The Situation
Tens of thousands of Americans were stranded abroad during the COVID travel shutdown with limited access to reliable information and vanishing windows to reach emergency flights.
Case study
Bringing Tens of Thousands of Americans Home
When global travel shut down in 2020, the communications problem became an operational problem: getting accurate, actionable information to stranded Americans fast enough for them to act.
What Everyone Else Was Missing
The logistics operation was massive, but the equally urgent communications challenge was getting country-specific, time-sensitive instructions to the right people before those instructions went stale.
The Intervention
Hayloft's founder led a global digital paid media campaign built around operational speed, targeting, and constantly updated actionable guidance rather than generic reassurance.
What Changed
Tens of thousands of Americans got home. The communications operation did not replace the logistics, but it made the logistics usable by the people who needed them most.