The Mighty Five - Utah Office of Tourism | Clapboard Ad Archive
Experience The Mighty Five from the Utah Office of Tourism, delivered by creative agency Struck in the travel and leisure market category, set a new benchmark for destination marketing in Year 2013 by inviting audiences into a visceral, aspirational vision of adventure across Utah’s five celebrated national parks. This film campaign transforms the archetype of outdoor exploration into an accessible, all-encompassing journey, orchestrating cinematic sequences of sunrise over Canyonlands, sunset among the arches of Arches, intimate encounters with petroglyphs in Capitol Reef, stargazing beneath meteor-lit skies, awe at Bryce Canyon’s coral-hued hoodoos, and the narrow grandeur of Zion’s slot canyons. The narrative rejects hard sell in favor of user association: by staging moments that frame families, adrenaline seekers, and solitude hunters against these majestic backdrops, the campaign leverages what Clapboard’s taxonomy identifies as FORMAT#10—Associated User Imagery. This approach foregrounds the visitor’s potential experience, letting the audience imagine themselves hiking, rafting, biking, or simply soaking in Utah’s natural wonders, thus bypassing prescriptive messaging for an inclusive invitation. The original score by Ben Shepard (YEYEY) deepens the campaign’s emotional resonance, while the sustained engagement—evidenced by nearly one million views—shows the lasting appeal of immersive storytelling and real-world user aspiration as a driver of brand interest and travel consideration. Seamlessly directing audiences to the Visit Utah platform for itineraries and further discovery, the campaign integrates digital touchpoints for deeper action without breaking the sense of awe and authenticity established by the film. The campaign earns 74/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. This campaign matters because as travel marketers contend with experience economy expectations and fractured attention, The Mighty Five signals that authentic, audience-led storytelling rooted in real aspiration can still define a destination’s global narrative.
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