How Visit Florida is popping a vacation spot into a way of life

When Visit Florida unveiled its ‘Live More Floridays’ marketing campaign earlier this 12 months, it marked the fruits of an 18-month rethink of one of many world’s best-known tourism locations. For CMO Brett Laiken, the purpose was easy however formidable: to show Florida from a spot you go to into a way of life you yearn for.

“Our goal was to move beyond being just a travel brand,” Laiken says. “We wanted to become part of the everyday conversation. To be relevant even when you’re not planning your next trip.”

When Visit Florida unveiled its ‘Live More Floridays’ marketing campaign earlier this 12 months, it marked the fruits of an 18-month rethink of one of many world’s best-known tourism locations. For CMO Brett Laiken, the purpose was easy however formidable: to show Florida from a spot you go to into a way of life you yearn for.

“Our goal was to move beyond being just a travel brand,” Laiken says. “We wanted to become part of the everyday conversation. To be relevant even when you’re not planning your next trip.”

Research carried out throughout key markets, together with the UK, uncovered a central perception that grew to become the inventive basis, “the new in the known”, as Laiken places it.

Florida’s seashores and theme parks are world-famous, however he wished to encourage travellers to discover past the apparent.

“People know us for the castle and the coastline, and we love that,” he says. “But there’s so much more to see. The idea was to go to your comfort zone and then branch out a little – to discover something new without leaving what you love behind.”

That philosophy led to a special type of storytelling. A customer spending two weeks in Orlando would possibly now be prompted to spend a day swimming with manatees in Crystal River or zip-lining over alligators in Kissimmee. For others, it’d imply making an attempt paddle-boarding, golf or a brief street journey to a hidden stretch of coast.

The level, Laiken says, is to make discovery really feel accessible relatively than intimidating. “It’s all anchored in familiarity,” he factors out. “You can dip into adventure and still go back to the beach or the theme park afterwards.”

Reframing Florida on this method meant trying past the normal cues of vacation spot advertising and finding out the manufacturers which have succeeded in embedding themselves in folks’s every day lives.

“We looked at what makes lifestyle brands work,” says Laiken. “You might buy Nike for sporting pedigree, for example, but someone else will buy it for fashion. You might love Apple for the camera or because it feels modern. We wanted Florida to be the same – it should be whatever you need it to be.”

‘Like a startup’: Inside the rise of journey media networksThat pondering led Visit Florida to collaborate with Margaritaville, the US hospitality empire constructed across the late Jimmy Buffett’s laid-back musical model. Buffett’s band, the Coral Reefers, rerecorded his music ‘Floridays’ for the marketing campaign soundtrack. “Margaritaville is the perfect partner,” says Laiken. “It captures that spirit of contemporary but approachable escapism we’re trying to express.”

The marketing campaign additionally responds to how journey is now skilled and shared. “Travel has become such a visual, social thing,” Laiken says. “People are always looking for something new to post, something their friends haven’t already done. Even for me, after 20 years living in Florida, there are parts of the state I’ve never been to.”

That strategy has a sensible function too. Florida attracted 143 million guests final 12 months, together with 72 million to Orlando alone. Laiken isn’t involved about over-tourism, however he does need to encourage dispersion – spreading travellers throughout the state’s 67 counties and exhibiting them that there’s much more to expertise than they may assume.

“We’re not worried about too many visitors in one place,” Laiken says. “We see it as an opportunity for dispersion. Orlando has incredible golf, but so does Cabot Citrus, north of Tampa. Palm Beach is famous for luxury, but 30 minutes away, you can be in the Everglades. That’s the story we want to tell.”

He describes Florida as “an unapologetic repeat destination” relatively than a bucket-list location to be ticked off as soon as. “If I go back to New Jersey where I grew up, it’s the same experience every visit,” he says. “In Florida, you can come back and it’s always new.”

Working in concord

Demonstrating the effectiveness of such a broad repositioning requires refined measurement. Visit Florida is working with Tourism Economics, a part of Oxford Economics, on what Laiken calls a “media impact calculator” that tracks the monetary influence of promoting throughout markets in granular element.

“It lets us see how the campaign performs in London versus Manchester, or Edinburgh versus Dublin, and link that directly to spending patterns,” he explains. “When someone from London who saw this ad travels to Orlando, we can see how much they spent. When someone from Manchester goes to Tampa, we can compare that. It’s the first time a state has tried to get this detailed.”

Those insights are shared with regional tourism boards to allow them to refine their very own advertising. “We almost act as servant leaders,” says Laiken. “We do research that smaller destinations can’t always afford, and we feed that back. If we see people from Boston staying longer in Dunedin after seeing a certain message, we tell them that. It’s about giving everyone the data they need.”

Collaboration with native tourism companies is central to the mannequin. Laiken describes Visit Florida’s function as creating the halo whereas regional companions ship the close-up. “We sell Florida at 30,000 feet – what the state means emotionally. They sell the detail of their destinations. It’s like a brand family in CPG. I want you to buy into Adidas, but each trainer line still has its own manager and story.”

Airbnb shifts advert focus ‘from TV to social’ as advertising funding grows 19%Although the majority of tourists stay home, worldwide markets such because the UK, Canada and Brazil are strategically essential. “International visitors stay longer and spend more,” Laiken notes. But tourism inevitably exists towards a political backdrop – and one which has turn out to be more and more contested in Donald Trump’s presidency – however Laiken is obvious that Visit Florida’s focus stays apolitical.

“It would be naïve to pretend politics doesn’t affect sentiment, but our role isn’t political,” he says. “People will always look for happiness and connection. We sell sunshine – that’s what we do.”

Most journey locations suffered in the course of the pandemic however Florida weathered it higher than most. While others paused promotion, the state stayed seen, helped by the state lifting restrictions sooner than many others.

“We were the first to start advertising again,” Laiken recollects. “People think of Florida as theme parks and beaches, but we have 15,000 miles of trails and over 100 state parks. It allowed us to show a side of Florida that even regular visitors hadn’t seen.”

The state’s customer numbers have since rebounded strongly: general visitation has held regular whereas Florida’s share of the journey market has grown. “That’s success for us,” he says. “We’ve stayed in people’s minds.”

When requested what success would possibly appear like 5 years from now, Laiken has a aim in thoughts. “If people start saying, ‘I need a Floriday,’ we’ll know we’ve made it,” he says. “If someone’s in Chicago and it’s snowing or in London on a grey afternoon, and they say they need a Floriday to lift their mood – that’s the dream. If we can make Floriday part of everyday language — like Netflix and chill — that’s success.”