Division A - Public Relations Programs
Category 8 - Public Affairs
VISIT FLORIDA: “Florida Tourism Counts” Education Campaign
Moore Consulting Group, VISIT FLORIDA
Judges' Award
Research/Situation Analysis:
In 1996, VISIT FLORIDA®, the official tourism marketing corporation for
the state of Florida, was established from the Florida Department of
Commerce as a non-profit organization supported by both public and
private funding. Since its inception, VISIT FLORIDA has received a mere
$6.7 million increase in public funding over the past decade. With the
relatively stagnant marketing budget of VISIT FLORIDA, visitation to
the Sunshine State flattened in 2006 due to increasing marketing
competition from top destinations and growing advertising costs.
According to Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), Florida lags
behind Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas for public funding of
tourism marketing. Furthermore, advertising costs have increased 37
percent since 1996, yet the VISIT FLORIDA marketing budget has not
risen proportionately. Florida is being out-spent and out-voiced in the
consumer market place. A one percent decrease in Florida visitation
represents a loss of $37.2 million in general revenue collections. In
order to protect the state’s hard-earned tourism market share, stay
competitive in the global market place and ensure increased economic
revenues, VISIT FLORIDA asked for an additional $34.3 million in public
funding during 2007 Legislative Session. For every dollar invested in
VISIT FLORIDA, research proves that more than three dollars are
returned in tourism-related tax revenues – paid by visitors, not
residents. The triple return-on-investment to the state is undeniable,
which will help build roads, support schools, pay for health care and
other vital programs. To educate legislators on the importance of
tourism marketing and rationale for the additional $34.3 million public
funding request, VISIT FLORIDA hired Moore Consulting Group (MCG) to
conduct a comprehensive education campaign, which involved research,
grassroots advocacy, public affairs, collateral development and
interactive media. To begin the project, MCG conducted a “discovery”
meeting with the VISIT FLORIDA team to discuss the legislative
environment, funding request and campaign objectives. At the meeting,
all agreed on the additional $34.3 million request for the campaign’s
first year; the team was hopeful to receive any increase in public
funding in lieu of the tight budget year. Once objectives were
finalized, MCG met with the VISIT FLORIDA research department to
evaluate studies on Florida visitation over the past 10 years,
competitor marketing budgets (TIA) and economic impact statistics
(Florida TaxWatch) to develop campaign key messages. MCG conducted
informal focus groups on the “Florida’s Tourism Counts” campaign key
messages and the newly created Partnership for Florida’s Tourism name
and logo design. Target audiences included the Governor, Lt. Governor,
Florida Legislature, VISIT FLORIDA partners, statewide tourism leaders,
media and general public.
Objectives: 1) To create an influential alliance
of more than 100 tourism leaders and representatives statewide to serve
as a unified voice for legislative advocacy and media relations
support; 2) To conduct a legislative advocacy day at the Capitol called
“Florida Tourism Day” with more than 90 campaign partners in
attendance; 3) To secure a minimum of 60 statewide media hits about the
“Florida’s Tourism Counts” campaign;
4) To secure a minimum of
five editorial board meetings statewide; and 5) To increase public
funding for VISIT FLORIDA during 2007 Legislative Session.
Implementation: Objective 1) MCG sent a coalition
membership e-card and membership form to potential members of the
Partnership for Florida’s Tourism, which was followed up with repeat
phone calls. On the membership form, partners indicated their level of
participation from becoming a campaign media spokesperson to receiving
campaign updates. Objective 2) In preparation for “Florida Tourism
Day,” MCG created a save the date card and disseminated five
e-newsletters to the Partnership for Florida’s Tourism and legislators
discussing event logistics. Additionally, MCG secured a proclamation
from the Governor’s Office declaring “Tourism Counts Day” at the
Capitol. Florida Tourism Day included a Florida Tourism Briefing where
Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp and top tourism leaders discussed the state
of Florida’s No. 1 industry, and the proclamation was presented.
Objective 3) MCG conducted media training for the VISIT FLORIDA senior
leadership. For ongoing media relations, MCG wrote and distributed
various media materials with ongoing pitches during the campaign.
Objective 4) MCG conducted editorial board meetings with Florida’s
major daily newspapers to secure positive editorials. Objective 5)
During 2007 Special Session and Regular Session, MCG created and hand
delivered weekly collateral materials to Florida legislators, the
Governor, the Lt. Governor and Cabinet to maintain top-of-mind
awareness of the “Florida’s Tourism Counts” campaign. Collateral
materials included a campaign general brochure, tourism industry
segment cards, positive media coverage mock-ups, “Call to Action”
report and legislative toolbox.
Evaluation: The seven-month campaign well
exceeded its goals as measured by: Objective 1) 147 tourism leaders and
state representatives joined the Partnership for Florida’s Tourism;
Objective 2) More than 140 members of the Partnership for Florida’s
Tourism attended Florida Tourism Day – nearly 100 percent attendance –
and met with their legislator(s) about the importance of tourism
marketing funding; Objective 3)
69 newspaper and 20 television stories were generated totaling more than 8.1 million impressions (as of May 2007); and
Objective
4) Editorial board meetings resulted in six positive editorials
supporting the Florida’s Tourism Counts campaign. Objective 5) 19
different collateral materials were hand delivered to each legislator,
the Governor, the Lt. Governor and Cabinet during 2007 Special Session
and Regular Session totaling 3,984 deliveries, which aided in the
approval of an additional $8.95 million for VISIT FLORIDA in
non-recurring public funding during a tight budget year.
Budget: General brochures (in-house): $1,000;
legislative collateral materials: $3,816; legislative toolbox CDs: $75;
Tourism Day save the date cards: $600; Tourism Day signage: $42;
Tourism Day videographer: $200; editorial board kits: $85; media clips:
$53; printing: $700; staff time covered under retainer (not including
326 in-kind hours). Total cost: $6,518.