Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection
Visit Lake Tahoe set out to build a brand voice strong enough to save its own ecosystem. In doing so, they created a blueprint for the future of travel, proving that destination marketing can be an act of global public health.
A Bit of Background
In 2021, Lake Tahoe was under real strain. Gridlock, trashed trails, a housing crisis and a wildfire that forced a mass evacuation. Visit Lake Tahoe answered by rebranding from Tahoe South around a new line, “Awe and then Some,” and shifting its mission from driving volume to attracting high-value “Sustainability Audiences” from fly-markets who stay longer and treat the land with respect. It worked, and it earned the organization standing to speak about something bigger.
Three Key Challenges
To earn the right to speak, the legacy brand had to change:
- Tahoe South became Visit Lake Tahoe, anchored by a new brand line: Awe and then Some.
- A new Vision anchored in sustainable tourism and a new Purpose to share the wonder of Lake Tahoe with the world.
- The mission shifted from driving volume to targeting high-value “Sustainability Audiences” from fly-markets who would stay longer and treat the land with respect.
- We created the Rules to Lake By, a locally adopted and loved program to change traveler habits.
Mental Health Meets Screen Time
We had successfully re-engineered the tourism economy. But a new, deeper tension was brewing. The world was facing a global crisis of political divisiveness, climate anxiety and digital isolation. People were more stressed, more disconnected and were making more emotional decisions. This is a human problem before it is a travel problem. And, of course, it is impacting travel decisions. New research showed travelers don’t define great trips by activities completed. They define them by emotional outcomes like connection, meaning and memory.
Travel marketing has always focused on what you can do. Hike this. Ski this. Eat here. We decided to flip it and ask what this place actually does to you.
People who have experienced awe at Lake Tahoe talk often about the intangible feeling of being by the water, so we went looking for a way to prove it. That search led us to Dr. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, whose research showed that experiencing awe in nature drastically improves mental health. We reached out directly with an idea to use his study. His response was bigger than the ask: let’s turn Lake Tahoe into a living laboratory and study it in real time.
The Visit Lake Tahoe staff and board agreed, signing on to fund an unprecedented, two-year field study.
The Study
During the summer of 2025, Dr. Paul Piff and his research team from UC Irvine set out to measure how experiencing awe at Lake Tahoe actually affected people.
Through a combination of experiments and surveys involving more than 1,000 people, the research team examined the awe-inspiring effects of Lake Tahoe and the positive consequences these effects have on people’s well-being, social connection and concern for nature.
The Power of Awe
The results? Groundbreaking data proving awe experiences help people connect more deeply with each other, engage more meaningfully with place and leave feeling better than they arrived.
-
14
%
Gratitude Increase After Short Hikes
-
37
%
Contentment Increase From Epic Views for Two Minutes
-
33
%
Happiness Increase From Epic Views for Two Minutes
-
12
%
Overnight Lodging Spend YoY
-
20
%
Environmental Stewardship Boost
-
13
%
Confidence In Meaningful Conversations After Experiencing Awe for Two Minutes
The Campaign
Instead of turning the research into just a scientific report, we turned it into a story, called Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection.
The Docuseries
We created a three-part docuseries following Dr. Paul Piff and his research team’s unprecedented Tahoe study, which premiered on March 16, 2026. Through Outside TV and YouTube, this became a cultural story about connection rather than a destination campaign.
Docuseries Promotion
We wanted a promotional style that would build intrigue and creatively feel like the promotion of a documentary, not a tourism ad. Paid media assets were treated like indie documentary film promotions, using stark, thought-provoking questions about loneliness, connection and human scale to pull audiences into the science. Instead of selling Tahoe, we started asking questions to get people thinking about themselves and their world.
What if feeling small is actually good for you? How does slowing down give you more time? Can awe make big conversations feel less big?
Beyond Awestruck’s digital experience was meant to be as immersive as possible. More than just a place to house the episodes of the docuseries, it’s also meant to make a compelling case for Tahoe itself. As users learned more about the making of the series, the scientific studies and their outcomes, they were immersed in the beauty of Tahoe. This digital activation helped drive a feeling of awe and a longing to visit in person that took advantage of the many well-placed invitations to begin planning your trip.
Thought Leadership
Dr. Piff hit the podcast, media and keynote circuits, cementing Lake Tahoe as the global authority on the science of human wellbeing rather than a place to buy a lift ticket.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to tempt people to visit Lake Tahoe for a vacation that changes you. We paired custom-captured, awe-inspiring imagery and video with simple, Dr. Piff research-backed truths and action-oriented CTAs to encourage trip planning.
A Brand Built for Impact
This new brand foundation was built to evolve. To meet the world where it is and have a voice that attracts people who will love and take care of Tahoe the way it deserves.
The strategy worked brilliantly. Using the Zartico analytics platform, the data proved this initial rebrand fundamentally shifted tourist behavior. Crucially, it relieved physical pressure on the land.
-
+30
%
Overnight lodging spend skyrocketed
-
+6
%
More Time Spent In Market
-
-14
%
Visits to Emerald Bay
-
-26%
Visits to Stateline
What We Found
The results? Awe-inducing.
We’ve found a new way of thinking about tourism marketing. When you change how people feel about a place, you permanently change how they treat it. And if you can create that feeling early, you don’t just influence a trip, you influence what that trip becomes, which translates into longer stays, more exploration and return visits.
-
19M
+
Documentary Views
-
1.5M
+
Hours of Sustained, Uninterrupted Viewing
-
4.96
%
Teaser CTRs
(Well above 2.25% benchmark)
-
23k
+
Hours of Podcast Listens
A wilderness guide in Alaska was so profoundly moved by the Beyond Awestruck docuseries that he wrote a letter to Dr. Piff thanking him and shared the dedicated newsletter he published, which dismantled his own industry’s marketing tactics, and passionately shared Tahoe’s message to his personal database of 12,000 outdoor enthusiasts.
The Beyond
And this is only the beginning. The study continues through 2027 and is currently generating three peer-reviewed academic papers that position awe as the antidote to modern societal issues.
- How awe triggers pro-environmental behavior and planet stewardship.
- How awe de-escalates political divisiveness and heals social friction.
- How awe repairs disconnected family dynamics through shared experience.
Visit Lake Tahoe set out to build a brand voice strong enough to save its own ecosystem. In doing so, they created a blueprint for the future of travel, proving that destination marketing can be an act of global public health.
Lets make this year your best yet.