The Trust Behind the Strategy: A New Series in Destination Leadership from Martin County
An interview-inspired series exploring how relationships, stakeholder intelligence, and community trust enable DMOs to innovate.
The most innovative destination strategies rarely begin with a campaign concept, a new technology, or a clever tagline. More often, they begin with something far less visible: trust.
During a recent episode of The Insightful Podcast, I spoke with Nerissa Okiye about Martin County’s “AI Means More Here” campaign. What began as a conversation about creativity and co-creation quickly revealed a much larger story about destination leadership.
The campaign itself is compelling. Rather than following the rush to adopt artificial intelligence, Martin County reinterpreted “AI” through experiences that reflect the destination—including authentic interactions, active immersion, artistic inspiration, and accessibility and inclusion. In short, this campaign was nothing short of brilliance IMO.
But believe it or not, the most important lesson was not the wordplay.
It was the network of relationships behind it.
We’ve talked at length in this blog post, as well as on insightful moments podcast about the role that relationships play in determining successful outcomes for DMOs.
Martin County’s ability to pursue an unconventional idea was supported by years of stakeholder listening, transparent communication, community involvement, and consistent delivery. Additionally they have taken the stance that relationships are stronger if they are ongoing and consistent, and not simply transactional. Those relationships gave the organization something every innovative DMO needs: permission to experiment.
As Nerissa explained:
“We’ve built the trust where they let us do something kind of out of the box.”
That observation raises several important questions for destination leaders:
How does a DMO earn permission to take creative risks?
Can a strategy be co-created even when stakeholders are not directly involved in every decision?
How can stakeholder conversations become destination intelligence?
What does it mean for a DMO to serve as an ecosystem orchestrator?
How can leaders represent diverse interests without trying to satisfy everyone?
Can organizational constraints become a source of strategic differentiation?
These questions will guide a new Greater Insights series: The Trust Behind the Strategy: Lessons in Destination Leadership from Martin County.
Across the series, I will examine how trust, stakeholder knowledge, bridging relationships, and community credibility helped create the conditions for innovation. The goal is not simply to retell the story of one campaign. It is to identify practical lessons that other destination organizations can apply within their own communities.
The first article begins with the foundation beneath everything else:
Trust is the real innovation engine.
