In September 2022, Fort Myers and its surrounding islands, beaches and neighborhoods were devastated by Category 5 Hurricane Ian. The communities were showing incredible resilience, helping each other to personally and physically rebuild. There were some beautiful human interest stories, and we knew these poignant narratives needed to be told.

It was important to target an outlet with a wide reach to start our recovery messaging, raising awareness of areas that were beginning to welcome visitors back as the destination needed tourism dollars to flow again.

Our goal was to reach a national audience of 1 million viewers through one or several earned broadcast segments, as visual storytelling was the best way for people across the country to fully understand the situations we faced. Utilizing firsthand accounts from destination partners along with b-roll, viewers could see the depths of cleanup efforts and empathize with those involved in the recovery, inspiring them to get involved with the region’s comeback.

This recovery series was fully earned. There were no costs for distribution or production, as cell phones were used to film the remote hits. We did this recovery series for free.