Destin – Fort Walton Beach, Florida

The target audiences was adults (families and couples) 25- 54 with a household income of $150,000 or more in specific geographic locations. Geo-targeted markets included Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, St. Louis, MO-IL, Detroit, MI, Atlanta, Columbus, OH, Springfield, IL, Toronto, Indianapolis, IN and Orlando.

Considering the campaign would advertise the destination in new, more distant markets, it was likely this audience would be learning about Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island for the first time. Because planning a vacation can be time consuming, stressful and expensive, Aqua wanted visitors to know that this was a vacation they and their family could rely on, or “count on.” Designed to highlight the various activities and attractions throughout the area, the “Count on” campaign reassured first-time audiences the destination could deliver a transformative vacation.

Cable television was used in key geo-targeted markets to kick off each campaign period. Following a cable TV push, weather-triggered advertising ran on strategically placed out-ofhome digital boards (such as near malls, airports and busy roads and sidewalks) as well as through mobile skins in geo-targeted markets on weather networks/weather online properties. Print advertisements ran in major publications such as Martha Stewart Living and Southern Living. “Count on” messaging was reflected on the destination website and in its monthly e-newsletters. On social media, “Count on” ads targeted couples, families, golf, fishing, dining and meetings audiences on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Public Relations initiatives included inviting national media, journalists and bloggers to the destination, as well as writing press releases and attending out-of-state events to promote the area.

Following a fall/winter campaign push, the destination experienced its most dramatic increase in tourism traffic and dollars spent while in the market ever. This outstanding increase in visitation is most predominantly illustrated by a reported 22.85% increase in bed-tax revenue since moving to an aggressive fall/winter media spend. Equally impressive, for fiscal 2019, November 2019 tax collection was up a remarkable 51% over November 2018. The campaign is credited with an astounding increase in social media activity with engagement up an incredible 11,455%, reach/impressions skyrocketing up 3,639% and organic fans/followers growing by 25%. Website activity, during the fall/winter months, improved dramatically with a staggering 99.67% increase in web traffic, an unprecedented 102.60% increase in new users and page views increasing by 35.08% compared to the previous year.