Our mission was to restore Americans’ work/life balance by reminding endangered Americans how important vacation time is for their overall well-being. We realized the message would be more powerful if it came from the animals of Costa Rica, many of whom were once endangered. Animals who have benefited from humans’ protection could now return the favor.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a music video, featuring the animals of Costa Rica serenading the overworked to find refuge in Costa Rica, that ran online and in cinemas. Other elements include a campaign website SaveTheAmericans.org, wild postings, a sand sculpture on Wall Street, and an office building stunt in LA.

We launched with the animals of Costa Rica reaching out to Americans through a music video which ran online and in cinemas. The animals serenaded overworked Americans with a reworked version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, encouraging Americans to find sanctuary in Costa Rica.

The video drove to SaveTheAmericans.org, where the overworked could explore 30 “human sanctuary” videos, find trip-planning information, and see other overworked Americans who had been “saved.”

We reached busy office workers with a giant sand sculpture near the Wall Street bull in NYC on one of the coldest days of the year, and in Chicago and Toronto, Wild Postings with quotes from the animals encouraged people to work less.

In Los Angeles, we surprised office workers by placing giant sloths on a window washing cage. Those who took a picture and shared it using the hashtag #slothsweepstakes were eligible to win a trip to Costa Rica.

We brought attention to the societal epidemic of overwork, and scored high on objectives:

Increased intent to visit: Viewers exposed to the message were 59% more likely to visit Costa Rica after seeing it in cinemas (Source: Market Force Study).

Increased visitation: Visitors from the US and Canada increased 8% during the campaign period. During the 6 months preceding the Save the Americans campaign, visitation growth was flat. From zero growth to 8% growth meant a real impact for the Costa Rican economy.

Increased tourism revenue: The campaign increased tourism revenue to Costa Rica by almost $126 million. The campaign brought 89,687 more visitors to the country, who spent an average of $1400 a piece, resulting in an economic lift that really made a difference (Source: Costa Rica Tourism Board Visitation Data).

Thousands of trips meant thousands of people “saved” by a desperately needed vacation to Costa Rica. Mission accomplished.