I start with why people buy. Then I build brands around culture and belonging, the kind people feel and keep coming back to.
Chief Marketing Officer, Discover Puerto Rico. Formerly Hurtigruten, IAAPA, LEGO and Webroot.
Travel & hospitality · Attractions & live events · Consumer brands · Technology
Featured in PRWeek Travel Weekly Parade Yahoo Travel PhocusWire
The most powerful thing a brand can do is make someone feel they belong somewhere.
I learned that at Ben & Jerry's, building loyalty around a brand that stood for something. Ten countries later, it still holds. Travel, attractions, consumer brands, tech. An island, a toy, a cruise, a phone plan. Bring people together around something they care about, and the business follows.
At Discover Puerto Rico I rebuilt the island's brand from consumer psychology research up, centred on local voices, culture and the people who make it home. At Hurtigruten I pulled regional stories into one global voice for a premium expedition brand and ran the Americas business as Interim Managing Director. Earlier, I repositioned 15 global brands at LEGO and helped build Verizon's Visible from scratch.
And I'm a little obsessed with why people buy. Every brand I've built starts there, with consumer psychology: the motivation, the fear, the habit or the hope underneath the decision. Get that right and the creative, the media and the numbers have something true to stand on. Puerto Rico's Awaken Your Senses was built that way, from research into how travelers actually feel, not what they say they want.
I lead with heart, I measure what matters, and I like to stay close to the work.
Twelve top-tier placements (Vogue, NYT Travel, National Geographic, Billboard) against a goal of one or two. Brand recall up 18.7% after a 62% cut in brand budget, and 114:1 return on the marketing investment.
One global brand voice across markets, guests and travel advisors. A 125-person team. The highest-revenue promotion in company history, with 60% new customers and 40% upgrading.
A $150M+ brand budget and full P&L for the global Boys portfolio, modernising the marketing while protecting one of the world's most loved brands.
Brand and digital transformation for the global attractions community, with member satisfaction up 35%, a flagship trade show, sponsor programs on three continents, and an AI assistant built for members.
| Code | Event | When | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | Destinations International Marketing & Communications Summit Cleveland. “Turning Cultural Moments Into Destination Momentum,” how Puerto Rico turned Bad Bunny’s residency into demand | February 2026 | Spoke |
| MIA | eTourism Summit Miami Beach | November 2026 | On stage |
| DUB | Future. Destination. Brand. DTTT, Dublin | 3 December 2026 | On stage |
Also a SKIFT Awards judge. Topics I love: the consumer psychology behind why people buy, brands in the age of AI search, sensory and cultural storytelling, and building community around a place, a product or a passion.
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For brand, creative and content leaders
When AI decides what gets recommended, the brands that stopped telling their story disappear.
Budgets are moving away from brand awareness just as AI assistants become the new front door for travel and shopping. AI echoes what the world already says about you. What that means for brand investment, earned media, and earning your share of the model.
For CMOs, CEOs and boards
Culture, community and the psychology behind every booking.
People rarely buy the thing. They buy who they get to be and the story they'll tell afterwards. Drawing on consumer psychology and real work, from turning Bad Bunny's residency into destination momentum for Puerto Rico to LEGO and expedition cruising, how to build brands around culture and belonging that people keep coming back to.
For marketers, destinations and consumer brands
Earlier: Haitsu Agency (built Verizon's Visible brand), Logitech, Otterbox, Vermont Teddy Bear, Ben & Jerry's and Burton Snowboards.
stormtussey@gmail.com
