Project Overview
Gabby Beckford is the multi-award-winning travel influencer and “opportunity expert” behind the travel blog Packs Light. Through her passion, she makes the world’s most incredible travel more easily accessible to globetrotters by entertaining, inspiring, and empowering them before and throughout their travels. Her brand is particularly focused on achieving this for Black, Women, and Gen Z travelers.
Beckford has visited over 40 countries and has even given a TEDx talk about her experiences. This has helped her grow her community, the Young Travelers Network, to over 8,000 young travel lovers and her TikTok to over 320,000.
Beckford has also been a part of various creator programs run by Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Her mission is to empower young people to seek risk, seize opportunity, and avoid debt so they can go out and see the world for themselves.
The Problem
When Beckford initially approached Otter PR, she had already made an incredible name for herself on social media. However, she expressed wanting to expand her digital presence and brand recognition, as well as promote her new Study Abroad Redo Grant, which she created specifically for people who missed out on the opportunity to travel abroad earlier in their lives.
During initial talks with Beckford, our team recognized opportunities to help her gain further credibility and brand recognition by sharing her experience and expertise about traveling solo as both a Black woman and a Gen Z-er on a budget.
The Strategy
Otter PR knew that maximizing opportunities surrounding timely topics and emerging travel trends would be key in crafting Beckford’s comprehensive media strategy. At this time, news cycles were abuzz with headlines surrounding post-Covid travel trips, tricks, and guides.
We set out to capitalize on these topics and others surrounding the travel and lifestyle industries. Using our extensive media network of journalists, reporters, and influencers, we focused our campaign on propelling Beckford’s brand forward to ensure her place as a thought leader in these sectors.
Along with this campaign, our team also knew that travel topics are not always trending in news cycles, especially during the off-season. Keeping this in mind, we focused on a secondary approach to our strategy by pitching Beckford as an expert in budgeting, what (and how) to pack, her personal experiences in multiple countries, and more. This combined approach advanced our efforts to establish Beckford as a leading travel expert and highlight her brand as the go-to place for all younger solo travelers on a tight budget.
Business Impact (results)
Since our team’s first conversation with Beckford, she has obtained over 150 pieces of coverage in top-tier outlets, including Bustle, CNN, New York Weekly, USA Today, Yahoo! Finance, and more. Along with coverage related to the travel and lifestyle industries, our team also successfully secured featured quotes for Beckford as an expert on TikTok and its potential ban in the US.
Beckford is now a highly sought-after thought leader who can easily speak on topics such as products everyone should travel with, travel safety, and how to budget for your next trip. In a testimony to her authenticity, Beckford has successfully managed to continue traveling the world, creating content, and living by her brand’s values throughout her partnership with Otter PR.
Tags: Travel
