Pandemic getaways present marketing challenge for VISIT FLORIDA

VISIT FLORIDA spent much of the last decade fighting for its funding and mission. This decade, it faces the challenges of marketing what it calls the Florida Tourism brand during a pandemic.

The VISIT FLORIDA Marketing Council contemplated those questions on a Monday Zoom call with stakeholders from around the state attempting to solve the problem of getting people to travel when they are scared of catching the virus.

“A lot of hesitancy around travel, a lot of unknowns,” went the introductory summation of Chairman Frank Belzer of the Universal Orlando Resort.

The agency continues to push marketing gimmicks to juice awareness. These include a Florida-themed board game said to be similar to Parcheesi designed to spike awareness in trade. And virtual Zumba and Cuban sandwich-making classes are tailored to international markets.

As well, next month’s Virtual Florida Huddle includes a “lunch with an astronaut” component as well as tips on how to make the “perfect sangria.”

The agency is doing more quotidian things also, including attempting to boost its search engine marketing in places like Germany.

“Our international plans have always been in flux depending on what the destination is,” said Chief Marketing Officer Staci Mellman, noting that people are booking as far out as 2023. “If they weren’t under their own lockdown, they would be traveling.”

The committee focused on some positives. Among them, a so-called “rebound campaign,” which makes people 10% more likely to come to Florida than they would have been otherwise. The ads made potential travelers believe Florida was a safe destination.

An in-state campaign offered similar results, along with other campaigns that reinforced the view that Florida was safe and secure, despite that not being a core message of the ads.

Regarding the winter campaign, three different tiers will be targeted, with messaging and creative tailored to these segments.

The brand marketing tier will target people who have casual interest. The middle tier will focus on retargeting travelers who may need more reassurance. Safety and deal messages will be pushed, as well as appeals to extend stays.

And the hottest prospects would be people who are giving signals that they are ready to travel, and they will get targeted booking messages.

In a budget year where all manner of drastic solutions could be on the table again, VISIT FLORIDA could be forced, yet again, to sing for its supper by legislators who see a budget line that they can zero out.

To that end, the panel spent the last part of the call refining metrics.

The goal: to agree on five “macro” metrics that can be tracked as measures of effectiveness, both for their own purposes and for the seemingly inevitable need to, sooner or later, again justify the agency’s work.

Among those that did best in a survey of members: domestic market share; impact on Florida travel considerations; impact on Florida travel planning; impact on brand perception ratings; international market share; and average spending.

However, discussion was robust, with stakeholders from different parts of the broader tourism industry having different visions of relevant metrics, as well as what segments to funnel and how to ascertain return on investment.

Metrics give us a “greater opportunity to communicate with stakeholders on what historically has been an afterthought,” commented Mellman.

There was no argument when another speaker commented on the reality that legislators may not understand the relevant metrics, suggesting that if a fight is to be held this spring, the agency again is ready to plead its case, an especially urgent one in a dark time for the sector and the state.