Sullivan County Visitors Association
Economic Development • Destination Marketing • Storytelling
The Need
When the Sullivan County Visitors Association (SCVA) asked us to produce a short video welcoming its new sister-city relationship with the Ternopil region of Ukraine, the request seemed straightforward: create a film introducing Sullivan County to a new international partner.
But Michael Martelon, President and CEO of SCVA, saw something larger. Having led destination marketing organizations in Telluride and Santa Cruz, he believed Sullivan County was at the beginning of a remarkable transition. Long known for the Catskills and tourism, it was also attracting new investment in advanced manufacturing, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and remote work. The county wasn't just rebuilding its visitor economy - it was redefining its future.
The Assignment
Rather than treating those as separate stories, we asked a different question. What if tourism became the front door to economic development?
The sister-city project gave us the opportunity to explore that idea. Working together, we developed a narrative that could introduce Sullivan County not only to visitors, but also to businesses, investors, prospective residents, and economic development partners. The same interviews, footage, and production became the foundation for a much broader story.
Our role centered on shaping that narrative and translating it into a script that moved naturally from history and hospitality to entrepreneurship, quality of life, and long-term opportunity. The goal wasn't simply to encourage people to visit Sullivan County. It was to help them imagine building something there.
The Result
Tourism provided the budget to tell its story. Economic development had an equally compelling story to tell, but fewer resources and opportunities to tell it. By building a narrative broad enough to serve both purposes, the project became more than a sister-city video. It became a communications platform that tourism, economic development, and community leaders could all use to describe where Sullivan County was headed.