From the category archives:
It’s right around the corner – and this Spring Break, the Panama City Beach Convention & Visitor’s Bureau has taken a slightly different approach. Aimed at sending a serious message in a fun way, the CVB has created new online guides for the thousands of college students heading to Panama City Beach and its warmer temperatures, beautiful beaches, and action-packed nightlife. READ MORE
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Six months ago, the community, businesses and, well, anyone who has a vested interest in Panama City Beach waited with bated breath for the unveiling of the new marketing campaign bent on rebranding Panama City Beach. Loads of marketing dollars were spent in an unprecedented effort, at least for PCB, that included big time cable TV buys, a $50,000 video competition, social media networking, microblogging and print buys all aimed at guiding potential PCB vacationers to the new and improved Panama City Beach website. So, how did it do? If I may, allow me to send the first congratulatory pat on the back to the TDC and marketing committee for a job well done.
Unlike most destinations, based on a recent Klages report, Panama City Beach is doing well. While all around the state 2009 hotel occupancy and ADR have dropped considerably since 2008, Panama City Beach has managed to keep itself in the black ink. In fact, 2008’s total economic impact for Panama City Beach spring quarter yielded 247 million whereas the 2009 numbers surged to 261 million. The total amount of visitors for the spring quarter increased as well. But let’s look at some actual recent numbers.
Tourist Development Tax Collections
PCB June – Down 4.5%
2008 – $1,223,300
2009 – $1,167,681
PCB YTD – Up 1.6%
2008 – $4,091,591
2009- $4,158,268
Unique visitors to the website www.visitpanamacitybeach.com
April visitors – 44,277
May visitors – 64,753
June visitors – 91,932
July visitors – 93,693
Social Marketing (Facebook Fans, Twitter Followers, Registered Users)
April – 9,624
May – 14,266
June – 24,694
July – 35,198
March – May Visitor Sentiments
Satisfaction
2008 – 88.5%
2009 – 89.9
Intent to Return
2008 – 69.6
2009 – 76.9
Refer to a Friend
2008 – 70.7
2009 – 72.8
Occupancy and Visitation
March – 62.6 % Occupancy – 711,660 Visitor Days
April – 46.2% Occupancy – 482,560 Visitor Days
May – 49.2% Occupancy – 562, 002 Visitor Days
Quarter – 52.7% Occupancy – 1,756,222 Visitor Days
Judging by these numbers, one can very easily see the impact of the campaign. It must be considered that these numbers are during a recession and a severe lag in travel. Similar destinations are not seeing the type of visitation Panama City Beach has seen evidenced by the article in the New York Times that referenced Panama City Beach.
While there was debate about how much money to spend and where to spend it, what cannot be debated is the campaign’s overall success. Note to the TDC: Keep up the good work guys.
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Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau is giving five lucky winners $10,000 in cash and prizes that include customized beach vacations. That’s a grand total of $50,000 worth of prizes.
To kick off the summer travel season, this award-winning destination on the Gulf of Mexico beckons with the REAL. FUN. BEACH. travel personality video contest. Launching on Memorial Day, May 25, and continuing through Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, this one-of-a-kind competition offers five epic prize packages tailored to the winner’s travel personality. Every package includes a five-night stay in plush, waterfront accommodations, plus customized vacation experiences, cash prizes and more.
“We’ve had a tremendous outpouring of interest in our new online contest,” says Dan Rowe, CEO, Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Since its soft launch last week, traffic to our new Web site has jumped more than 55 percent. Web visitors hail from near and far – Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Canada, the U.K., Germany and France – to learn more about Panama City Beach’s unique contest and offerings.”
So join the party. Whatever your kind of vacation fun, there’s a REAL. FUN. BEACH. prize package just for you, with travel experiences that include romantic dinners, spa packages, dolphin tours, passes to family attractions, full-day fishing excursions, seaplane rides, golf, water parks, wine tastings, VIP cards to nightlife hot spots, Yolo boards, iPods, professional cameras complete with photography lessons and more.
Looking for vacation inspiration? Panama City Beach will help you channel your inner travel personality. Take the destination’s quick quiz online at www.realfuncontest.com or at the “Panama City Beach Real Fun Contest” section of www.visitpanamacitybeach.com, and discover your kind of vacation fun.
Are you the family-fun Sandy Bottom Bunch, looking for beautiful beaches plus water parks, mini-golf, ice cream and pirate cruises? Or a Soul Surfer, who loves a stroll on the beach, day at the spa and shopping, topped off with a candlelight dinner on a breezy gulf-front terrace? Maybe you’re an Eco-Seeker, whose kind of fun is kayaking through crystalline waters. Or an adventure-loving Wave Warrior eager to fish in big tournaments and snorkel, leaving no reef unexplored. When the sun goes down, Panama City Beach lights up. For dancing, concerts, jazz clubs and more, After Dark Sharks are drawn to the destination’s vibrant nightlife.
The Panama City Beach REAL. FUN. BEACH. contest has a lot of personality, and now is your moment to let your travel personality shine! So what are you waiting for? Take the REAL. FUN. BEACH. quick quiz, create your original video and upload it at www.realfuncontest.com any time from Memorial Day, May 25, to July 4, 2009. No need for a big production. Any type of video – digital camera, webcam, camera phone, etc. – will do. Creating your travel personality video is part of the fun.
A panel of Beach Experts will select ten semifinalists for each travel personality. For decisions this large though, everyone is welcome to dive in. Semifinalists’ videos will be posted at www.realfuncontest.com, and the online polls will be open for voting from July 15 through Sept. 1, 2009. One winner in each of the five categories will be chosen by popular vote. Winners will be announced on Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009.
Panama City Beach boasts emerald waters and 27 miles of sugar-white sand. That’s 27 miles for all types of styles. Go to www.realfuncontest.com, and discover your travel personality and the REAL. FUN. BEACH. prize package that’s right for you.
Of course, some rules apply. The Panama City Beach REAL. FUN. BEACH. contest is open exclusively to residents of the U.S. who are at least 25 years of age. Entries are limited to individuals, and only one entry per person is allowed. All submissions will become property of the Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau with all rights reserved. Each winner must complete his or her vacation by Sep. 7, 2010. Blackout dates and other restrictions may apply.
Panama City Beach is the REAL. FUN. BEACH. and everyone’s invited. Go to www.realfuncontest.com or www.visitpanamacitybeach.com for more information. Now, let the FUN. begin . . .
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Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau’s marketing committee will be meeting on Tuesday to begin discussions on Fall and Winter marketing efforts. Recently, 1.5 million dollars have and will be spent on Summer marketing. This meeting should address the remaining budget as well as how those dollars will be spent for the fall and winter seasons.
AGENDA
MARKETING COMMITTEE MEETING
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 9:00 a.m. – Board Room, Visitor Information Center
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
II. ROLL CALL
III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)
IV. DISCUSS FALL/WINTER MARKETING PROGRAM, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
V. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
VI. ADJOURNMENT
To download this agenda click here.
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Following in the footsteps of Bay County, Walton County is looking to increase their bed tax from 4 cents to 4.5 cents. The anticipated increase in revenue is expected to be around $1 million.
If approved, the TDC plans to use the funds to step up their marketing efforts for the Emerald Coast and attract a low-cost carrier to the new airport slated to open in Panama City of Highway 388 in May 2010. The ultimate goal is to help attract more businesses to the Walton County area. Walton County is right next to Bay County and stand to benefit greatly from the development of the new airport.
Other ideas for the use of the increased revenue include a new complex that could include sports fields, an amphitheater and performing-arts venue.
As with in Bay County, Walton County has its own set of opponents claiming that there is no real plan of action for how to spend the funds, and that the ideas seem to “flip-flop”.
The vote will be in front of Walton County Commissioners tomorrow night at their regularly scheduled meeting.
Quoting Investing.Businessweel.com:
Southwest Airlines was mentioned several times at Wednesday’s TDC meeting during a presentation about the results of a marketing study.
The presentation, given to show the possible new markets that the new airline would serve, focused on the cities Southwest already flies out of. The top five markets are Nashville, Houston, Orlando, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Mares said that with the right marketing, the local tourism industry could reach more than 3 million households that fit the demographic profile of visitors to South Walton.
The study determined the top markets by categorizing visitors by age, income and net worth. Also included was information such as their preferred lodging and dining preferences, magazines they read and the television and radio programs they listen to.
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Not for BTCs to answer, but to ask the CVB.
1. We are in the second year of conducting professional marketing research through the Klages Group. Where can we easily access that information? Have the staff put together any kind of comprehensive results from this research? We need to know this so we can better spend our own advertising dollars.
2. What is the cost to date for this research from the Klages Group?
3. In the spring of 2009, Jennifer Barbee implemented proper Search Marketing into the CVB site, data started being gathered that can help us today with our own online marketing. Assuming that we’re all equally benefiting from the TDC tax dollars, we should have real-time access to web stats. We should be able to access the CVB’s Google Analytics reports so we can compare them to our own reports, and likewise for Google Adwords and any other search engine marketing reports attached to the CVB’s efforts.
How do we get access to these common Google reports, as well as your more advanced measurement reports?
4. The extra tax passed. It has been confirmed at the recent TDC meeting that the new money would be going to the ad campaigns. Where can we access the full marketing, advertising and budgeting plans for this year?
5. Spring Break 2009 campaign included several new marketing tactics, including implementation of social network sites Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and text messages via a “PCB Insider” campaign. Facebook shows a respectable 5900 “friends” of PCB/CVB. How many people signed up for “PCB Insiders”? What was the overall result of our first “texting” campaign? What could you share with us about the results of the efforts in social network marketing? And what was the cost per lead for the efforts in this initial campaign?
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Here are 5 reasons why “Real Fun Beach” will work and 2008’s “Summer White Sale” wasted a lot of money.
1. “Real Fun Beach” (RFB) tells you exactly what Panama City Beach is, has been, and will always be.
It is what “the Beach Lovers Beach” was trying to be, but never was.
It replaces the long time, halfway official “world’s most beautiful beaches.” Claiming to be the world’s most beautiful beaches is a little too broad and boastful to hang your hat on, even though it’s a very true claim to me and thousands of others who love it here.
2. They got the domain name! YAY! “RealFunBeach.com” is a beautiful, easy to remember, easy to type, tells-you-what-it-is domain name.
3. The sub-concept — I’ll call it “Yesterday: Real, Today: Fun” since I don’t know what the staff and agencies call it — is equally brilliant. Its message says “one day you’re in your real world: worker, parent, student, etc., and today you can be in the fun world at the Real Fun Beach. This is perfect bait for fishing in PCB’s honey hole, Atlanta. A fast five hour drive from the real world to the fun world.
4. The “Yesterday/Today” idea can be used and reinvented in so many great ways. This is a concept that can grow and thrive for years, because it’s so flexible in letting us compare real world vs. fun world.
5. The offline campaign ties in perfectly to the online campaign. Go figure. Read Jason’s article on the online campaign for more info.
And the “Summer White Sale”? It had none of this. Nothing to differentiate PCB, nothing to transform the mindset of the consumer about PCB (it actually reinforced negative perceptions of being a cheap, lower-class destination). Nothing that could grow and live on as a brand, nothing that could really help us move forward with a new image. It never had a chance.
A few concerns (only 3!) with this new campaign:
1.
Real. Fun. Beach.
Using. Periods. For. Emphasis. In. Headlines.
Way. Over. Done.
But. Maybe. It. Still. Works.
Heck. I’ve. Done. It. Before.
2. The cute little names for our tourists, Sandy Bottom Bunch, Soul Searcher, etc., are clever and can be expanded to define more types of visitors. Another great concept that could live on for years.
But since local tourism businesses will now have the ability to target these segments directly through the CVB site, who’s to say a big bar can’t clutter my “Soul Searcher” page when I expect only “relaxed and laid” back results for my vacation planning? Perhaps the CVB has a plan in place for this, but then they’re walking a fine line by telling one business that they do not qualify to market to the “Sandy Bottom Bunch.” This is another perfect example of why government entities and tax dollars should not be used to run business and marketing campaigns such as this one. This campaign, in a perfect world, would have been developed by one of the large accomodation providers or a coalition of private businesses such as the Greater PCB Chamber.
3. I am convinced that Jennifer Barbee and company will accurately measure online traffic through all the major channels, and probably help with offline measurement as well. With all this new data coming and being properly measured, don’t we all get to have a copy of that information? All bed tax dollars are spent equally and fairly for the benefit of the Bay County tourism industry, right? And since it’s run by the county, all citizens get access, right? And even tourists – who suffer the burden of the tax equally with the collectors – should get a peek since they helped fund it, right?
One last thing. The team did some research for this campaign in Atlanta. The professionals discovered what this hack in Lynn Haven has been telling you for 3 years: Atlanta does not know us, and the Atlantians who think they know us don’t know the real us. The fact that they’re already our number one market is irrelevant. Here’s something I’ll bet on in 2009 and 2010…there are many more potential visitors in Atlanta, Georgia (repeat visits included, of course) than there are the rest of the world. Call me crazy, but that’s just how it is when you add a little real world common sense to all the marketing research and data.
Now, with Real Fun Beach, I suggest all of you bed tax collectors jump on board with this idea, aim 5 easy hours up the road to Atlanta, use “Real Fun Beach” in your advertising, call your guests “Soggy Bottom Bunch” or “Dark Sharks” or whatever is being promoted on the web site and REALLY BUY INTO THIS THING TO MAKE IT WORK.
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As many of you remember, I (along with many of our contributors) was very vocal in the obvious failure of the Summer White Sale campaign that was rolled out last year. Although the idea wasn’t quite right, it was the creative that I was so outraged by. We spent a lot of money for an all around crappy campaign. Now, with that lovely negative intro, this year’s campaign looks MUCH better. The creative is way stronger.
I have some exclusive footage of what some of the animated banner ads may look like posted to my Facebook Fan Page. Check it out. Be sure to become a “fan”.
I’m going to keep this short and let you see some of the advertising ideas.
You may, from time to time, notice I use words like “loads” or “brilliant”. Today’s random fact of the day about Jason Koertge is that I LOVE Harry Potter (actually our whole family does) and I have a secret desire to speak with a British accent. I know, lame, but I don’t care.
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The new VisitPanamaCityBeach.com web site is almost ready for launch and is looking awesome, might I add. The user experience will be different for everyone based on Personality Quizzes, and the overall look and feel exudes Real.Fun.Beach.
When the user first arrives at the site, they are greeted by a fun but laid back setting with warm colors that make you long for some quality beach time with the family. Hints of “free vacation giveaways” and “what’s your ‘fun’ sign” are scattered throughout with a front-end goal of making the user experience unique, varied and well, fun. The back-end functionality is all about collecting user information. By answering short simple questions, we’ll be able to get a better idea as to who the people are that not only visit the site, but visit Panama City Beach.
Some of the questions could include:
My favorite beach sensation is:
My favorite beach souvenir would be:
Based on the answers to these and a few more questions the web site will categorize you in one of five Fun Signs:
Based on what you’ve been categorized as, the web site will totally change – different background images, different accent colors, different text – the whole look and feel resembles what your Fun Sign is.
Also included in the site is a Trip Planner. Based on your Fun Sign, recomendations will be made for activities to do on Panama City Beach, all plotted out in a neat map.
The site should be live by April 1 – I’ll have a more detailed review of it at that point.
Click here to see the demo.
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According to the most recent results of the travelhorizons quarterly survey, the U.S. Traveler Sentiment Index rose to 90.2 in February 2009 from 78.2 in October 2008 due to an increase in the perceived “affordability of travel.” The survey, which was conducted from Feb. 7 to 13, polled a representative survey of 2,270 adults, from which the Index is calculated.
The spike in the perceived affordability appears to be a direct result of the promotional pricing and related incentives now being offered by tour suppliers who represent practically every segment of the travel industry. Many airlines, cruise lines, hotel companies, attractions and rental car companies are featuring rates and fares that are up to 50 percent off the prices being quoted just six months ago.
“We are very encouraged that more people are signaling a willingness to travel for leisure purposes,” said Peter C. Yesawich, chairman of Ypartnership, which co-authors travelhorizons with the U.S. Travel Association. “This is the first increase we have observed in the Index since January 2008, which indicates that the discounts travel providers and destinations are offering are working to attract more travelers, even in this down economy.” Source: National Tour Association
As I travel around the southeast promoting our destination at consumer trade shows, speaking to thousands of people, one thing is clear. Families are still traveling for vacations and get-a-ways. We are fortunate to be a drive destination and have the first ever international green airport under construction. If our spring season is any indication of what the summer is going to bring, I predict a good year for visitors and businesses.
I will be traveling to Nashville, TN next week to the Southern Women’s Show. Over 34,000 ladies will attend the four day event. I look forward to promoting our destination, accommodations and fun things to do while staying on “The World’s Most Beautiful Beaches”. I will give an update on my trip home.
Debi Knight, President
Panama City Beach Tourism Services
www.travelpcb.com
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