Visit Florida has been aggressively marketing the state in the wake of the Gulf oil spill disaster thanks to more than $9.6 million in grants.
The marketing consists of extensive television, radio, print and online marketing in national markets such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, New Orleans and St. Louis. Most of the funds ($7.15 million) have come from a BP grant.
In addition to television commercial and ads in USA Today, the funds were used to create Florida Live, an online platform that offers local Twitter feeds across the state from CVBs and other insiders, local webcams, Youtube videos, blog posts, photos taken by locals and tourists, news updates on the Deepwater Horizon spill and hot deals. New information is found daily on the site.
“This is a crisis like we’ve never seen before,” said Chris Thompson, president and CEO for Visit Florida. Thompson said that the marketing response is geared toward providing a picture of what’s really going on and the impact on the state’s beaches versus the public’s perception.
“The state is open for business, and we have a lot of people visiting and enjoying Florida,” said Will Seccombe, chief marketing officer for Visit Florida.
Travel enthusiast Kevin Mims launched daily updates from Pensacola providing daily video uploads, blog updates, social media interaction and photos.
“It’s our opportunity to counteract all the negative media [coverage] that’s out there,” Seccombe added.
Thompson said that BP has earmarked $25 million so far for tourism marketing in the state.
For more information, visit www.visitflorida.com/floridalive.
