Sunshine Matters

I wanted to share the following information with you that has just come to us from the Governor’s Office, as well as a link to our newest television spot.

“In regards to the $25 million grant from BP for advertising and marketing, VISIT FLORIDA deployed a $2.5 million emergency response campaign in 15 of Florida’s summer drive markets starting on May 15 which continues to run today. The emergency response campaign directed consumers to Florida Live on VISITFLORIDA.com to watch live webcams, read Twitter feeds and view up-to-the-minute photos posted by real people in real time from beach destinations throughout Florida.

VISIT Florida is preparing a comprehensive media campaign which will be funded from the $25 million that the State received from BP on May 25, 2010. The campaign will be deployed in 3 week segments beginning within the next week.  This approach will give us the opportunity to best respond to the ever changing situation associated with the Deepwater Horizon event.

The ad campaign utilizes a combination of broadcast television, national cable, radio and newspaper advertising.  The campaign targets traditional feeder markets of Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Raleigh and St. Louis.  Also included in the plan are major metro markets as well as 17 key regional markets of Albany, Augusta, Austin, Baton Rouge, Chattanooga, Columbus, GA., Greenville, Jackson, Knoxville, Lexington, Little Rock, Macon, Memphis, Montgomery, Nashville, New Orleans, and Shreveport and the 65 South West Airlines markets throughout the United States covered by the national cable buy.

Newspaper ads will appear in national publications such as USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.  Examples of the national cable coverage include networks such as TNT, TBS, USA, CNN, ESPN and the Travel Channel.

Finally, in addition to the state of Florida’s marketing campaign, Governor Crist has requested local tourist development councils in the Northwest Florida coastal counties to submit local marketing plans.  We just received their plans and are expediting a response.”