How to Create a Summer Bucket List Challenge in 6 Easy Steps

Capitalize on Summer with a Bucket List Challenge

Summertime is a booming season for most destination marketing organizations (DMOs). Travel is at an all-time high, kids are out of school, and parents are ready to use their PTO. So how can destinations strategically take advantage of this travel surge to guide visitors and locals alike, increase engagement, promote longer stays, and encourage more fun in the sun? The answer: create a Summer Bucket List Challenge.

What is a Summer Bucket List Challenge?

A Summer Bucket List Challenge also known as a check-in challenge, tourism trail, or digital passport, is a gamified list of places or activities people can check in to and earn digital passport incentives. These digital experiences can be central to destination marketing strategies and provide valuable content and data for DMOs as well as drive foot traffic to local businesses. They combine the fun of traditional bucket lists with the excitement of a digital passport. Visitors enjoy exploring and participating, while destinations collect valuable first-party data. It’s a win-win for everyone. For example, Explore Utah Valley collected 400 email addresses and 245 user-contributed photos in the first 14 days of the Utah Valley Summer Bucket List Challenge, as we recently shared in a case study. 

How to Create a Summer Bucket List Challenge

Step 1: Define Objectives

First, determine what you aim to achieve with your challenge. Your goals might include increasing visitor engagement, distributing visitors throughout a destination, gaining visitor insights, or boosting local businesses. A Summer Bucket List Challenge can help extend travelers' stays, increase their spending, and enhance their satisfaction, encouraging them to return. You can also promote seasonal events like festivals, and combat seasonality by collecting email addresses for future retargeting. Clearly define your goals before you start to maximize the benefits of your challenge.

Define the Target Audience

When defining your target audience for your challenge, it's essential to consider several aspects. First, identify the age range of your audience. Are they children, teenagers, adults, or seniors? Different age groups have varying interests and abilities, which will influence the types of challenges and rewards you create. Next, consider whether your challenge is aimed at a specific gender or is gender-neutral, as this can help tailor the content and themes to better engage your audience.

Understanding the interests and hobbies of your target audience is crucial. Are they interested in outdoor activities, cultural experiences, food and dining, or shopping? Alternatively, you might want to focus on a niche interest like Star Wars, tacos, or the Olympics. Knowing their interests will help you create relevant and exciting challenges. Additionally, decide if your challenge is aimed at locals, visitors, or both. For locals, think about what they can accomplish within 3 months, considering their familiarity with the area and daily routines. For visitors, consider the average length of their stay and create challenges that can be completed within that duration.

Finally, understanding how much time your audience can dedicate to your challenge will help you build a digital passport with achievable badges and prizes. By considering these factors, you can create a more engaging and relevant challenge for your target audience, ensuring higher participation and satisfaction.

Step 2: Select Points of Interest and Tasks

Choose varied, interesting, and appropriate locations and tasks for your target demographic. If your goal is to encourage locals to spend more money in the community, your Summer Bucket List Challenge should feature small businesses and locally owned establishments. Amplify this goal by implementing custom digital badges that are unlocked at each milestone, such as the "Small Biz Hero" badge or the "Local Foodie" badge.

Take inventory of typical summer bucket list activities by researching what’s trending. Don’t limit yourself to specific locations. Create an experience-driven digital passport featuring general categories of activities like going boating, watching sunsets, and attending happy hours. With over 188k posts on Instagram under the hashtag #summerbucketlist, you can find plenty of inspiration for popular activities people are sharing.

Pick locations that make your destination stand out by considering all the unique summertime activities it offers. Create a comprehensive list by brainstorming with your marketing team, locals, or influencers.

If your list includes lots of places, organize your attractions into categories like "Outdoor Adventures," "Cultural Experiences," and "Family Fun" to help structure the challenge and align it with your marketing goals and target audience. This organization allows you to create specific badges that align with the prizes you are offering, enhancing the overall appeal and engagement of the challenge.

Step 3: Choose a Platform

Choosing the right visitor experience platform is crucial for your Summer Bucket List Challenge. While many options exist, some lack the flexibility and customization needed for an engaging experience, while others are too complex for easy management.

Additionally, it's essential to have a platform that allows you to self-serve and build your challenge quickly to take advantage of seasonal marketing opportunities. Timing is key, and the ability to launch your challenge swiftly can make a significant difference in capturing the interest of your target audience.

With Explore, this process is simple and efficient. Our turn-key solution, called Challenges, enables you to create interactive digital passports with a modern, customizable user interface that seamlessly integrates with your brand. The platform supports essential functionalities like check-ins, progress tracking, leaderboard, activity feed, visitor insights and notifications.

With your platform, goal, and structure in place, you have everything you need to design your challenge.

Step 4: Design the Experience

Creating an engaging user experience involves providing clear instructions, appealing visuals, and a user-friendly interface. Include beautiful photos and concise, compelling descriptions for each place and activity in your digital passport. This makes the challenge more attractive and engaging for users. Effective badge design is also important. Ensure that your badges are visually appealing and recognizable even at small scales. They should align with your brand’s aesthetics and values, enhancing brand recognition and loyalty.

Selecting enticing prizes is crucial for motivating participation. Choose rewards that are desirable and relevant to your target audience, such as exclusive experiences or branded merchandise. When Visit Stockton launched the Stockton Flavor Fest Check-in Challenge at their annual food festival, they offered appealing prizes like water bottles and beach cruisers, keeping them on display in the merchandise tent to attract attention. Similarly, the Maine Wine Trail Check-in Challenge incentivizes participation with fun bumper stickers handed out at the first check-in at participating wineries, along with larger prizes like wine glasses, T-shirts, and gift certificates. By selecting engaging and relevant prizes, you create a user experience that not only captivates users but also reinforces your brand and encourages active participation.

Step 5: Launch and Promote

Launch your Summer Bucket List Challenge on an SEO-friendly platform to attract organic traffic. Promote the challenge extensively through social media, local media outlets, and partnerships with local businesses and attractions. Ensure the challenge is prominently featured on your website’s homepage, allowing visitors to join even before they arrive.

Equip participating businesses with all the necessary materials to encourage visitor participation, including informational packets, posters, and postcards with QR codes. These tools will help drive engagement and ensure a successful launch.

Step 6: Monitor and Optimize

Track participation and feedback to make necessary adjustments. Collect and analyze user data, including email addresses and preferences, to inform future campaigns. This data-driven approach will enhance your marketing efforts and drive sustained engagement.

Once you've completed your Summer Bucket List Challenge, consider launching other types of challenges to boost visitor engagement. Here are 12 of our favorite digital passports to inspire you this summer.

Create Your Summer Bucket List

Are you ready to create your summer bucket list challenge? Explore is here to power your summer success.