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Discover Puerto Rico
Bringing Prosperity to Puerto Rico
Examine how Discover Puerto Rico's strategic fusion of creativity and mission execution paved a path to prosperity for the island as well as a connection with travelers worldwide.
Since its inception in July 2018, Discover Puerto Rico has effectively created and implemented multi-channel tactics and campaigns. These initiatives are designed to advance the destination and its organization, with the goal of promoting prosperity in Puerto Rico by positioning the Island as a premier destination for leisure, business, and event travel.
Discover Puerto Rico has demonstrated excellence in both creativity and mission execution, as evidenced by its inclusion in Fast Company's 2023 list of "World's Most Innovative Companies," its three Emmy Awards for the "Sounds like Puerto Rico" series and its hosting of superstar Jimmy Fallon for a show taping on the island. Discover Puerto Rico understands that a destination’s brand is a perception and belief that lives in the hearts and minds of travelers. A brand is not a campaign or a tagline. A campaign is one reflection, or expression, of a brand. That is why the approach to re-defining and re-positioning Puerto Rico’s brand was a research-driven and results-focused process.
Discover Puerto Rico needed a base understanding of where Puerto Rico stood in the minds of consumers and stakeholders. An exhaustive qualitative and quantitative process was embraced that began immediately upon the formation of the organization, aimed at benchmarking awareness, identifying the destination’s brand associations and competitive landscape, determining the travel personas and market segments, and understanding the desired travel experiences.
Breakthrough creative campaigns that elevate Puerto Rico's culture and diverse tourism offerings, paired with targeted media relations and thought leadership efforts, and award-winning content through owned channels, have driven massive results for the destination and Discover Puerto Rico. Examples include the “Live Boricua” campaign, a manifestation of Discover Puerto Rico's focus on elevating local culture while underscoring values-based promotion, as well as the campaign “Sunshine to Spare”, which was created in partnership with the Pantone Color Institute.
Manuel Laboy, former Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, spoke to the team about the Puerto Rico brand, specifically, the “Live Boricua” campaign and how it conveys the perfect message across tourism and economic development. He says the success of the campaign came as “the combination of the creative process as well as the execution”, where he says that Discover Puerto Rico spent a lot of time formulating and executing the strategy to get both elements right. The campaign has been so successful that Marriott Hotels in Puerto Rico are also adopting it, so not only is it being leveraged by partner organizations and departments in government, but also on the corporate level.
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