Get to Know Newton
Destination Marketing
Bigger Than Its Past: Marketing a Small Iowa Town
Good destination marketing starts with how people actually see a place, and for years, people saw Newton through its past. The town was home to Maytag’s world headquarters, and when Maytag left, it left a hole in the local economy and in the way the rest of Iowa saw the place. That history still shapes how people think of Newton, and it can keep them from noticing what’s actually here today. The City of Newton knew it. What they needed from us was destination marketing that could show people the Newton that exists right now, and give travelers a real reason to make the drive.
Rebuilding a City Brand
Here’s the thing: Newton has plenty going for it. It has its own airport, its own fire and police departments, and the kind of infrastructure most towns this size can only dream of. It also had a head start. A few years back, the city launched a campaign called Get to Know Newton, built on a simple idea: Newton is a lot more than the town that used to house a headquarters. But the campaign kept going without much direction, and slowly its logo blended into the City of Newton’s own. Nobody could say where the city ended and the campaign began. The idea was right. It just needed a job, a plan, and a steady hand again. Because Newton really is a great place to live, work, and play. Those became our three pillars.
Start with the People: Storytelling Videos and a Website
So we started with the people. Newton’s best asset isn’t a building or a landmark. It’s the folks doing something worth noticing, so the campaign introduces them one at a time: individuals making a real impact in town, each one worth getting to know. Over two years we produced sixteen storytelling videos, eight the first year and eight the second, along with a collection of reels cut from them. We also built gettoknownewton.com, so every story has a home, with a page for each person, their video, and a reason to keep looking around.
The videos are the heart of this destination marketing work. They’re also only half of it. The city is the hero of this one. We’re just the guide who knew where to point the camera.
Fuego Hot Glass
Get to Know the People of Newton
Business owners, coaches, volunteers, and neighbors, one story at a time. Tap any story to watch.
From Videos to Visitors
A story nobody sees doesn’t bring anyone to town, so every stage got a paid campaign with its own job. A two-month launch campaign told people the new website existed. A three-month awareness campaign, co-branded and funded with Travel Iowa, kept Newton top of mind with “Why Newton” and “slow down in Newton” messaging.
The campaign running now is the biggest yet: a year-long push from July 2026 through June 2027 with Townsquare, aimed at couples, young families, and empty nesters who like outdoor recreation, small-town charm, and good local food. We aimed it at Newton’s top feeder markets, based on actual visitor data: Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Madison. And instead of spreading the budget evenly across twelve months, we put the most tactics into the months when people are actually planning trips. In those high-season months, streaming audio, pre-roll video, streaming TV, and display retargeting all run together, so the same person can run into Newton more than once, on more than one screen. The other months run leaner, with two tactics, so Newton stays visible without overspending while travel slows down.
Top Feeder Markets
- Chicago
- Minneapolis
- Kansas City
- Omaha
- Madison
Picked from actual visitor data. Aimed at couples, young families, and empty nesters who like the outdoors, small-town charm, and good local food.
High-Season Months
- Streaming audio
- Pre-roll video
- Streaming TV
- Display retargeting
All four run together when people are planning trips. The other months run leaner, with two tactics.
Newton, Right Now
A few of the places and faces from two years of shoots around town.
videos
impressions
the new site
click rate
completion
People Watched. People Came.
Start with attention, because Newton didn’t get skipped. The launch campaign delivered more than 968,000 ad impressions and sent over 3,100 clicks to the new website, 1,216 from the ads and 1,931 from the emails. The video ads clicked at 0.14%, about double the industry standard of 0.05 to 0.07%, and 67.7% of people who started a video finished it, ahead of the 60% industry benchmark. The Travel Iowa campaign held up even better. Streaming TV completion stayed at 98.8% or higher every single month, which means almost everyone who saw the ad watched it all the way through. Streaming audio racked up 52,223 listens and finished at 97.6% completion, and 2,178 people clicked through to gettoknownewton.com. And performance held steady the whole time, with no ad fatigue setting in.
Then the part the City of Newton cares about most: are people actually showing up? Two months into the current campaign, the answer is starting to be yes. High summer brought more than 309,000 impressions, with 97 to 98% completion on streaming TV and audio. Ad-influenced website visits nearly doubled from July to August, from 18 to 35. And we can see geo-verified visits to Newton from people who saw the ads: five in August, up from zero in July. These might seem like small numbers, but each number is a real person, with a real family who planned the trip, made the drive, and showed up to enjoy Newton.
Municipality Marketing: Let’s Get Your Town on the Map
If your city or town is better than people know, municipality marketing built around destination marketing might be exactly the move. Newton is a great example of what happens when you find the people worth getting to know, tell their stories well, and put them in front of the folks who’d love to visit. Let’s find yours.
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