Once You See, You Can't Unsee: The Travel Marketer's Guide to Reading Culture

What separates the travel marketers who see what's coming from the ones who are always reacting to it? It's not more data. It's a different way of looking. In this keynote, Eric Hultgren makes the case for trading the archeologist's mindset — reconstructing what was — for the anthropologist's — understanding what's becoming. The difference shows up in your content, your campaigns, and whether you're leading your audience or chasing them. Along the way, he walks through a jaguar tracker in the Amazon, a peanut butter sandwich that became an NFL licensing story, a shoe store in Brooklyn that turned a Tuesday into a purchase, a black box at a Michigan electronics company, and a fudge shop employee who didn't bother to put down her salad. What connects them: wonder dies from overexposure. The longer you've been in a space, the harder it is to see it. And the harder it is to see it, the harder it is to tell a story that makes someone move. This isn't a session about AI tools or content calendars. It's about the skill underneath all of it — curiosity as a competitive advantage, play as a professional practice, and the compass over the map as a strategic posture. If you work in travel marketing, DMO strategy, hospitality, or destination storytelling, this one's for you. Topics covered: Why data without story is just noise The archeological vs. anthropological view of your audience Culture doesn't reverse — and why 2019 is still haunting too many planning conversations What Harriet the shoe store associate can teach you about ethnographic hospitality How to rebuild curiosity when expertise has made you cynical Play vs. fun — and why the distinction matters for your team