campaign case study

Falling for Sweetwater

a/b studios partnered with the City of Sweetwater, Monroe County Tourism, and Historic Main Street Sweetwater to test a hypothesis: that a short film, developed and distributed as part of a film tourism campaign, could generate more impact than a traditional tourism commercial on a comparable budget.

The result was Falling for Sweetwater, a narrative-forward marketing initiative centered around a branded short film set on Sweetwater’s historic Main Street. The campaign blended film tourism strategy, regional community targeting, and platform-aware distribution to promote Sweetwater as an affordable, aesthetic, romantic destination.

Film tourism is typically a retrospective effect — a town gets popular after a hit. But what if we could reverse-engineer it?

The idea was simple: the media created to market a film could also be the campaign. If the film’s distribution strategy was built around self-hosted travel guides, local press, and collaborative storytelling, then the businesses featured in the film would benefit directly — without paying for placement.

In other words: What if the most effective tourism asset… is a love story?

Plan your own rom-com in Sweetwater with the film travel guide!

Enjoy the same dates you see featured in How to Get the Girl and so much more in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Watch the full film on the Travel Guide page.

Click the one-pager to enlarge and read all the campaign’s outcomes!

Campaign Components:

  • Premiere Screening + Red Carpet

    Hosted in partnership with local businesses and civic leaders

  • Social Media Content Series

    Featuring BTS, cast spotlights, and a “Sweetheart Supercut” for digital reach

  • Living East Tennessee Multi-Location Segment

    Regional television coverage of the film and its creative vision

  • All-Year Event Integration

    The film was screened and supported at various 150th anniversary events

  • Feature Film Development Timeline

    Using the short as narrative groundwork for a longer-form project

  • Newsletter, Substack, and Blog Publishing

    Sharing the behind-the-scenes process and inviting audience engagement

Why It Worked

This project tapped into something essential: small towns hold big stories. When told with care, humor, and heart, these stories do more than entertain. They invite people in. They reshape perception. They build the kind of recognition that can’t be bought — only earned.

For funders and collaborators, Falling for Sweetwater demonstrates:

  • The value of partnering with filmmakers rooted in place

  • The potential of short films as dynamic, evergreen cultural assets

  • The power of storytelling to drive real-world outcomes (tourism, engagement, brand visibility)

Check out a few behind-the-scenes photos from the campaign press and premiere events!

Strategic Outcomes

Falling for Sweetwater wasn’t designed as a one-and-done project. It’s part of a larger experiment: What happens when cinematic storytelling becomes part of a town’s cultural and economic toolkit?

Here’s what emerged:

  • A replicable model for place-based short films that double as tourism and community engagement tools

  • Expanded visibility for Sweetwater across digital platforms and regional press outlets, fostering long-term relationships for future campaigns

  • Momentum toward the Sweetwater rom-com feature film — currently in development, with Sweetwater as both setting and partner

  • Deepened regional partnerships between filmmakers, small businesses, and local government

Let’s Collaborate

If you’re a city planner, local tourism board, regional arts agency, or small-town dreamer — and you see the value in telling cinematic stories where you live — we’d love to hear from you.

Reach out to us to explore a storytelling campaign for your town.