Interactive travel journal: Evocative portrait of the Pacific Northwest

The Portland-based agency collaborated with a team of photographers, writers, video and sound artists to create This Place, a multimedia storytelling platform dedicated to the beauty of the Oregon coast. 

The project consisted of a film documentary and a series of interactive journal posts featuring short vignette videos, photography slideshows, quotations from local inhabitants and sound clips that enabled visitors to experience the landscape in a more evocative and personal way, ‘from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl who has lived in a coastal town her whole life, or of a fisherman who spends most of his time out on the water’, explains the team from Instrument.

The project was an experiment in pushing the boundaries of digital storytelling, with a free-form narrative and different elements released in stages and across several platforms, starting with a teaser Instagram challenge before the site was launched with the centrepiece film. To keep viewers engaged, each week the agency added new chapters focusing on a different location. 

Travel companies are increasingly rethinking their point of difference and turning to editorial-style storytelling in a bid to capture the imagination of travellers who expect a more curated offer. For more, see our Seed on Jungles in Paris.