When we step out into the world, we are forever transformed by the places, cultures, and people we encounter. With every journey, we change, and we grow. Because travel forces us to see and connect with one another in ways we can’t if we just stay home. We’re confronted with a view of the world that can’t be had from behind a screen.

Yet, after enduring a pandemic where travel all but ceased for the first time in modern history, and a year of isolation reopened societal wounds that left the world feeling more distant than ever, Marriott Bonvoy – Marriott International’s travel marketplace – needed to make a bold declaration: Travel is an antidote to biases and narrow minds.

With its global “Power of Travel” campaign, Marriott Bonvoy called on the world to embrace the transformative power of travel as a vital pathway to growth, healing, and unity. A series of 20 films invited travelers to go out and experience the world’s wonders again – vividly bringing to life the personal impact of travel and how it transforms our views of the world.

In out-of-home, personal moments of transformation further reignited society’s need for travel. Through a series of triptych-like collages, revelatory travel moments were paired with unignorable proclamations of travel’s purpose.

Shot by renowned photographer Tom Craig in London and Greece, each image gave travel’s transformative power a human face. From burnt-out work-from-homers craving a perspective outside of bedroom offices, to the long-delayed weddings, to curious children encountering new cultures, to the emotionally exhausted looking to reflect on the past year – each image showcased how all can seek refuge in the joy, reconnection and appreciation of the world only travel brings.

The overall campaign was an immediate success. Since launching June 24th, 2021 the campaign has delivered over 400MM+ impressions across Linear TV, streaming, digital, and social platforms. This was an aggressive push due to some noteworthy launch moments with the NBA Finals, Hulu takeover, YouTube Video Masthead Takeover, and Twitter Trend promoting #TravelMakesUs. While full campaign metrics won’t be available until mid-campaign so far the films have exceeded benchmarks with 98% of people viewing our spot to completion thus far in the flight.

The end result was a campaign that evoked not only the physical destinations one reaches when they travel, but also the personal and spiritual destinations travel lifts them to. And with thousands of destinations to explore, experiences to discover, and people to meet, the campaign invited people to expand their worlds with a simple invitation: ‘Where Can We Take You?’