Making the most of a hurricane?
When Hurricane Ivan pounded much of Florida’s coast but breezed by the pristine shorelines of Gulf County, Tourism Director Paula Picket breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, when it appeared that vacationers nationwide believed all of Florida had been battered, she saw opportunity. KMA has worked with Gulf County Tourism on a project basis for over four years, and once again, we were called in to build business.

The Approach
Working with our client we determined a budget and outlined a media strategy based on newspaper / internet due to the immediate need to reach travelers. A creative theme, entitled “Still Stunning” captured readers across a regional drive market with a local beach photo date stamped two days after Ivan!

Results
One week after the September 15, 2004 Ivan left beach goers to their west stranded, Gulf County was presenting their destination in newspaper running across the south2 and banner ads on VisitFlorida.com. The client reported that occupancy for the month of October, 2004 delivered a 51% increase over October, 2003!

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