The Sunshine State has unleashed approximately $9 million for a new advertising campaign, a “bold new brand,” aimed at hanging onto tourism and hopefully growing it.  Gas prices and competition from other states along the I-95 corridor make it in Florida’s best interests to compete for snowbird and others’ bucks. State officials tapped Ohio-based ad firm Fahlgren, and a producer described the new messaging as “evoking an emotion” rather than being attraction-based. Most of the emphasis on the Visit Florida Web site falls on familiar locales like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and the Space Coast. There’s tons of content, heavy on both graphics and text with videos too of course. TV spots were produced for general, African American and Hispanic potential, but the emphasis is Web-based. There’s a Visit Florida channel at YouTube where you can see some results of all that creativity.

Jacksonville, the nation’s largest city in land mass (we’re talking the mainland here), got a nod on the state site. But Jacksonville has a freestanding organization that also partners with the state agency. Visit Jacksonville is the city’s official convention bureau. This local group was instrumental in helping to create a smashing tourism success story recently—approximately 12,000 visitors convened here for America’s first pro international rugby match. Jacksonville is an emerging destination in Florida, with its own unique blend of Florida culture and southern charm. Jacksonville Landing in the downtown area, where there’s also lots of boardwalk for strolling, entertainment and shopping, offers up potential that is increasingly tapped by meeting organizers.

I asked myself, though, how Visit Florida will gauge the effectiveness of the $9 million statewide branding campaign. How do you know your bold new brand dollars are paying off?

Technorati Tags: Florida travel, tourism, advertising, branding, marketing, agency, Beneath the Brand, Kay B. Day, Talent Zoo

Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Industry News