What if you could watch one of your favourite creators fall in love with a city and then book the trip for yourself?
Australian-founded travel technology company BYRDLI has partnered with San Francisco Travel Association to launch San Francisco: Live the Music, bringing San Francisco to South Korean travellers through the lens of BYRDLI Travel Club member and South Korean creator Sumin Kim (@sky_doraheee).
The campaign follows Sumin as she experiences the city through music, food, nightlife, neighbourhoods, culture and premium stays, with the trip then transformed into a bookable San Francisco experience inside her own BYRDLI Travel Club.
It means her community won’t simply watch the trip unfold. They can experience their own version of it.
SAN FRANCISCO, TURNED ALL THE WAY UP
Music is the thread, but San Francisco is the story.
San Francisco: Live the Music follows Sumin through a city shaped by music, creativity, culture and individuality, from major live music moments and late-night venues to neighbourhood discoveries, incredible food, city views and the places that make San Francisco feel unlike anywhere else.
Her trip includes the recent Outside Lands, alongside the city’s broader music culture, restaurants, nightlife, neighbourhoods and iconic San Francisco moments, with The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square serving as her featured stay.
This is not a prescribed itinerary or a traditional influencer brief. Sumin experiences San Francisco through her own lens, with her personality, interests and perspective shaping the story her audience sees.
And importantly, the journey doesn’t disappear when the content stops.
Her featured hotel is bookable through her BYRDLI Travel Club, followed by a curated San Francisco itinerary and package inspired by the places she actually stayed, discovered and experienced.
“샌프란시스코는 도시 전체에 자신만의 리듬이 있는 곳이에요. 음악과 음식, 다양한 동네와 사람들, 그리고 예상하지 못한 순간들까지 직접 경험할수록 이 도시가 왜 특별한지 알게 됐어요. 제가 사랑하게 된 샌프란시스코를 제 커뮤니티와 공유하고, 제가 경험한 여행을 그들도 직접 예약하고 경험할 수 있다는 점이 정말 설레요.”
— Sumin Kim (@sky_doraheee)
“San Francisco is a city with a rhythm all its own. The more I experienced the music, food, different neighbourhoods, people and unexpected moments, the more I understood what makes this city so special. I’m so excited to share the San Francisco I fell in love with my community and that they can actually book and experience a trip inspired by the one I lived.”
FROM FOLLOWING THE TRIP TO TAKING IT
For Vanessa Richards, Co-Founder and CEO of BYRDLI, that connection between trusted storytelling and actual travel is exactly where the industry is heading.
“San Francisco is one of those rare cities that keeps revealing itself the deeper you go. There is the San Francisco the world knows, and then there are the neighbourhoods, music, food, people and unexpected moments that make you want to stay longer. Sumin is incredible at capturing that feeling.”
“But we didn’t want people to simply watch her experience it. We built BYRDLI so the inspiration doesn’t end with a save, a like or an affiliate link. Sumin has her own travel business on our platform. Her community can discover San Francisco through her, then come into her Travel Club and actually book the stay and full trip she inspired.”
“That changes the commercial relationship between creator, traveller and destination. The creator doesn’t sit outside the transaction. They become part of the distribution.”
SAN FRANCISCO, BUILT FOR A SOUTH KOREAN AUDIENCE
The campaign marks the second collaboration between BYRDLI and San Francisco Travel, however the first created specifically for the South Korean market, connecting the destination with a highly engaged travel audience through a creator already building her own travel business on BYRDLI.
BYRDLI enables creators and independent travel advisors to launch their own Travel Clubs, personalised travel storefronts where they can curate hotels, build their own travel itineraries and packages, and sell directly to their communities.
Rather than inspiring a traveller through content and then sending them elsewhere to search, compare and book, BYRDLI connects the entire journey.
The person who inspires the trip can also become the person you book it through.
For destination partners, that creates a direct connection between the content that inspired a traveller and the travel ultimately booked, turning storytelling into measurable travel distribution.
“South Korea is an important audience for San Francisco, and this campaign gives us an exciting way to share the city through a voice travellers already know and trust,” said Radu Barbuceanu, Director of Global Tourism Development at San Francisco Travel Association.
“Sumin captures the energy, creativity and culture that make San Francisco such an unforgettable destination, while BYRDLI gives her audience a direct pathway to turn that inspiration into their own visit.”
SEE IT. SAVE IT. BOOK IT.
San Francisco: Live the Music will live across Sumin’s social channels and BYRDLI Travel Club, spanning music, neighbourhoods, dining, nightlife, culture, premium accommodation and the unexpected moments she discovers along the way.
For Richards, it represents a much bigger shift in how travel is being discovered and sold.
“The way people discover travel has already changed. The way they book it is catching up.”
“People are increasingly building trips around the recommendations of people whose taste they trust. Our job since launching in 2021 is to connect those two behaviours. If Sumin makes you want to go to San Francisco, you shouldn’t have to start from zero somewhere else to make that trip happen.”
“You should be able to book it with her.”
San Francisco: Live the Music. See the city through Sumin. Then experience it for yourself.
