Santa Fe had the history, the culture, and the magic, but felt something was missing in their previous marketing. It focused on what visitors could do instead of why they should come.
Santa Fe, in motto and in real life, is The City Different, a declaration it has held since the early 1900s, when the norm among city leaders across the country was to emphasize familiarity to the traveling public. Now, over a century later, the city still lives up to this tagline at every turn. We leaned into the full sensory experience that is unique from visitor to visitor and visit to visit. In each case, the soul is satisfied and the individual transformed.
Uncover Your Different. Some places entertain. Santa Fe transforms. The campaign spoke to travelers who crave creativity, culture, and a little self-reinvention. Singles, couples, families, LGBTQ+ travelers, and group adventurers all got messaging tailored to what makes Santa Fe a place that sticks with you.
The campaign delivered across every channel:
Santa Fe isn’t just another stop on the map. It’s an experience that stays with you. By shaking up how the city tells its story, the campaign brought in more visitors, more engagement, and record-breaking business growth.
Route 66 speaks to America’s roots, yet its path has changed since it was originally created in 1926. With 2026 marking the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road, one of the most interesting stops on the Original Route 66 should not be missed by true Route 66 aficionados.
Can you really experience the Original Route 66 if you don’t include The City Different in your itinerary? Visit Santa Fe and Vladimir Jones don’t think so. Our challenge was to make sure that those who want the Original experience include a city that isn’t like any other city, just like Route 66 isn’t like any other road.
Using the base brand creative strategy that encourages visitors to “uncover your different” in The City Different, in combination with the campaign concept of “The Original Route for the True Originals,” we launched a bottom-funnel search and native display remarketing campaign that leverages interest among audiences searching for the Route (in key markets and nationally), reminding them that missing Santa Fe meant not experiencing the Route as it was intended.
IMAGES FROM ROUTE 66 Campaign: Crew with map.
We knew this: The Route 66 traveler is a planner. They’re searching with intent, for stops, experiences, restaurants, hotels and reasons to detour. Leveraging the moment of intent creates impact and efficiency.
We planned for our campaign to reach these audiences by:
In lower-funnel campaigns like these, creative has to prevent scrolling. Leveraging Visit Santa Fe’s strong brand, we were able to tap into The City Different positioning by highlighting how the Route is not complete without a stop in Santa Fe. Highlighting Santa Fe’s 400+ years of unabashed originality, and amazing history, was the link we created between intent and conversion.
Launched from zero in October 2025, the Route 66 campaign ramped rapidly – building momentum with each passing month as search volume and campaign optimization compounded. The numbers tell a story of a campaign that found its footing fast and continues to accelerate.
A couple highlights:
The official kickoff for the Route 66 Centennial celebration took place April 30, 2026. We built a ramp to position Santa Fe at the intersection of the world’s most storied highway and the world’s most distinctive city, ahead of the biggest road-trip moment in a generation.
As the Route 66 Centennial builds through 2026 and search volume for the Mother Road swells to historic levels, Santa Fe will not be waiting to be discovered. It will already be there, present, compelling and fully optimized, at the top of the results, at the top of the itinerary and at the center of the journey.
Every great road leads somewhere worth stopping; we made sure this one didn’t miss Santa Fe.
