Beyond the Likes: How Content Creators Drive Real Impact in Destination Marketing
📅 Thursday, April 10, 2025 | ⏰ 12 PM EST / 9 AM PST
Beyond the Likes is where we’re getting real about what actually works when destinations and influencers team up. No fluff, no vanity metrics—just proven strategies that drive tourism impact.
Join us for an expert-led conversation featuring real-world insights from top creators and destination marketers on:
✅ What makes influencer partnerships actually work (Hint: It’s not just follower count)
✅ How to track real impact (beyond likes & shares)
✅ Where influencer marketing is headed in 2025
🎟️ Spots are limited—register now!
Meet Your Hosts & Speakers
josh johnson – director of creative services
Known for building bridges between people, platforms, and ideas, Josh has a knack for aligning teams and clients around bold creative visions and compelling stories—then making sure they actually get delivered (on time, no less). His approach combines clarity with candor, collaboration with style, and a refreshing dose of realness that makes working with him feel less like work and more like building something meaningful together. When he’s not steering Madden’s Creative Services team toward bigger, bolder creative wins, you’ll find Josh channeling his desire for connecting people into lifestyle content as @thekentuckygent—where he blends his love for Southern hospitality and his community as expertly as the master blender at your favorite distillery.
🎤 Guest Panelists
Chase Vondran – @explorewithchase
Chase Vondran is a queer travel blogger, content creator and proud Midwest Gay (/They) based in Chicago. Their “Gay Things to Do” series features queer-friendly travel recommendations and destinations (including some places you may not expect) that prove everywhere is queer. Whether it’s highlighting the best spot to get brunch in Chicago, celebrating Pride in cities around the world or exploring queer small towns across the United States, they love to create informative and helpful content. By showing up as their true self, they create a space where their audience feels seen, valued and inspired to explore the world around them.
India Tate – @ourwanderlust_life
India is an outdoor content creator, photographer and solo mom. She specializes in creating family-friendly travel content, showing moms how to explore new places and embrace the joys of adventuring with their kids. By sharing real, relatable, and engaging travel stories, she has built a thriving community. With her expertise in storytelling, she connects with her audience in an authentic and impactful way.
Cory Lee – @curbfreecorylee
After being diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of two, Cory Lee’s thirst for adventure never ceased. He has traveled across all seven continents and over 50 countries in his powered wheelchair while managing to run his travel blog CurbFreeWithCoryLee.com, where he shares his accessible — and sometimes not so accessible — travel adventures with others. He is a five-time Webby Award winner, has won two Lowell Thomas Awards for Best Travel Blog, and recently, he starred in a Super Bowl commercial for Google Workspace. Cory’s goal is to inspire other wheelchair users to roll out of their comfort zones and see all of the beauty our world has to offer.