During such challenging times, it can be downright uplifting to find out about people who are helping each other out. So, it was an extra-special treat for me to come across this story of the “Together, We Rise” campaign based in my hometown of Phoenix.
Visit Phoenix, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the Greater Phoenix community to a global audience of travelers, initially kicked off the campaign in late March 2020 to offer direct support to local hospitality workers who are struggling due to layoffs at restaurants, bars or hotel and beverage services. Proceeds from Together, We Rise-themed T-shirts go to an emergency relief fund with Another Round, Another Rally, a nonprofit financial resource for the hospitality industry.
When they saw how much the community rallied around the cause, Visit Phoenix added another component to the campaign. “Since then, we’ve expanded the ‘Together, We Rise’ message to encompass the entire Phoenix community coming together and coming out of this pandemic stronger than before,” said Megan Trummel, director of marketing and corporate communications at Visit Phoenix.
“We wanted to see people show off their new t-shirts, plus get creative while staying at home. … We asked people to take pictures and film 10-second videos of them showing off something related to ‘Together, We Rise.’” Visit Phoenix used Hightail’s Uplink feature to easily collect those image and video files. (A Hightail Uplink makes it intuitive for people to send you files by visiting a unique web link that you can customize.)
They then promoted the campaign through the Visit Phoenix social media channels.
“Seeing people interact with the campaign is not just fun for us, but it gives a personal touch for more people to connect to and be a part of,” Trummel said. “We loved to see what people submitted.”
“We wanted to bring the concept to life in the community, and requesting the visuals did that,” Trummel said. “We hope to continue to promote this positive message and sell more T-shirts to benefit local hospitality workers who are experiencing hardship.”
You can check out the uplifting “Together, We Rise” video that Visit Phoenix put together here, and there’s still time to participate in the fundraiser here.
