Visit Springfield partnered with Steller to create a multi-seasonal campaign that showcased the city’s rich blend of outdoor adventures, family-friendly attractions, and vibrant culinary scene. Targeting travelers from nearby Midwest states, the goal was to increase awareness of Springfield’s rich natural beauty, sparking genuine and measurable travel intent.

The Challenge

With countless Midwest destinations competing for weekend travelers, Visit Springfield needed a strategic approach to differentiate itself and showcase its unique offerings. The challenge: how to elevate Springfield’s visibility and position it as a must-visit destination for outdoor adventure, culinary discovery, and family-friendly experiences.

The challenge was two-fold:

Cut through the noise of competing regional destinations to drive top-of-mind awareness.

Showcase Springfield’s proximity and accessibility to inspire spontaneous road trips from surrounding states.

The Outcome

Steller designed a social first, creator-led campaign designed to drive engagement at every stage of the traveler’s journey. We made incredible social content actionable by connecting each piece of creator content to a video-infused trip itinerary with the creator’s recommendations for Springfield. From the itineraries, the creator’s audience can book activities and stays or begin planning their own trip to Springfield. Once potential travelers engaged with the itineraries, Steller used targeted push notifications and email reminders to guide them from inspiration to the planning and booking stages.

The campaign exceeded all performance goals, most notably overdelivering on impressions by 61 million! The campaign content and creator’s recommendations continue to drive travel from the Springfield, MO website, where the content is embedded and connected to trip planning tools and the automated marketing flow—providing inspiration and trip planning right where people are looking for it.

The Campaign

Split into two flights, Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, Steller sent four creators to capture Springfield’s charm across seasons, showing that this destination is worth a visit any time of year. Each creator brought their unique lens to Springfield, spotlighting diverse experiences and storytelling that resonated with a broad audience:

Sara Lesire highlighted family-friendly adventures, from the world’s largest immersive wildlife attraction to America’s only underground cave ride. Her content focused on accessibility, inclusivity, and practical tips for traveling with kids.

Yazan Koudsi explored Springfield through a vibrant LGBTQ+ lens, diving into the city’s food, culture, and hospitality. Their content offered a stylish, inclusive guide with practical tips for urban travelers.

Nicole & Bo embraced a family trip with red cave explorations, nature hikes, iconic throwed rolls, and nostalgic frozen custard nights. Their content captured Springfield’s blend of adventure, history, and togetherness.

Preethi Chandrasekhar offered an eco-conscious take, spotlighting the world’s largest aquarium and the inspiring conservation story behind it. Her visuals and storytelling encouraged mindful, respectful travel rooted in education and sustainability.

Steller elevated this campaign by turning 127 pieces of content from four creators into a connected journey, designed to inspire and guide viewers directly to trip planning tools, automated reminders and recommendations, and booking options. By connecting the content directly to the tailored itineraries and trip planning tools, we empowered potential travelers to begin their journey.

For those still in the dreaming phase, we kept their interest levels high with targeted emails and push notifications, keeping Springfield top of mind and building a deeper connection to the destination, making it readily available for when users are ready to book their own trip.

By integrating the Steller Connect Embed into Springfield’s website, the content and trip guides from this campaign will continue to drive results long after the campaign ends. Through the Steller ecosystem, creator content remains active, transforming into evergreen, bookable content.

By guiding travelers from inspiration to booking, Springfield didn’t just stay top of mind, it became a confirmed destination on their calendars.