Outside Chicago Case Study: Discovering Cook County

The setup

Outdoor adventures hiding just outside Chicago

Chicago is known as the “city in a garden”, but the surrounding suburbs have their own fair share of green spaces.

Beyond the skyscrapers and big city buzz, Chicago’s suburbs are home to over 70,000 acres of forest preserves, parks, shorelines, ziplines, hiking and biking trails, kayaking, and camping. That’s more than 10% of all the land in Cook County, dedicated to forests and parkland.

But surprisingly, many locals had no idea about the abundant outdoor opportunities in their community, hidden in plain sight. That was partly due to a lack of a centralized location to explore all Cook County has to offer for outdoor activities, which are spread out across multiple CVBs. That meant many amazing outdoor gems were unfortunately under-utilized.

Luckily, Cook County and the regional CVBs surrounding Chicago saw an opportunity to remedy this situation and attract more visitors.

They brought in the Envisionit team to create a website that promotes the region’s diverse outdoor assets (from 350 miles of trails to an elk pasture) while balancing the needs of five separate CVBs and one of the largest forest preserve systems in the country. A walk in the park, right? Here’s how we did it.

The solution

A digital home for Chicagoland’s outdoor gems

Launched in spring of 2024, the Outside Chicago website is a true showcase of the diverse outdoor adventures waiting to be discovered just outside the city limits.

In partnership with five collaborating DMOs (Chicago’s North Shore CVB, Chicago Southland CVB, Meet Chicago Northwest, Rosemont CVB, and Visit Oak Park, coming together as Tourism Alive), the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, and the Forest Preserves of Cook County, we created a brand experience aimed at building awareness and encouraging people to venture outside the city and explore the natural beauty around them, thereby driving visitation to the communities where these fantastic parks, trails, and nature centers are located.

The strategy

Connecting Chicagoland to the great outdoors

Guided by insights on search behaviors and audience mindsets, our team conducted thorough audits of existing DMO digital assets and developed new ones where we identified gaps.

For example, there was a critical focus on equity and diversity, especially for visual assets. Our team organized and led a photo and video shoot that featured a wide array of subjects, including families, LGBTQ+ couples, and nature lovers with disabilities to bring to life the inclusivity and accessibility of Cook County outdoor areas.

Our preliminary efforts led to the development of a foundational content strategy and data approach. This strategy focuses on efficient user journeys with engagement points that not only drive exploration on the site but also funnel traffic to DMO properties for deeper engagement.

The Outside Chicago website includes:

A custom design that breathes life into the new Outside Chicago brand
A wealth of brand new photography that showcases the area’s diversity and sparks inspiration
An interactive map to help orient visitors to the region and encourage exploration near and far
A simple navigation that helps users discover places to explore based on their interests and location
An array of blog content offering insider tips, accessibility information, and so much more

In addition to serving as a hub for marketing activities, the website represents an opportunity to funnel traffic and engagement across the county by encouraging users to delve deeper and acting as a portal into each DMO’s content.

The website officially launched in May 2024, just in time for summer. The launch was supported by a robust multi-channel promotional effort, including paid social, local media coverage, paid search and display campaigns, and beyond.

The results

A solid start to welcome the summer season

Lauded by county officials, the program and website launch have been a resounding success for this first-of-its-kind collaboration. The early results are a testament to Chicagoans’ interest in exploring the outdoors — and an early indicator of a successful future for the program.

The team has continued building on the site’s early success, including additional photo and video shoots to showcase an even broader range of the Chicagoland area. With the foresight to establish a content infrastructure to support upwards of 78 distinct locations, people will be exploring the site and the suburban Chicago outdoors for years to come.