Turning Surfing Heritage Into Global Headlines
How Gate 7 combined cultural storytelling, influential surf personalities and PR to showcase Peru’s surfing heritage, reaching 3.6 million and generating international media attention.
ChallengePeru is home to one of the world’s oldest wave-riding traditions, yet its surf credentials remain relatively unknown to Australian travellers. PROMPERÚ wanted to broaden the country’s appeal beyond familiar icons like Machu Picchu, introducing Australian surf and adventure travellers to northern Peru’s coastal culture and world-class surf experiences. The briefBring Peru’s surfing heritage to life for Australian audiences through authentic cultural storytelling and trusted voices in the surf community. InsightTo capture the attention of Australia’s surf community, we needed more than a destination message. We needed to connect Peru’s living surfing heritage with the people and voices Australian surfers already trusted. |
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IdeaBuilding on PROMPERÚ’s World Surfing Conservation Conference sponsorship, we developed Surfing Heritage: From Peru to the Pacific, a creator-led campaign designed to connect two surf cultures. By bringing the Caballito de Totora into Australian waters alongside respected local surfers, we could transform a cultural activation into a compelling content and PR story, introducing Australians to Peru’s rich surfing heritage and modern surf experiences. |
ExecutionAt the heart of the activation was Peruvian master craftsman Carlos Ucanan Arzola, known as Huevito, who built a traditional Caballito de Totora by hand before taking it into the Gold Coast surf alongside contemporary surfers. Gate 7 curated seven surf and lifestyle creators, including Britt and Mark Mathews, Hughie Vaughan and Noah Wallis, prioritising genuine surf credibility and audience relevance over follower numbers alone. We shaped the storytelling, developed culturally sensitive messaging and coordinated content capture around the paddle-out, giving creators an authentic experience to share in their own voices. Targeted pitching, broadcast outreach and media servicing extended the story beyond social channels. The campaign then took on an unexpected second life when PROMPERÚ amplified the content in Peru, attracting national media attention and celebrating the country’s surfing heritage at home. |
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Results+ 3.6 million creator reach, achieving 7.2 times the original 500,000 reach target + 106,000+ engagements across 52 pieces of creator content + 5.3 million+ video views across creator and PROMPERÚ-owned channels + National media coverage in Peru, including TV Perú, América TV, Andina and Canal N |
The Gate 7 Difference
Gate 7 helped transform PROMPERÚ’s cultural activation into a story that travelled across borders. By connecting Peru’s living surfing heritage with credible Australian surf voices, we created a content and PR campaign grounded in cultural authenticity rather than conventional destination promotion. The result exceeded the original creator reach target and sparked an unexpected wave of national attention and pride in Peru itself.