All ads feature a location marker to help potential travelers plan their itinerary.
CTA buttons include experiential calls to action like “Let’s explore” or “Let’s go” instead of “Plan your trip” to hit those upper funnel users as they consider DC as a possible trip destination.
All ads include a brand logo and—on larger units—the campaign tagline.
Role: Art Direction
OTHER CREATIVE EXECUTIONS
In addition to standard media, DDC’s creative team is bringing There’s Only One DC to life with unique out-of-home placements, including a takeover of New York City’s Moynihan Train Hall and 12 cherry blossom-themed wraps of London’s iconic black cabs.
Role: Art Direction
PERFORMANCE
Coming soon!