Walton Clounty TDC must re-establish beach brand

The huge groups of kids you are seeing are not the result of any marketing strategy. They all know each other. (This is my viewpoint from the 30A perspective- Miramar/Sandestin seems to be more of a part of the Destin big picture, and is very different.)

How, you say?

Because once upon a time, families from different cities vacationed here, some bought second homes. Every year, more and more of their friends came here on vacation with them, or came here on their recommendation.

Gradually and oh so subtly, it became the "in" thing to spring break with everyone at your school, neighborhood, zip code. The parents think there is a safety factor in all the kids coming to the same place to run loose, but also they like to have their own freedoms to hang with their own friends (while the kids are running loose). The kids wail and tell their parents that they will be ostracized if they are the only family "left behind". So every year, we have more and more groups of families (I bet their are hundreds from several zip codes/schools). I am not sure what happened to the true family vacation- the one where it is just YOUR family, reconnecting, relaxing, having fun- not stressed out over whether any of the kids in your group are going to get in trouble, but powerless to stop them from hanging with the other 499 kids they know at the beach. When you get large numbers of teens who all know each other together, that's when the fun begins.

My real point is this- this spring break crazy phenomenon- it's all about peer pressure and going where everyone else is going, NOT marketing. I have heard parents say "I couldn't listen to little Suzy whine anymore so we just gave up and came here so she could hang out in Seaside with her friends" or "OMG I was the only person left in my neighborhood last year so we just had to some here this year!"

Even with the college kids- non of them really watch commercial TV or read Southern Living. There was a connection (came here as a kid, parents have a place, came with a friend), and connections are like tentacles.

I see where maybe the marketing has been successful in the "day visitors" to the 30A area- they stay in PCB or Destin, but come over to shop or eat.

Agree completely. This is common sense and easily understood if you live here and actually talk to people. Rick I think you might need a 4th cup of coffee! lol j/k

My latest post on my Thiurd Cup of Coffee blog:
http://thirdcupofcoffee.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/walton-clounty-tdc-must-re-establish-beach-brand/
The TDC needs new leadership and a new branding/marketing focus. I talked to a prominent Florida tourism official for some fresh thoughts.

From what I saw, no one marketed to a different set of folks or stopped pushing us as a luxury destination. Bit with all the money from BP there was more of a shotgun approach with TV and radio. I think it helped to remind well to do southerners we are the best beach and that the oil didn't effect us.

I did notice last summer a bunch of license plates from places I never saw before from farther away.

Growth is inevitable regardless of the "why" of this particular problem. Therefore we must control and manage growth. We must have a better dialogue about the capacity of our infrastructure supporting our invited guests. At some point we may have to restrict our "invitations" but something tells me the power of money is working against us. I believe the TDC was doing what they were "told" to do which is "keep the beds full" and of course the marketing went in to overdrive after the oil spill. Now that money is being spent again should we be concerned that new contruction is starting to resemble dare I say a "bubble" and that the demand for marketing will only increase as a result? If marketing is necessary then we best find a brand that easily distinguishes us from those to the East and those to the West otherwise we will have a club lavila of "self discovery"!