How Travel South Dakota’s Brand Alliance Turned Winter Into a National Adventure Story

South Dakota is widely celebrated for its warm weather landscapes and open air adventure. But winter, too, holds a story worth telling – one filled with snow dusted canyons, frozen waterfalls, cozy hideaways, winter wildlife, and adrenaline fueled adventure.

Travel South Dakota recognized an opportunity: shift national perception by showcasing the state as a true fourseason destination. They tapped MediaOne to design a brand alliance aligned with PR strategy developed by Lou Hammond Group, Travel South Dakota’s PR agency of record, to strengthen messaging consistency and reach across all channels. The collaboration sparked strategy that not only elevated South Dakota’s seasonal appeal but also generated record-breaking engagement, significant media value, and measurable increases in traveler intent.

The Strategic Bet: Leveraging MediaOne’s Brand Alliance Model

The team aligned behind a clear mission to engage drive markets more meaningfully, inspire national audiences, and deeper emotional connection through immersive storytelling. MediaOne’s brand alliance model delivered the strategic advantage for the campaign: giving Travel South Dakota the opportunity to partner with brands whose audiences, values, and content ecosystems would amplify impact.

Based on the goals of the campaign, MediaOne identified GoPro as the ideal brand match for an alliance. GoPro’s global audience of 52M+ adventurers aligned naturally with South Dakota’s experiences, and the brand’s content creators excel in visual storytelling – essential for winter landscapes.  

The Partnership: Content That Brings Winter to Life

In February 2025, four GoPro creator teams were hosted across the Black Hills and surrounding winter regions. 40+ original content pieces were produced organically across Instagram alone, ranging from snowmobiling and skiing to ice climbing, sleigh rides, frozen waterfall hikes, and wildlife encounters.  

Close collaboration with Lou Hammond Group ensured content developed through the brand alliance delivered a consistent narrative across paid, earned, and owned media. The team also amplified content through GoPro’s brand social, email, and website channels, delivering significant, high-value reach.

Results: A Winter Campaign That Broke Through the Noise

The brand alliance strategy delivered a 300% ROI to Travel South Dakota in the form of original content assets, influencer distribution value, and exposure through GoPro’s owned channels. Instagram performance alone delivered:

• 22.2M impressions 

• 30,000+ interactions 

• 40+ original content pieces

Most critically, the strategy delivered measurable growth in travel intent to South Dakota. Following the full campaign rollout, winter 2025 bookings saw year over year growth, and interest in snow activity segments like snowmobiling and skiing was notably higher.  

In February 2026, the brand alliance strategy developed by Travel South Dakota and MediaOne was honored for its excellence with an HSMAI Gold Adrian Award for paid influencer content.