Field Notes

About Field Notes

The travel industry is evolving fast—how are you keeping up? Field Notes: Insights and Strategies for the Travel Marketer is your go-to podcast for expert insights, real-world strategies, and candid conversations with the people shaping the future of travel marketing. What You’ll Discover 🚀 Actionable Strategies – Learn from top industry experts, marketing leaders, and travel professionals as they share what’s working now. 🌍 Industry Trends – Stay ahead of emerging trends in digital marketing, destination branding, customer engagement, and more. 🎙️ Exclusive Interviews – Hear the voices behind successful campaigns, innovative tourism strategies, and game-changing marketing approaches. 📈 Real-World Insights – Get firsthand experiences, case studies, and behind-the-scenes knowledge from those who know the travel marketing landscape best.

Publisher

Advance Travel and Tourism

Category

business · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Feb 2025

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

55 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Oct 2026

   You Had to Be There

   We’ve spent years designing experiences people want to photograph, post and share. But what happens when documenting the moment starts getting in the way of actually experiencing it? In this episode of Field Notes, Sarah Dyer looks at the rise of phone-free concerts, parties and travel experiences — and what they might mean for destination marketers. From Fred again.. giving fans professional photos after phone-free shows to travel companies experimenting with unplugged trips, the question is becoming more interesting: Could some experiences become more valuable precisely because visitors don’t have to capture them? Maybe the next great travel experience isn’t designed for the camera. Maybe you just had to be there.

2. 

   23 Jul 2026

   Hot Jimothy Summer

   A strangely shaped raccoon running through a Seattle neighborhood has become one of the summer’s most revealing travel-marketing stories. In this episode of Field Notes: Insights and Observations for the Travel Marketer, Eric Hultgren examines the extraordinary rise of Jimothy—the beloved Ballard raccoon whose millions of views inspired tattoos, murals, merchandise, video games, a Mariners mascot and an official Seattle celebration. Jimothy’s story exposes a blind spot in destination marketing: the details capable of defining a place often disappear into the background for the people who see them every day. When something familiar suddenly captures the culture’s imagination, the opportunity belongs to destinations prepared to recognize it, respond quickly and give the community room to participate. Go to Google and type "Jimothy" and enjoy In This Episode Why the seemingly ordinary can become a destination’s most compelling story How familiarity creates editorial blindness The difference between borrowing attention and adding to a cultural moment How Seattle’s teams, artists, businesses and public institutions expanded Jimothy’s story The four questions every destination should answer before its own unexpected moment arrives Why stewardship matters when local attention turns into visitor interest You cannot schedule a phenomenon like Jimothy. You can build a destination capable of recognizing the spark when it appears. Jimothy did not make Seattle interesting. He revealed the version of Seattle people were ready to love. Subscribe to Field Notes for more insights and observations about culture, storytelling, technology and the changing work of the travel marketer.

3. 

   17 Jul 2026

   The Second Show: What Love Island Can Teach Us About Destination Marketing

   In this episode of Field Notes: Insights and Observations for the Travel Marketer, Sara Dyer uses an unexpected source of inspiration—Love Island USA—to explore one of the biggest shifts happening in marketing today: the realization that the story doesn't end when the content does. In many ways, that's when it truly begins. Sara examines how millions of viewers can watch the exact same television show yet walk away with completely different interpretations. Podcasts, TikToks, Reddit threads, reaction videos, and group chats don't simply discuss the show—they actively shape its narrative. The audience isn't just consuming content; they're participating in it. That observation becomes a powerful metaphor for destination marketing. Today's travelers rarely form their opinions from a visitor guide or tourism website alone. Instead, they assemble a destination's identity from countless touchpoints: creator videos, reviews, AI-generated recommendations, social media conversations, and personal referrals. By the time they arrive, they've already inherited a story. By the time they leave, they've contributed to one. The episode argues that every destination now has two stories. There's the place itself, and there's the version collectively written across thousands of conversations online. The most successful destinations understand they don't own that narrative outright—they participate in it, influence it, and help shape what future travelers will believe before they ever arrive. Key Takeaways Audiences don't simply consume stories—they actively reshape them. Public perception is formed across conversations, not individual pieces of content. Every destination has two identities: the physical place and the story people tell about it. Travelers increasingly build expectations through creators, reviews, AI, and recommendations before visiting. Visitor-generated content continues shaping destination perception long after a trip ends. Destination marketing is no longer about controlling the narrative—it's about contributing to it consistently and authentically. Topics Covered Love Island USA and collective storytelling How online communities shape public perception Social media, AI, and destination reputation The evolution of traveler discovery User-generated content and destination narratives Why the visitor experience continues after checkout

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 9 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

6

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32