Press, recognition and industry impact

Over the past decade, our team has contributed to award-winning campaigns, major international media projects, conservation initiatives and tourism development programs across Colombia, Peru and Latin America. Each entry below shows our role, the date, the result and where it can be checked.

The press coverage below often cites our former name, WhereNext Travel.

Who we’ve worked with

Major media and editorial

Birding takes flight after peace deal between Colombia and guerrilla group12:51Watch on YouTube60 Minutes, CBS News

CBS 60 Minutes: Colombia birdwatching and conservation tourism

Our role
Supported and facilitated the project
Where
Colombia
Result
Aired twice on CBS: May 3 and August 2, 2026

Anderson Cooper’s 60 Minutes story covered Colombia’s rise as a global birdwatching and biodiversity destination. We supported and facilitated it alongside our network of local guides, conservationists and tourism partners, and the team from our YouTube channel, The Birders Show. These are the same people and communities behind many of the conservation experiences we operate today.

60 Minutes averaged 9.1 million viewers an episode in the 2025-26 season (Paramount Press Express (opens CBS’s press site)).

Why it mattered

For decades, Colombia’s global reputation was shaped by conflict. This story helped introduce another one: biodiversity, conservation, local communities and some of the most biologically diverse landscapes on earth, and how tourism done thoughtfully can support the people who live in these regions.

  • Reached the 60 Minutes audience across two broadcasts
  • Raised Colombia’s global profile for birdwatching and biodiversity tourism
  • Showed the role local guides and communities play in protecting ecosystems, and inspired our ORIGIN series
Read how we helped bring 60 Minutes to Colombia
Dirtbag Diaries Ditch Logic episode 47 artwork with a shovel, machete and bicycle pump crossed over a wheel
Artwork for Ditch Logic episode 47 of The Dirtbag Diaries podcast supported by Patagonia.
Cover of States of Adventure by Fitz Cahall with a climber on a rock spire
States of Adventure by Fitz Cahall, published by DK.

Patagonia, The Dirtbag Diaries and States of Adventure

Our role
Founder as featured storyteller
When
2011
Result
A podcast episode, then a book chapter

In 2011, our founder Gregg Bleakney was featured on The Dirtbag Diaries, the award-winning adventure storytelling podcast created by Fitz Cahall and supported by Patagonia. The episode, “Ditch Logic,” told the story of leaving a successful corporate career in Seattle to build a life around adventure, exploration and purposeful travel.

Why it mattered

Long before WhereNext existed, Ditch Logic asked a question that still guides our work: what kind of life, work and travel is worth building?

  • Featured by Patagonia through The Dirtbag Diaries
  • Produced by award-winning storyteller Fitz Cahall
  • Adapted into a chapter of States of Adventure: Stories About Finding Yourself by Getting Lost, published by Penguin Random House
A sound recordist with headphones and a parabolic microphone on a Colombian hillside under clouds
Recording the natural history soundscape for Netflix's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Netflix: the natural history soundscape for One Hundred Years of Solitude

Our role
Recorded and cataloged the soundscape
Where
Colombia
Result
31.1 million viewing hours in its first week, December 9 to 15, 2024

Our in-house creative team worked in the field to record and catalog the natural history soundscape for Netflix’s adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, from tropical birdlife and jungle ambience to the layered sounds that give Colombia its atmosphere. Part 1 ranked #3 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 for non-English shows that week (Netflix Top 10 (opens Netflix)).

“So much of the feeling you get as a traveler is not just visual; it’s the audio.”Gregg Bleakney, CEO

Why it mattered

Sound gives an audience a deeper, more accurate connection with a place. The project reflected our belief that destination storytelling should capture a place’s sensory identity, and it now informs how we design journeys, with the soundscape as part of the itinerary.

  • Recorded and cataloged Colombian natural history soundscapes for the series
  • Strengthened our field production capability in remote regions of Colombia
Read the story (opens wherenext.com)

Tourism development and sustainability

USAID Destino Naturaleza artwork with a tamandua, a poison dart frog and birds on a yellow background
USAID Colombia's Destino Naturaleza, known in English as Destination Nature.

USAID Destination Nature

Our role
Local implementing subcontractor
Where
Colombia
Program size
Nearly $40 million

WhereNext, Inc. was the local implementing subcontractor to DAI Global, prime contractor for USAID Colombia’s Destination Nature Activity, and our founder Gregg Bleakney signed as legal representative for WhereNext, Inc. USAID awarded the $39.4 million prime contract in November 2022 (SAM.gov award notice (opens SAM.gov)). The program used nature tourism to support conservation, rural livelihoods and economic development after the Peace Accords.

Why it mattered

As tourism surged, fragile ecosystems came under pressure, infrastructure was inconsistent and rural communities had few economic options. Destination Nature set out to make protecting biodiversity worth more to local people than exploiting it.

Our role

Our role combined destination development, sustainable tourism consulting, stakeholder coordination and tourism storytelling. Our work included:

  • Supporting destination competitiveness for nature tourism experiences
  • Strengthening collaboration between tourism organizations and environmental authorities
  • Helping improve sustainable tourism planning and governance
  • Developing branding and storytelling campaigns, and producing immersive visual content and tourism media
  • Helping generate demand for conservation-focused tourism experiences

Award-winning campaigns

The Birders poster, A Melodic Journey Through Northern Colombia: two birdwatchers above misty blue mountains
The Birders, A Melodic Journey Through Northern Colombia. Coming soon, August 2018.

ProColombia: The Birders

Our role
Created and produced the campaign
Where
Colombia
When
2018
Result
More than 30 million organic likes and comments, per WhereNext’s campaign reporting

We created and produced The Birders for ProColombia, to position the country as the world’s leading birdwatching destination. It combined documentary film, conservation storytelling, field expeditions, music, influencer strategy, international PR and operator outreach, built on Colombia’s place as the top country for bird species.

Why it mattered

The campaign told a different story than conflict. It showed how birdwatching and local conservation communities can bring income and protection to regions once considered difficult to visit, and it connected Colombia with a passionate global audience of birders, photographers and tour operators. Many of its guides, regions and conservation partners remain part of our network today.

  • More than 30 million organic likes and comments, which WhereNext reported at the time as a record for any Colombian Ministry of Tourism publicity project
  • Five documentary films, original music, digital assets, PR strategy, influencer campaigns and operator sales tools
  • Partnerships with the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and eBird. WhereNext reported that the eBird newsletter announcing the film’s contest reached 2.9 million people, and that the campaign drew 828,000 interactions
  • Six National Geographic photographers and explorers in the influencer campaign, with a combined following of nearly 6.4 million at the time
  • Press coverage in BBC Wildlife Magazine (November 2018) and AFAR (April 2020)
THE BIRDERS | A Melodic Journey through Northern Colombia52:40Watch on YouTubeWhereNext Original Video
BBC Wildlife magazine opening spread, Waiting in the wings no more, with a close-up of a masked trogon
BBC Wildlife, November 2018: “Waiting in the wings no more,” by Sarah McPherson, on birdwatching in Colombia.
BBC Wildlife magazine spread with a quetzal on a branch and an illustrated map of the Northern Colombia Birding Trail
BBC Wildlife, November 2018, pages 34 and 35: the Northern Colombia Birding Trail.

ProColombia: Finding Encanto

Our role
Created and produced the campaign
When
2023
Result
Four international awards and selections

As Disney’s Encanto introduced millions of viewers to a fictional Colombia, we partnered with ProColombia to connect that moment back to the real country: its landscapes, music, biodiversity and people. Finding Encanto positioned Colombia as the place with the color, emotion and regional diversity that inspired the film.

Why it mattered

It turned a global entertainment moment into destination awareness, and showed how cultural storytelling becomes destination strategy when it stays focused on real places, people and regional identity.

Finding Encanto, Episode 2: Colombian Pacific11:00Watch on YouTubeWhereNext Original Video

Recognition and awards

  • WinnerPremios Excelencias Turísticas, Audiovisual 2023Presented at FITUR 2024, Madrid
  • Dolphin Award14th Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards2023
  • GoldTerres Travel FestivalTourism Destination Country
  • Official SelectionZagreb TourFilm Festival2023, as listed on our awards page

Press and strategic partnerships

Bicycling magazine opening spread, Colombia Rising, with a cyclist on a high mountain road among frailejones
Pages 54 and 55: “Colombia Rising,” by Aaron Gulley, photography by Gregg Bleakney.
Bicycling magazine spread with two cyclists passing pack mules on a muddy mountain road in Colombia
Pages 56 and 57: the story opens on the climb to Matarredonda Pass.
Bicycling magazine spread with two cyclists on a winding road above green valleys, beside the five best climbs in Colombia
Pages 58 and 59: “5 Best Climbs in Colombia.”
Bicycling magazine page 60 with a bowl of agua panela with cheese and an arepa beside the text
Page 60: Bogotá’s Ciclovía and the ride north to Cómbita.

Bicycling Magazine: Colombia cycling storytelling

Our role
Planned, operated and produced the editorial project
Where
Colombia
When
August 2017

For one of the world’s leading cycling publications, we planned, operated and produced a Colombia cycling project that introduced the country’s mountains, riding culture and luxury adventure potential to a global endurance audience.

“Colombia is one of the most formidable and sumptuous landscapes I’ve ever pedaled. I’d return here with my bike long before I’d go back to Europe.”Aaron Gulley, Bicycling, August 2017

  • Printed in Bicycling, August 2017, as “Colombia Rising,” by Aaron Gulley, with photography by Gregg Bleakney
  • Positioned Colombia as a premier cycling and adventure destination
  • Showed its mountain culture and athletic identity through cinematic storytelling
  • Published online on Bicycling.com on July 19, 2017, as “This Just Might Be the Bucket-List Cycling Destination You’re Looking For”
Read it on Bicycling.com (opens Bicycling.com)

  • REI

    Adventure travel storytelling in Peru

    Our role
    Produced the campaign and on-the-ground experiences with Green Team Global
    Where
    Peru
    When
    June 2019

    With REI, we showed Peru through adventure, culture, gastronomy and human connection, with cinematic storytelling and travel experiences. Production ran in remote environments and difficult field conditions that took deep regional experience. The film follows REI Adventure Travel’s new Ausangate Lodge to Lodge Trek in the Peruvian Andes, made with Green Team Global and PROMPERÚ.

    • Partnered with one of the world’s leading adventure travel brands
    • Positioned Peru through a modern, experience-driven narrative
    See our work in Peru
    One Epic Trek // For: REI, Green Team Global, and PROMPERÚ2:22Watch on YouTubeWhereNext Original Video

  • LATAM Airlines

    Flavors of South America

    Our role
    Produced the series with Green Team Global
    Where
    Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil and Ecuador
    When
    2021

    A series of videos on the food of five countries, with recipes prepared by world-class chefs, to show why gastronomy is one of the strongest reasons to travel. It was produced remotely during the pandemic with teams across South America. Gastronomy remains a core pillar of the journeys we design today.

    • Showed chefs, ingredients, producers and culinary traditions across the region
    • Connected the airline to food as a reason to travel
    See our work in Peru
    Flavors of South America, second destination: Colombia!10:21Watch on YouTubeLATAM Airlines

Why this work matters to our DMC partners

These projects are not separate from operations.

They built the local relationships, field experience and judgment behind the journeys we run today. The work across tourism development, conservation, gastronomy, international media and destination storytelling is why we understand how travel affects the way a place is experienced and perceived.

That same perspective informs every journey we design for luxury travel advisors, tour operators and brands across Latin America.

We found the experiences. We told the stories. Now your guests can live them.

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