The BP oil spill brought an unyielding spotlight of media coverage to the sunshine state and its Gulf Coast neighbors. Now what?
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months with nonstop, wall-to-wall coverage of the disaster, it’s effect on the local economy, human interest stories and enough beach-backed live shots to piece together your very own episode of Miami Vice.
Even with a $25 million BP grants to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, fighting this story — let alone the spill — with traditional advertising seems to be gaining little traction in consumer minds.
Yes, the leak reportedly has been stopped, but the spill continues to bubble up within consumers’ perception of Florida.
So, what should Florida and some of its local communities do with additional grant money?
To start, don’t spend it on advertising. At least not yet.
Why? Because consumer sentiment has been pushed so far toward the disaster side of the story, it would be difficult — if not impossible — to pull people’s perceptions back toward reality in the short-term.
By the way, the reality is that most of the beaches in northwest Florida are clean and open, with more sand than tar.
Consider a sentiment analysis study about Florida tourism and the oil spill on Twitter, which I selected because of available reporting tools from Wordle and the popularity of the social network.
The graph below is simply a visual representation of the data. If I had conducted a full study about Florida or a local community, a much deeper analysis would have been required to reduce the margin of error.
As you can see, the consumer sentiment — at least on Twitter — is very focused on the negative implications of the spill, rather than the recovery, deals or jet ski rentals.
This finding corresponds with a new Travelocity poll of 2000 Americans which found that 25% of respondents cited the Florida Keys as one of the top three destinations most impacted by the spill, “although the beaches are clean and open.”
Knowing this disparity as evidenced by the Twitter analysis and the Travelocity poll, my recommendation for a local Florida community or tourism board would be to focus efforts on public relations and social media outreach (find as many partners, champions and brand advocates as possible to tweet for tourism) for the next several weeks.
Ah, but  the stats above show such a large divide on Twitter and by implication other social networks, so why would you dedicate more resources to that medium?
Frankly, because you have to start somewhere — and that somewhere is at the grassroots level of this campaign.
This strategy should not be about placing a full-page ad, running some TV spots and hoping the message comes through.
No, should be a post-to-post, one-on-one communication combat mission to sway the opinion of your potential visitor.
This strategy will require micro communication, before mass communication.
Once complete (easier said than done), re-evaluate the overall sentiment, and if the gap between oil-spill fears and Florida tourism has narrowed, then begin shifting resources to a more traditional advertising campaign.
Sure, that full-page ad in the New York Times may have looked great, and I am sure the circulation numbers were high, but if the readers of the paper did not absorb the messaging into their overall perception of Florida, it will be quickly overshadowed by the next tweet.
Related posts:
- Visit Florida tourism board uses Google Maps and Twitter feeds to cleanse oil-spill fears
- Florida Keys tourist board posts weekly videos to clear up Gulf oil spill inaccuracies
- Tourism authorities starting to acknowledge Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- Florida Gulf Coast vacation-rental property manager blasts media, thanks FlipKey, TripAdvisor
- Expedia offers marketing support for Gulf state tourism boards
About Troy Thompson
I’d say that domestically you are right, everyone needs to get on message regarding the ‘actual’ state of the beaches. Word of mouth to gain momentum would be a great place to start. However, out bound from UK, as far as my interaction with customers going to Florida goes, seems that they are less concerned about the beaches.
Anyone else have any client comments or concerns?
Karl
This is a clear case, where social media outreach combined with PR activities can be more effective than expensive advertising. The positive message needs to be communicated by credible sources, especially visitors, starting at the local level with testimonials. In this case I start with my own, writing from Ft. Myers / Sanibel Island where I am spending a few days and where the beaches and water are perfectly clean.
If you leave a gap in traditional media advertising then guess who will step into that void? Right – BP, which is already running very intense commercials on most channels here in south FL to make clear they’re not going anywhere until the “cleanup is done”. Rather than just broadcast another side of the story, a tourism board general commercial could be more evolved and involved by providing the type of social media linkage info and message to reach the individual potential traveler. But maybe that level of interactivity can’t just be left to state tourism to get out there, it needs to also come from the travel industry’s marketing in the region or nationally. Airlines, hotels all have that role to play.
Thanks for the comments Karl, interesting perspective.
Joe, totally agree, this is a case where first-person accounts and reports are critical to moving the perception needle. Glad to hear the beach is looking good.
Hal, actually, I see those commercials in Denver as well.
Considering BP gave Florida the marketing dollars for the campaign, not sure there is a way to out spend them.
Love the comment about not leaving the advertising to just the state. This is a campaign for everyone in the industry…hotels, airlines, restaurants, gift shops, etc…but, I do think that the state and national tourism organizations need to provide guidance, if not ‘templates’, on how to begin the communication campaign.
Great comments.
- Troy
All very valid points. While perception remains a challenge, one recurring tactic that’s proven successful in the wake of the most dire of situations the travel industry has faced in recent years is that a great travel deal is hard to ignore.
In addition to the preceptions the Travelocity study sites, its research also suggests that although 24% of respondents were less interested in visiting the Gulf now than before the oil spill, more than one quarter of those said they would go if they found a compelling deal. And an additional seven percent who were never interested in visiting would consider a trip if they found a good deal.
Focus rt now should be regional marketing and PR campaigns (including social media) that emphasize one last family summer vacation summer at an unbeatable price that also helps Gulf area businesses. Great deals got Americans traveling again after 9-11…and can be leveraged to stimulate travel to the Gulf now.
Great comment Vicki, thanks.
Completely agree on the deal tactic, but I think a PR push v. a marketing push would do a better job a selling the message.
Americans tend to wait for an official word…and official meaning magazine, Brian Williams or anyone with authority…before resuming travel, regardless of the deal.
Which is why we would recommend a NY Times story (PR) v. a full-page ad.
- Troy
I’m one of those Florida residents, and we heard more tourists talk about how they almost didn’t make their vacation because of their economic situation, not because of the oil spill.