Curating Travel Communities: A Conversation with Exceptional Alien

In episode seven of the Skift Ideas Podcast, we are joined by Michael Canning, co-founder and chief brand officer at Exceptional Alien, a travel platform leveraging the power of creatives and influencers to curate travel communities in order to highlight unique experiences through its 'Travel Playbooks'.

Hot off the heels of their 2023 Skift IDEA Awards win, Exceptional Alien has the ambition of being the world's most trusted travel destination platform, by inviting inspiring, exceptional talents from around the world to share their personal travel experiences, insights and stories.

Listen in as Colin and Michael discuss how Exceptional Alien is weaving a unique and authentic tapestry of the world, by bringing together a community that offers a genuine world view through the lenses of creativity, exploration, and action.

Host: Colin NagyGuest: Michael CanningProducers: Jose Marmolejos and James Magallanes

Colin Nagy: In this week's episode, we dive into the world of travel marketing and storytelling with our special guest, Michael Canning, co-founder and Chief Brand Officer at Exceptional Alien. Hot off the heels of their 2023 Skift IDEA Award win, we speak to Michael on how Exceptional Alien are leveraging the power of creatives to meticulously curate travel communities in order to highlight unique experiences.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Skift Ideas podcast, thanks for tuning in. Very excited to be joined by Michael Canning, co-founder and Chief brand officer at Exceptional Alien.

It's a new travel platform powered by a global community of exceptional talent. They recently won a Skift IDEA Award and the company is on a mission to build the world's most trusted travel platform, featuring travel playbooks of experiences and recommendations that are shared by exceptional talents, that bring authentic inspiration, discovery and action together.

Before Exceptional Alien, Australian born Canning earned a reputation as one of the world's most awarded advertising industry leaders with global experience across three continents. Working in the U.S., the ‘Visa for Aliens of Exceptional Ability’ was the underlying inspiration behind the name of the company as a new platform to share experiences with travel.

He's the only creative director to be awarded with a Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Media Innovation on two occasions and has led the c