Everyone likes a free vacation, but as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourism learned, you don’t have to give away your product to win the hearts and minds of travel writers, bloggers and influencers. It’s a lesson that stretches beyond tourism marketing, too. In fact, any integrated marketer could benefit from upending the traditional way their industry markets and finding innovative ways to get the word out. Here’s how.
Promise Sun in the Dead of Winter
Tourism marketing is challenging. Traditionally, bureaus would invite influencers to all-expenses-paid trips to their destinations. This is costly and time consuming, with no guaranteed return on investment.
Instead, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau delivered their destination to influencers.
The Bureau’s marketing partner, M. Silver Associates, devised a stay-at-home campaign for one of South Florida’s most popular party hubs: Greater Fort Lauderdale (GFL). The marketers brought the beach straight to primary source markets of New York, Toronto and London, and leveraged social media to spread their messages further. As a result, the “Defrost Your Swimsuit” campaign placed GFL in more than 100 international, national, local and trade outlets — without anyone ever languishing on a tarmac.
Cut through Clutter
As chronicled in The Bulldog Reporter, M. Silver Associates had to cut through some serious clutter to garner these results. First, the campaign began just as the target cities of New York, Toronto and London all were entering a long, frigid winter — not the ideal climate for convincing consumers to strip down and slip on a swimsuit. Plus, the holidays were top of mind with consumers and targets.
As M. Silver Associates describes it, they had to hush the “Noel noise” to get attention. To entice New York, Toronto and London locals to escape the cold and look beyond seasonal marketing, the M. Silver and Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau team had to bring the best of South Florida to the worst of winter weather.
Market with Icons
Nothing says tropical fun more than a teeny-weenie bikini, so the team turned this icon of carefree glamour into a marketing stunt to put GFL on display — literally. They froze colorful swimwear in life-size blocks of ice and installed these works of art in the cultural epicenters of each city. The “Defrost Your Swimsuit” campaign was heating up.
One bikini display competed for attention at the annual Santa Claus Parade in the Dundas Square of Toronto. In New York City’s Times Square, a mobile “Beach on Wheels” unit, complete with bikini-clad models tossing beach balls, complemented the frozen beachwear. And, more than 90,000 visitors to London’s Canary Wharf gawked at taxis wrapped in tropically themed garb.
Let Targets in on the Fun
All of these marketing stunts provided ample opportunities for locals and visitors in New York, Toronto and London to get involved, too. The ice blocks were designed so people could pose behind them and appear as if they were wearing the swimwear. Of course, these photos were shared over social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, and created a viral component to the campaign.
Try This at Home
The “Defrost Your Swimsuit” teaches integrated marketers three other important lessons:
- Special events need to be memorable. Pick one message to communicate and create a strong visual connection to your product or service.
- Create marketing alliances to reach broader targets. The team also secured promotions with top tourism partners, such as JetBlue Airways, Sunwing Airlines and Virgin Holidays. The Virgin Holidays results alone bumped up year-over-year sales to Greater Fort Lauderdale by 18 percent.
Don’t forget the swag. The team also incorporated promotional items into the campaign. Branded ice scrapers and lip balm drove visitors to the Convention & Visitor Bureau’s website sunny.org and dedicated microsite sunny.org/defrost, which housed sweepstakes and contests.
