Entered by Camarillo Hotel & Tourism Association (Visit Camarillo), in partnership with The Abbi Agency

Camarillo sits an hour north of Los Angeles on Highway 101, between two of California's most famous coastal destinations. To most travellers it is a freeway exit, a small airport, or a stop at the Premium Outlets. Visit Camarillo is a Tourism Marketing District funded entirely by local lodging businesses, so success is measured in overnight stays — and a pass-through reputation does not fill hotel rooms.

The destination also had a positioning problem. Its marketing leaned on the same pillars as every mid-sized Californian town: sunshine, shopping, convenience. None of it explained why Camarillo is unlike anywhere else. Meanwhile the city holds unique assets that had never been used as brand storytelling — the Camarillo White Horse, a rare breed that exists nowhere else on earth, multi-generational farming families, and family-run restaurants that have anchored the community for more than fifty years.