Part of Colle McVoy’s US campaign for Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism is exciting. The first is Moment of Zen Sound, that makes use of the trend of the moment promoting calmness and tranquillity apps to – well, mock them.

The second is Scroll Breakers, a jump-scare moment that jolts scrollers out of their online life fugue.

The work extends the destination’s Stay Wild platform encouraging people to put down their phones, step outside and reconnect with what’s real. At Jackson Hole, real means winter wildlife, wild skiing and wilder nightlife.

Jackson Hole’s Stay Wild brand platform, created by Colle McVoy 8 years ago is still going strong. In the meantime, however, people’s lives have changed. Today, while many hold the world in the palm of their hands, they experience it through a pane of glass, trading goosebumps for glow screens. The average American adult spends 7 hours a day looking at a screen – that’s 17 years of our lives scrolled away

 “In a world dominated by screens, the greatest adventures are the ones we almost forget to take,” stated John Neerland, group creative director, Colle McVoy. “Stay Wild is our way of interrupting the ordinary and reminding people that the wild still exists, waiting for them to step into it.”

Sadly, the campaign also gets predictable with a series of online videos showing Jackson Hole experiences – albeit Pavlovian perhaps for the eco-conscious experience chasers the campaign is targeting.

Moment of Zen Send, though, captures audiences as they binge on premium TV/movie content (CTV), mimicking Moment of Zen videos, which is typically calming content. The bait-and-switch video brings viewers a “Moment of Zen Send,” starting with a calming vista and then disrupted by the wild you can experience in Jackson Hole. ASMR-type sensory details that define the Jackson Hole experience, like the crunch of snow beneath your feet and the gust of alpine wind on your face – are the sensations people crave yet rarely experience. Jackson Hole offers them in abundance.

And Scroll Breakers on IG Reels, Stories, TikTok, YouTube Shorts), where people mindlessly scroll their day away, literally creates a jump-scare moment for the viewer. In one example, bison appear to charge through the feed, “cracking” the screen and jolting viewers from digital autopilot, a visceral prompt to stop scrolling and start living.

The campaign extends into the real world too. Digital outdoor panels in high foot-trafficked areas (NY, SF, LA, Chicago, Seattle, etc.) will intercept people on their commutes to and from work. Creative shows the wildlife of Jackson Hole refusing to be boxed in by a screen, breaking free toward passersby – and encouraging them to do the same.

The new work builds on last year’s award-winning Selfie Control campaign, where the brand turned social media into a tool for wildlife safety. Using real-time spatial recognition, a custom Instagram filter warned users when they were too close to animals, automatically identifying species and applying national park safe-distance rules. Made open-source to support 433 parks across 85 million acres and 400,000 species, the effort drove a 60% increase in engagement with wildlife safety content.

“Travel has the power to reset your perspective, and Jackson Hole uniquely blends adventure, beauty, and authenticity,” commented John Bowers, marketing director of Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board. “From sending it down the mountain to witnessing wildlife in its natural habitat, Stay Wild captures the spirit of this place – inspiring people to step beyond their screens and reconnect with the wild for themselves.”

Credits:
Agency: Colle McVoy
Group Creative Director: John Neerland
Associate Creative Director: Jack Treacy
Senior Copywriter: Ryan Seibold
Senior Producer: Allison Sadeghi
Project Manager: Emma Holthusen
Group Brand Strategy Director: Alli Bolger
Media Director: Kerry Moore
Group Account Director: Mike Schwab
Account Director: Bridget Johnson 
Associate Account Director: Kailynn Smith
Sr Account Executive: Chloe Lewis