Kerala Tourism won the 2025 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for its most engaging social media campaign. The team cleverly links global pop culture with Kerala's unique traditions. Examples include icons like John Lennon, Stranger Things, and Squid Game characters appearing in Kerala settings. They recreated John Lennon’s famous Abbey Road image with girls in traditional attire, symbolizing peace and cultural harmony. This post struck a chord especially with British audiences, a key travel market for Kerala. Ajith Gopinath, National Creative Director at Stark Communications, said, "Everyone is jumping onto the Stranger Things trend. As a brand, we don’t waste global anniversaries, pop culture events and so on. Our cultural radar, which is a team of youngsters, is always on. That’s how it happened. Once we spot a trend online, our team picks it up, and we work with it in such a way that it aligns with our brief, this is done within a day due to its timely nature." Kerala Tourism mixes worldwide trends with local culture, such as depicting Monalisa in a kasavu sari or showing anime character Tanjiro Kamado in Kerala. Geoffery Shocky, a Kochi-based ad planner, said, "Kerala tourism has cracked the formula, adapting global trends and localising it in such a way that it aligns with their brand’s identity." One viral moment was an April Fool's prank showing Hollywood stars Tom Holland and Zendaya in Kerala’s Munnar, even before AI tools were common. This creative approach draws more eyes to Kerala’s real heritage, nature, and culture posts. The 'Travel for Peace' campaign positions Kerala as a meeting point of cultures, promoting universal values over politics. Roy Mathew of Stark Communications said, "By anchoring the narrative in peace, Kerala Tourism showed how a destination can speak empathy, healing and humanity, while remaining firmly above the political fray." Through these smart, culturally rich campaigns, Kerala Tourism expands its global reach and invites visitors to explore not just a place, but a story of harmony and shared human values.