Great destination marketing always begins with a story; exceptional destination marketing creates an authentic narrative, taking visitors on a journey that allows them to explore the very heart of a place.

That was the thinking behind "Sussex in Bloom," the award-winning campaign from Experience Sussex. Crowned as this year’s winner of the Excellence in Content & Storytelling category at our 2026 EMEA Summit Client Awards, this campaign blended editorial content, social storytelling, partner collaboration, and authentic local voices to great effect. As we’ll see, it was an effort that transformed the region's celebrated gardens and natural landscapes into a compelling seasonal narrative that inspired visitors to discover more of Sussex.
 

Turning a seasonal theme into a destination-wide story

Almost every destination can boast of a beautiful garden, but what set Sussex apart was its ability to weave a broader story around its striking green spaces.

Experience Sussex expanded the conventional garden tourism narrative to encompass floral displays, natural habitats, and landscapes as well as the many Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that dot the region. This approach allowed more businesses and partners to participate while showcasing the diversity of experiences available throughout Sussex.

At the heart of the campaign was a clear and consistent theme that provided a unifying thread across every channel, content format, and partner activation, creating a campaign that resonated with a wide range of visitors, whether they were seeking horticultural inspiration, scenic escapes, or seasonal experiences.
 

The power of authentic storytelling

With a strong strategy in place, Experience Sussex worked to ensure that its efforts were imbued with a true sense of authenticity. For the organisation, this meant boosting the campaign’s credibility by partnering with an award-winning Chelsea Flower Show garden designer. Using this expert perspective, the team were able to create insightful and engaging content, bringing the story of Sussex to life for all visitors.
 

Creating a greater impact through collaboration

Additionally, this winning campaign exemplified how collaboration can be used to enrich and strengthen destination storytelling.

As part of its efforts, Experience Sussex adopted a "shared asset" model that enabled businesses and destination partners to contribute, share, and reuse campaign content. This created a consistent visual identity and messaging framework while significantly expanding the campaign's reach across the Sussex region. This collaborative approach ensured that the story of “Sussex in Bloom” was amplified via multiple authentic voices, creating a richer and more engaging experience for audiences.
 

Meeting visitors — wherever they are

A key strength of “Sussex in Bloom” was its ability to guide audiences from inspiration to action. To this end, the campaign combined highly visual, social-first content — particularly reels showcasing seasonal experiences and iconic locations — with longer-form blogs and curated itineraries to encourage deeper exploration and trip planning.

As a body of work, the integrated content journey provided by Experience Sussex emphasises the importance of creating the right content for every stage of the visitor journey and serves as an example of success to other organisations within the sector. Supported by PR activity, regional media coverage, and a BBC radio interview, the campaign extended its reach beyond owned channels to introduced new audiences to the Sussex story.

Commenting on their efforts in their application submission for this category, the team at Experience Sussex said, “By combining compelling storytelling with measurable outcomes, the campaign demonstrated clear impact in both audience engagement and destination visibility — our original objective.”
 

Delivering measurable engagement

Ultimately, it was the campaign's ability to generate measurable engagement that helped it to secure this award. Across the campaign period, Experience Sussex’s social content generated:

  • A reach of more than 138,000 users
  • Views in excess of 209,000
  • Interactions with more than 3,400 users
  • A gain of more than 200 new followers

Even better, Sussex’s interaction with its audience continued once they reached the Experience Sussex website. Here, the campaign pages and blogs associated with “Sussex in Bloom” achieved a 74% engagement rate and delivered an 89% increase in active users, demonstrating the campaign’s ability to encourage exploration and extend dwell time.
 

A winning campaign

The judges described “Sussex in Bloom” as one of the clearest examples of what this category was designed to celebrate. In their comments, the judging panel recognised Experience Sussex’s work as a “great example of a storytelling campaign that also focuses on collaboration,” an effort that allowed for the scaling of quality content production while delivering tangible results.

For destinations looking to strengthen their own content marketing strategies, “Sussex in Bloom” serves as an award-winning reminder of the power that’s to be found not simply in telling a story or creating a tale, but in building the kind of narrative that brings everyone on a journey of discovery.

Congratulations to Experience Sussex, winners of the 2026 EMEA Summit Client Award for Excellence in Content & Storytelling.