Owning detour culture with the new Only In Your State
—powered by Ford & Walmart.
My contributions:
Brand Identity & Positioning
Go-To-Market Strategy
New Business Support
The challenge:
Despite consistently ranking among the Top 5 travel sites on Comscore, Only In Your State faced low recognition among consumers and advertisers. Its outdated identity, website, and user experience further limited its impact.
The goal was to solidify Only In Your State’s position as the leading resource for localized travel by building a strong consumer brand—deepening advertiser partnerships to drive revenue growth.
The approach:
I developed and introduced a new central ethos—“where the detour is the destination”—to guide the rebranding and revitalization of Only In Your State.
Alongside a cross-functional team, I collaborated with editorial and creative teams to build a refreshed brand identity and content strategy that set us apart from competitors and positioned us as the premier American travel brand.
Additionally, I worked with the product team to launch three innovative travel planning tools—Explorer, Dashboard, and Routes—that harnessed AI and advanced mapping technology to make our recommendations more actionable, establishing a unique space in detour culture and spontaneous travel.
The results:
+$1M
secured in new advertiser revenue tied to the relaunch.
+50%
increase in on-site engagement as a result of the new tools.
Walmart & Ford
secured as the official relaunch sponsor, as well as launch sponsor of the Explorer tool.
New site experience and brand identity.
The Explorer Tool: new AI-powered map feature, powered by Walmart+.
The Dashboard Tool: new AI-powered itinerary generated, powered by Ford.
The Dashboard Tool: new AI-powered itinerary generated, powered by Ford.
Times Square Billboard announcing Only In Your State relaunch.