14,115 Feet Above Ordinary

In 2014, we became the agency of record for a 14,000-foot mountain with a geography-defying highway that winds all to its summit. It is currently the most visited mountaintop in North America.

We rebuilt the brand from scratch, focusing on the destination’s wholly unique marriage of road and mountain: the inaccessible with the accessible, epic grandeur with Sunday-drive convenience. Fact is, for the vast majority who stand atop its summit, it’s the highest place on earth they’ve ever stepped foot.  We built a brand that turned a rural highway into a bucket-list experience and set an all-time visitation record the year we launched the campaign. 
 
Every year that followed, we set a new all-time-high visitation record. Until five years later when we doubled the record set the year the campaign launched. 

We bought traditional media ranging from regional print to local billboards and airport signage. We also expanded our media strategy, with a strong emphasis on digital and social media targeting to reach a younger audience. No longer was Pikes Peak for “retirees in RVs,” but the ultimate road-trip destination for millennials.

Great results followed. Our Google display campaign achieved a 1.45% click through rate, when industry standard was 0.47%. Our Google search efforts achieved a 18.25% click through rate, when industry standard was 4.68%. Areas of focus were on year-round ticket sales and bolstering shoulder seasons.

For organic social, we catered daily social media to audience insights and engagement metrics shattered the goal by 493%. Follower growth is 6.53% year over year. We boosted relevant posts and optimized to conversions. Our top performing posts achieved a $0.0083 cost per engagement and $1.66 cost per follower gained.

In 2019, we tackled our greatest challenge yet: how to retain attendance rates while the mountain undergoes construction for a brand-new summit house. The renovation meant that the parking lot on the summit was going to be closed, and the primary perk of visiting this peak – driving your own way to the top – was no longer an option.  
 
Instead of allowing visitors to drive to the top on their own, Pikes Peak would offer a shuttle service. It was a bug the client challenged us to turn into a feature. 
 
We launched an interim campaign over the summer and fall that did just that. Our client set a lofty goal of 400,000 visitors for the year of the partial closure, and with our “Shuttle Launch” campaign, we rocketed past that goal to 592,000 visitors.