New marketing plan dubs this area "The Beach"

[Alicia Leonard]

Don't know if this is the right place to post this but I found the last quote from Rees, funny. Please move if thread is in the wrong place




New marketing plan dubs this area "The Beach"



Joyce Owen, Florida Freedom Newspapers

Thursday February 7th, 2008



After 13 months of planning, the previously unknown Coastal Vision 3000 Committee unveiled a plan to unify and strengthen the identity of Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf counties. Committee chairman Buddy Runnels presented the committee?s proposal for ?The Beach? at the Feb. 6 Walton Area Chamber?s Power of Business luncheon at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.

Runnels is founder and chairman of the board of Sterling Companies and Cornerstone Development.

Last year, he said, business leaders met to try to attract more airlines to this area. Airlines operators indicated this is a fractured area, with no strong identity, therefore it was hard to market the communities to travelers.

?Southwest Airlines wanted something with 20 letters or less for its billboard advertising and the commercials with ding!? Runnels said,

The airlines also said with so many different communities and leaders, it was hard to who the decision maker was at each entity.

Members of the business community decided it was time to join forces, and the result is Coastal Vision 3000.

?Coastal Vision 3000 is an unprecedented effort to bring together business leaders from Northwest Florida coastal counties to grow our market to everyone?s benefit,? Runnels said. ?For too long, we?ve all tried to go it alone. By working together, we will be able to forge a strong regional identity and of Northwest Florida?s wonderful beach destinations.

?We are joining together to accomplish common objectives that we could never accomplish alone,? he said.

Members of the business community, identified as founders and stewards, have contributed money to fund the program.

At the conclusion of the presentation, individuals and business owners were encouraged to become involved by making contributions ranging from $500 to $15,000.

?How does it define us?? Bea Reynolds, owner of Bea?s Interiors, in South Walton, asked. ?There are a lot of beaches in Florida, just saying ?The Beach? could mean Daytona Beach or Miami Beach.?

Lane Rees, a Walton County resident and owner of Human Resource Solutions also in South Walton and a former Walton County commissioner, said he had questions about the proposal, but his initial reaction was to the color chosen. The logo ?The Beach? is white on an orange background.

?Our beaches aren?t orange,? Rees said.

 

[Busta Hustle]

wow!!!what brilliant minds at work!!

 

[User 3]

Whatever happened to "The Emerald Coast"?

 

[hnooe]

How about these so called "business leaders" utilizing their raised monies to hire a real turn key Marketing firm to work on this, maybe from an area that has economic ties to the area, but isnt in the area (I think we need an outside perspective on this one)...

"The Beach" sounds like it will be as successful as the TDC's bright blue swimming pool signs!

 

[raven]

i mean...c'mon the name of their group says it all "COASTAL VISION 3000"??
here's what my vision is when i hear that, it's the year 3000 and a bunch of idiots are still screwing up the marketing of this area while "the beach" is now up in bonifay.

seriously, kurt did a better job branding south walton with his sowal concept and grassroots and online marketing than the TDC has done with their silly and cumbersome "beaches of south walton" crap. and how much did it cost kurt vs. the amount of cash the TDC has run through? if the TDC had any sense - which it does not- nice building - no sense- they'd pay kurt for his brand, the website and put more money behind the concept. of course, it's not gonna happen here, cuz some dimwit with glazed eyes and a painted on smile is always running stuff.

ed. to be clear, i think it is VITAL to have a cohesive regional marketing concept for this area and not necessarily chop up every town, county and development. but these people don't have the experience to pull that off.

 

[Matt J]

Raven it is not an experience issue. It is however a "keeping my piece of the pie" issue. Most of these folks want something that will benefit there own business. After living in PCB for 10 years I watched it with gapping jaw. First all of the locals decided that spring break was a bad idea (never really a group just the opinion of local businessmen) who then made millions bull dozing dumpy motels and errecting huge condos. Now 10 years after the "tranformation" the TDC is still dumping money on marketing companies for spring break. Why? After all of that they finally realized that spring breakers from colleges spend vastly more then spring breaking families. Whether beer, cigarettes, food, or clothing college kids will spend more than families. I'm not against families, I would much rather deal with them than drunk over entitled college kids, but families generally do not eat out every meal and watch there pocket books more closely.

None of these business men seems to understand that the overall good a cohesive cross county, cross TDC, joint marketing effort would do for the area. They are all worried that if they do this people who traditionally go to PCB might hear about Destin and go there. They never consider the vice versa and only look at it as spening money there money to market a different area. The PCB TDC will not allow my company to put flyers in there lobby unless it only says PCB. All of the other TDC's have no problem with us saving money by listing all of the locations we serve. Might as well bang your head on a wall, cause it's not likely to change anytime soon.

 

[NotDeadYet]

mean...c'mon the name of their group says it all "COASTAL VISION 3000"??
here's what my vision is when i hear that, it's the year 3000 and a bunch of idiots are still screwing up the marketing of this area while "the beach" is now up in bonifay.

:rofl:

 

[John R]

so is this final? couldn't tell from the article.

 

[scooterbug44]

This is absolutely ridonkulous!

"the beaches" - sounds like an old age home or a trailer park!

I live in Sowal and on the Emerald Coast of Florida. Could have saved you 13 months, folks!

 

[chrisv]

Raven it is not an experience issue. It is however a "keeping my piece of the pie" issue. Most of these folks want something that will benefit there own business. After living in PCB for 10 years I watched it with gapping jaw. First all of the locals decided that spring break was a bad idea (never really a group just the opinion of local businessmen) who then made millions bull dozing dumpy motels and errecting huge condos. Now 10 years after the "tranformation" the TDC is still dumping money on marketing companies for spring break. Why? After all of that they finally realized that spring breakers from colleges spend vastly more then spring breaking families. Whether beer, cigarettes, food, or clothing college kids will spend more than families. I'm not against families, I would much rather deal with them than drunk over entitled college kids, but families generally do not eat out every meal and watch there pocket books more closely.

Did you completely miss the whole Bob Warren (when he dared to go against Charlie Hilton) firing, reinstatement, resignation drama from last summer? The total dismantling of the PCB CVB, made up of Hilton's handpicked folks, and subsequent appointment of 'family friendly' board members? Charlie Hilton, the powerful force behind keeping the spring break marketing alive took a major hit; the new direction of the marketing of PCB is that of families, who in fact spend more than college kids. Hilton had a corner on the market, he and a few of his cronies were the only beneficiaries of the $35/day average expenditure by college kids. The new CVB has significantly reduced SB marketing, and is looking to the family market precisely because it produces more revenue.