Explore Seattle Southside – Welcome Back, Aliens

Entered by Seattle Southside Regional Tourism AuthorityFifteen minutes south of downtown Seattle, Seattle Southside is home to SeaTac, Tukwila, and Des Moines. While the area includes the Sea-Tac International Airport, it doesn’t have famous attractions like other popular destinations, and it has struggled to attract visitors beyond their flight layover. To raise awareness and get visitors to stay a few extra days, a campaign was created to leverage Explore Seattle Southside’s Curiously Wonderful brand platform: highlighting unexpected experiences you can’t find anywhere else.The U.S. government confirmed the presence of aliens, sparking a cultural fascination many brands have tried to exploit. Unlike those brands, Explore Seattle Southside has an authentic extraterrestrial legacy. In 1947, six flying saucers hovered the area, known as the Maury Island Incident. Building on this history, the team launched the “Welcome Back, Aliens” campaign, inviting interstellar tourists back to see the curiously wonderful changes made since they last visited 77 years ago. In doing so, they also aimed to surreptitiously attract Earthlings too.Explore Seattle Southside doesn’t have famous attractions like other popular destinations, but it embraces its quirks - from the Maury Island Incident to ranking #1 per capita in UFO sightings nationwide, even inspiring the Men in Black blockbuster movie franchise.The Strategy Seattle Southside may not have big-ticket attractions, but it makes up with its charm and quirkiness. Rather than chasing mainstream tourism trends, the team leaned into a global cultural obsession: extraterrestrials. By reframing the destination as a curiously wonderful UFO hotspot rooted in the true story of the Maury Island Incident, they created a campaign that reinforced the positioning as Curiously Wonderful.This story became the anchor for an integrated campaign design to increase awareness, drive engagement, and encourage participation.The target audience was travellers seeking the unexpected, including:Alien Chasers: a niche but passionate group of UFO enthusiasts seeking destinations tied to extraterrestrial loreContrarians: independent-minded travellers drawn to off-the-beaten-path experiencesTrend-Setters: early adopters who love discovering what’s next to share their unique finds with their networks. The campaign offered an unexpected twist with Seattle Southside’s alien narrative that gave them something conversation worthy targetingClassic Fun Families: seeking fresh, family-friendly fun. The team provided a blend of nostalgic Americana and pop culture, offering families a way to bond and learn more about the history of UFOs.Since aliens visits in 1947, Seattle Southside has become more curiously wonderful一making today the perfect time to rediscover. This multi-channel campaign invited extraterrestrials (and curious humans) to revisit everything that’s changed in 77 years. Using humour, mystery and nostalgia, the campaign reimagined what tourism marketing could be: immersive, story-driven, and delightfully weird (in the best way). It also aligned with the campaign’s primary objective—to boost the destination’s awareness in an authentic, culturally connected way.The campaign ran across video, digital, social, earned media and in-person touchpoints. Each strategically selected to meet each audience where they are and invite participation. By embracing its curiously wonderful side, Explore Seattle Southside proved the best way to stand out is to proudly lean into what makes you different.The ImplementationThe "Welcome Back, Aliens” campaign launched in July 2024 rolling out a series of imaginative, multi-channel activations that combined digital, experiential and earned media. The goal - to reposition Seattle Southside as a must-visit destination by embracing its quirky and authentic UFO history. A major challenge was balancing whimsy with credibility. Building a campaign around aliens risked coming off as gimmicky. The team addressed this by grounding the story in the real 1947 Maury Island Incident, striking a tone that was playful yet rooted in history. Another challenge was appealing to a diverse audience - from UFO enthusiasts to families and trend-setting travellers.This was solved this with layered messaging and content designed to engage on multiple levels - story-driven videos, including a playful “Welcome Back, Aliens” spot and a humorous take on cow abductions, a nod to a well-known alien trope, social content spotlighting new attractions since their last visit and earned media explaining the story of the Maury Island IncidentThe campaign incorporated creative stunts like crop circle QR codes, UFO parking spots, “hover-height” billboards to generate buzz. An activation at Westfield Southcenter Mall featured murals, AR alien encounters, illusion photo ops, and an Alien Communicator Booth, where visitors could leave interstellar messages inviting aliens back. UFO Telescopes at the Des Moines Marina let visitors search the skies for UFOs and a mobile UFO Mysteries Trail led visitors through 11 locations tied to the Maury Island IncidentAlien-themed merchandise such as cow plushies and 6-armed alien t-shirts were produced as memorable keepsakes. A dedicated landing page, available in English and “Alien” welcomed extraterrestrial guests and curious earthlings. By staying true to the brand and leaning into storytelling, the team transformed a little-known UFO incident into a full-fledged tourism campaign, one that sparked curiosity, invited exploration, and reminded travellers that sometimes the most unexpected places are the most unforgettable.The Results“Welcome Back, Aliens” evolved beyond a tourism campaign into a cultural reframe, transforming a niche UFO event into a widely embraced story-driven platform. This positioned Seattle Southside as a destination worth a detour, blending humour, creativity, and storytelling. The campaign delivered strong results aligned with the team’s objectives: Over 13 million earned media impressions expanded awareness, and broadcast coverage included King 5, KIRO7, Fox Local, PBS, and Good Day Seattle, generating an additional 30 million+ unique viewsMore than 3.5 million video views demonstrated high audience engagement and social media followers grew by 61%, boosting brand visibility and community interaction. The landing page attracted 14,000 visits, driving significant traffic to SeattleSouthside.com. The UFO Mysteries saw 120+ sign-ups in its first week, highlighting public fascination and driving immersive tourism. As Washington State’s largest shopping centre, the in-mall experience has contributed to increasing traffic by 11% over the same period in the previous year. Beyond numbers, the campaign strengthened local partnership and deepened community engagement with key stakeholders. While extraterrestrials have yet to return, human visitors have embraced Seattle Southside, proving an out-of-this world strategy can yield tangible real-world results.

Explore Seattle Southside – Welcome Back, Aliens

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