Submitted by Billion Dollar BoyAgency IPI Score 83/100

The Leslie Jordan Tour

Influencer Marketing

Billion Dollar Boy handed actor and comedian Leslie Jordan the mic on a New York City bus tour to grow US awareness for GetYourGuide, generating 9M impressions and 14M hashtag views.

14MHashtag views
150Press coverage
9MTotal impressions
52.2KLanding page visits

About the campaign

GetYourGuide needed to grow brand awareness in the US and establish itself as the home of unforgettable travel experiences, in a category where polished, scripted travel advertising is the norm and feels removed from how people actually experience cities. Billion Dollar Boy's move was to make a bookable GetYourGuide experience the campaign itself, casting Emmy-winning actor and comedian Leslie Jordan as host of a one-of-a-kind New York City bus tour takeover, on the logic that no one frames a city like a beloved personality with a comedian's eye.

The activation ran in three phases: a tease in which Jordan announced the partnership through Instagram Reels and static posts on his own channels and GetYourGuide's, driving fans to a booking page to buy tickets; the live bus tour, with Jordan delivering commentary and comedic observations to passengers; and an amplification phase in which five content pieces from the event were pushed through paid social, a dedicated landing page and earned coverage across 150 press outlets.

From a single creator and five pieces of content, the agency reports 14 million impressions, 132,000 engagements and 52,200 landing page visits, and the campaign won a Gold Honor in the Instagram Partnership category at the 15th Shorty Awards along with a Webby.

Case in 60 seconds

GetYourGuide needed to grow brand awareness in the US and establish itself as the home of unforgettable travel experiences, in a category where scripted travel advertising is the norm.

No one frames a city like a local with a comedian's eye: pairing a recognizable New Yorker with the format GetYourGuide already sells could make the product and the creative device the same thing.

Billion Dollar Boy cast Emmy-winning actor and comedian Leslie Jordan as host of a one-of-a-kind NYC bus tour takeover, turning a bookable GetYourGuide experience into the campaign itself.

A three-phase activation ran from Jordan announcing the partnership on his own Instagram and GetYourGuide's channels, to a live bus tour in New York City, through to five content pieces amplified with paid social, a dedicated landing page, a booking page, and earned press coverage across 150 outlets.

The campaign generated 14M hashtag views and 52.2K landing page visits from a single creator and five content pieces, and won a Gold Honor at the Shorty Awards in the Instagram Partnership category as well as a Webby Award.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

US travelers and tourists, specifically Leslie Jordan's existing fanbase who could be converted into GetYourGuide awareness, and broader tourists visiting New York City.
Travel advertising typically relies on polished, scripted formats that feel removed from how people actually experience cities. Billion Dollar Boy framed the creative challenge as showing the real New York City through an authentic, unfiltered lens, a contrast to category conventions.
GetYourGuide competes in online travel booking, a crowded category where growing US awareness required differentiation from both competitor platforms and conventional travel advertising, per Billion Dollar Boy's case study.
GetYourGuide positioned itself as the enabler of genuinely unforgettable experiences, not just a booking utility. The campaign operationalized that positioning by making a bookable experience the creative centrepiece rather than showing a product in an ad.
Structuring the activation with a tease phase that drove fans to a ticket purchase page created a direct path from social attention to the product. The agency's strategy combined celebrity social buzz, earned PR, and paid amplification to extend a one-day live event into sustained impressions.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Instagram Reels (tease and tour content)
  • Instagram static posts
  • Dedicated campaign landing page
  • Booking page
  • Paid social targeting
  • GetYourGuide owned social channels
  • Leslie Jordan's personal Instagram
  • Earned press coverage (150 outlets)

Partners

  • Billion Dollar Boy (lead agency, per Shorty Awards database)
  • Leslie Jordan (talent/creator host)

Participation mechanic

  • Fans and tourists could purchase tickets to join the bus tour via the campaign booking page, converting social attention into a bookable product experience

Creator role

  • Lead host and on-tour personality for the live event
  • Primary content creator across Instagram Reels and static posts in the tease phase
  • Distribution node via Jordan's own Instagram audience

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Total impressions9MReachAgency reported
Hashtag views14MReachAgency reported
Landing page visits52.2KTrafficAgency reported
Press pieces earned150Earned mediaAgency reported

Awards & Recognition

Award showYearCategoryResultSource
Shorty AwardsNot stated in sourceInstagram PartnershipGold Honor—
Webby AwardsNot stated in sourcesNot stated in sourcesWinner—

Why Billion Dollar Boy's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Making the product and the creative device the same thing, in this case, a bookable city tour, meant the campaign demonstrated GetYourGuide's core offer rather than describing it. The Shorty Awards entry identifies this alignment as central to the concept.

  2. 2

    A single live event can generate disproportionate reach when a structured paid amplification and earned media layer is planned in advance. Billion Dollar Boy reports 14M hashtag views and 150 press pieces from one day's activation and five content pieces.

  3. 3

    A phased tease-to-activation structure, starting with Jordan announcing on his own channels and directing fans to a ticket purchase page, created a measurable commercial path from social attention to the product before the live event took place. The Shorty Awards entry describes this as a deliberate funnel design.

  4. 4

    Selecting talent with both a celebrity profile and a specific local identity, Jordan as a New Yorker with comedic credentials, gave the brand a voice that was harder to replicate than a generic influencer placement, according to the agency's stated rationale.

  5. 5

    Working with a celebrity at Jordan's level introduced real operational friction: the Shorty Awards entry cites SAG-AFTRA requirements around special fees, logistics, and contracting as sources of delays, complications, and added cost that teams should budget for when planning comparable activations.

Related Case studies