Our Best Side is By Your Side

Promoting itself as Florida’s premier outside destination through the tagline “Our Best Side is Outside,” Charlotte County, Florida has had enormous success. However when the COVID-19 epidemic stuck, the County’s Tourism department was faced with not only working to navigate the pandemic, but to let area partners, shut down by the pandemic, know that the department was working diligently to support them.

While tax-supported budgets dwindled, Aqua developed a community support campaign designed as outreach to area partners, uplift them emotionally, and help support them financially – all with limited funds.

Playing off the tagline known by and established in the community (“Our Best Side is Outside”), the campaign communicated to area partners, “Our Best Side is By Your Side.” Knowing that earned PR efforts and extensive outreach to influencers and community/industry leadership would be vital to the success of the campaign, Aqua connected with macro and micro influencers and key Charlotte County community and industry leaders as campaign ambassadors. A tee-shirt was developed with the campaign graphics, and the moniker “Greetings from Pure Florida” (the destination’s URL). Ambassadors’ businesses and organizations served as community sales points for the shirt, with all profits going to Community Organizations Active in a Disaster Florida (COADFL), which provided much needed financial support for local tourism and hospitality businesses and employees affected by the shutdowns.

The influencers/ambassadors were also encouraged to post photos and videos on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter touting the “Greetings from Pure Florida” t-shirts and “Best Side, Your Side” campaign.

Through all social media exposure combined, the destination accumulated more than 43 social media shares, with an incredible 13,007 engagements tracked through the #BestSideYourSide hashtag. The VCB secured crucial celebrity campaign endorsements through the Tampa Bay Rays @RaysRadio Twitter page where the three nationally-known radio hosts shared two videos each, with everyone wearing the campaign t-shirts, sharing what they loved most about Charlotte County, and when they are there for spring training. They also called on their viewers/followers to learn more at BestSideYourSide.com and purchase a t-shirt to benefit COADFL.

Within the first week, the campaign earned 27 media mentions with notable hits in NBC, CBS and ABC television networks, reaching more than 3,374,480 consumers, and resulting in an impressive 444 t-shirts sold. Within two months of launch on April 4, the campaign had sold more than 900 t-shirts, and raised more than $9,000 for COADFL. Inspired by the traction gained, a private donor stepped up to match all VCB earned COADFL funds. More than 107 media placements were secured, reaching an outstanding 5,377,357 consumers in the destination’s target markets and amassing approximately $40,460 in earned media value.