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Visit Tampa Bay breaks new ground in out-of-state campaign

February 28, 2018 by PR@VisitTampaBay.com

Visit Tampa Bay breaks new ground in out-of-state campaign

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“Florida’s Most” debuts in Penn Station & American Airline Center

TAMPA (Feb 20, 2018) – Visit Tampa Bay has staked its claim to New York’s Penn Station this year – one of several first for the DMO’s 2018 Out of State marketing campaign.

The award-winning “Florida’s Most” campaign runs through April and aims to further build Tampa Bay’s reputation as a premier vacation destination for residents of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto and Dallas. FKQ Advertising + Marketing of Clearwater designed and managed this year’s campaign. The campaign runs year-round online, managed by Madden Media.

The campaign follows FKQ’s work on the 2017 campaign, which generated $46.8 million in tourism-related revenue for Hillsborough County – revenue that would not have happened without the campaign, according to industry analyst H2R.

This year’s campaign tells the story of Tampa Bay through experimental new visuals that make the audience part of the action – riding on a paddleboard or splashing in The Florida Aquarium’s new waterpark – and an improved “Florida’s Most” logo. [Visuals are available here.]

“Relying heavily on independent analysis and industry metrics, Visit Tampa Bay continues to build our brand in some of the country’s most competitive markets,” said Patrick Harrison, Chief Marketing Officer for Visit Tampa Bay. “All of our decisions in this campaign were tailored to each audience using carefully calculated data to get the most effective spend possible. We were excited to break new ground for Destination Marketing Organizations during last year’s campaign, and we’re building on that success this year by extending our message again through new media and new venues.”

After breaking new ground with New York’s LINKSNYC public charging stations in 2017, Visit Tampa Bay returned to New York again, this time with its first take-over of Long Island Railroad platform in Penn Station, New York’s busiest commuter hub. Visit Tampa Bay’s “Florida’s Most” messaging appears to nearly 15 million people a day. Another 8.4 million potential visitors will see Visit Tampa Bay’s messaging every day in New York’s PATH station, which serves commuters from New Jersey.

At a time when the Northeast and Midwest are mired in winter’s gloom, Visit Tampa Bay’s $1 million-plus campaign drives home Tampa Bay’s bright blue skies, waterfront location, and abundant sunshine as well as its urban panache. A key image of the campaign is a female paddleboarder gliding across downtown sparkling waterfront with a blue sky and the glittering skyline behind her.

Along with New York and Philadelphia, the campaign targets residents in important Tampa Bay feeder markets of Chicago, Dallas, Toronto, the United Kingdom, Germany and Latin America. Visit Tampa Bay is the first DMO featured on the enormous screens outside Dallas’ American Airlines Center during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four Division One championship rounds in March.

“Visit Tampa Bay competes with destinations across the country and around the world for travelers’ attention and their dollars,” said Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay. “This campaign puts our many treasures front and center in front of potential visitors where they live – on their commute, in their sports venues and on their cable TV stations. We want them to wish they were under Tampa Bay’s blue skies – especially if it’s gray and gloomy where they are.”

Visitors to Hillsborough County contributed nearly $6 billion to the local economy and supported nearly 50,000 jobs, according to industry analyst Tourism Economics. The impact of tourism – such as the recent NHL All-Star Weekend – extends far beyond hotel rooms and restaurants to impact everything from grocery stores to gas stations.

“Visitors added $347 million in local and state taxes to government coffers last year,” Corrada said. “Without those 23 million visitors, those funds would have had to come from residents’ pockets.”

Visit Tampa Bay’s campaign will delivering its targeted messaging through the Metro Lights system in Chicago  and through Wrapped subway cars and buses on heavily traveled lines in Chicago and Dallas, two of Tampa Bay’s most reliable tourism markets.

The campaign also includes year-round digital marketing and storytelling through Madden Media.