Punta Gorda / Englewood Beach

The Charlotte County, Florida, Visitor and Convention Bureau

Aqua handles all aspects of the destination’s marketing communication, including Advertising, Public Relations and Social Media. Having originally won the contract for Charlotte County tourism in 2012, Aqua has re-won the multi-year contract three times. Initially, the account was for Advertising and Design only, but in 2017, Aqua was selected for Public Relations services, and for Social Media services in 2020.

“Aqua has been a model agency to work with. I recommend them without hesitation.”
– Sean Doherty, Executive Director, The Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach VCB

In 2014, Aqua took the County through its comprehensive, multi-step branding process, repositioning the destination as the state’s epicenter for outdoor activities, renamed the destination “Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach,” and summed up the destination’s new brand with the tagline, “Our Best Side is Outside.”

Given that the area is a destination client, our primary mission is to target and attract the right visitors in order to drive economic impact for the community. Over the years’ several fully integrated campaigns have done just that, while winning industry awards and recognition. From 2012 to 2019, Aqua efforts drove the destination’s tourism tax up 82%. As a result of the agency’s superb research and planning, the destination leads the state in post-quarantine visitation, and while other destinations in the state were trying to figure out how they should navigate to the COVID-19 pandemic, Charlotte County’s visitation soared forward, achieving a miraculous 80% increase in tourist tax.

Last year’s summer visitation campaign, which included a strong social media promotional component, proved to be one of the destination’s most successful campaigns to date. Web inquiry for the period increased significantly, with sessions up 39% over the previous year. The destination also saw a 33% increase in the number of New Users to the CVB website. Visitation to the destination increased by an astonishing 5.8% for Q2/Q3. Economic impact as a result of the campaign was measured as having produced an increase in direct expenditures by an impressive 8%, occupancy for the destination shot up 12.5%, the destination’s average daily rate rose by 4% and tourism tax collections soared to a 10% increase from the period of May – August the previous year.

Aqua maintains an active and ongoing Public Relations effort for the destination, creating and executing the complete annual PR plan each year for the destination. The plan includes an annual pitch calendar based on travel seasons and annual events, organizing and managing inmarket FAM tours for selected writers and editors, as well as working with Aqua’s social media team to identify, vet and manage travel influencers to the destination.

Aqua’s PR team has received recognition nationally and statewide for its crisis communication response for the destination, having received a number of awards for successfully guiding the destination through red tide, blue-green algae, hurricanes and more.

As with PR, Aqua’s Social Media team provides an active an ongoing Social Media program for the destination, planning and managing all aspects of Social Media.

Over the past year, Aqua Marketing spearheaded a dynamic social media campaign on behalf of the destination resulting in an unprecedented surge in reach and impressions across all platforms. Notably, our strategic initiatives yielded remarkable outcomes, particularly on Facebook, where we orchestrated a staggering 141% increase in reach, amassing an impressive 5,300,000 reach, complemented by a 29.1% uptick in published content. This amplified visibility translated into a remarkable 153% surge in Facebook visits, facilitated by our focused content highlighting the destination’s unique appeal.

Instagram saw a great lift as well. Our strategy surpassed expectations, with a resounding 75% boost in engagement achieved through the deployment of captivating, high-quality visual content, comprising compelling photographs and engaging stories that intricately wove the narrative of the destination. As a result of our concerted efforts, the overall reach on Instagram soared to an impressive 660,000, amplifying the brand’s influence and fostering meaningful connections with a wider audience base.

In line with our commitment to innovative and tailored social media solutions, Aqua has consistently employed a multifaceted approach that amalgamates compelling storytelling, immersive visual content, and targeted audience engagement strategies. Through meticulous analysis and continuous adaptation to evolving digital trends, our team has successfully crafted and executed dynamic social media campaigns that transcend conventional boundaries, enabling our clients to carve a distinct niche in their respective industries. With a focus on fostering authentic connections and fostering brand loyalty, we pride ourselves on the capacity to transform mere interactions into lasting relationships, thereby ensuring sustained growth and prominence in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

Our results for the destination’s “Find Your Outside” campaign provide a great example of our layering Paid Social efforts on top of our Organic Social Media. Through posts, carousels and video on Facebook and Instagram, we targeted adults (age 35-64) with a household income of $100K+ in the out-of-state markets. In-state targets were Miami, Orlando/Daytona Beach and Tampa/St. Petersburg. Selective targeting included such interests and intent as “beach goers,” “budget travel,” “family travel,” “flight booking,” “frequent flyers,” “travel to Florida,” “vacation home rentals,” and “winter holiday travel.”

The Paid Social Media campaign delivered 10 million impressions with an average cost per click at $0.33 – almost half as much as the industry benchmark for travel and tourism ($0.63) and a click through rate of 1.82% – more than double the travel and tourism industry benchmark (0.9%).

Keeping the Momentum Going

This year brought forth one of the destination’s clearest and boldest declarations of the “Outside” position in the State of Florida. The newly launched “Pure Florida” campaign highlights the destination in new, immersive photography and video, while emphasizing the destination’s URL, PureFlorida.com – A unique call to action, highly coveted by others in the state.

As with all efforts to date, it is anticipated that the new campaign will continue to take the destination’s visitation metrics to historic heights, surpassing the competitive set, and providing positive economic impact and lifestyle benefits to the people of Charlotte County.

Print Ads

Eblasts

Online and Broadcast Video

Visitor Guides – English and German