Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Firmly establish Greater Fort Lauderdale as the gay capital of America and get out the message that diversity is in the destination’s DNA. The target audience was gay and straight New Yorkers and visitors to New York and the Samsung building. The CVB also wanted to show its pride as a progressive community with one of the largest LGBTQ+ populations in the country. Pride Place also provided an opportunity to arrange business and media meetings for Richard Gray, the only LGBTQ+ Director of Marketing at a CVB in the U.S.
“We want to show the world that, even in this political climate Greater Fort Lauderdale is an extraordinary oasis in a generally conservative state, said Richard Gray. “Diversity and inclusion is what makes this area so great to live and to visit.”
The pre-promotion of Pride of the Americas 2020 at Pride Place was the first step in a major marketing initiative to attract visitors to the event from every corner of the world.
Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.
Firmly establish Greater Fort Lauderdale as the gay capital of America and get out the message that diversity is in the destination’s DNA. The target audience was gay and straight New Yorkers and visitors to New York and the Samsung building. The CVB also wanted to show its pride as a progressive community with one of the largest LGBTQ+ populations in the country. Pride Place also provided an opportunity to arrange business and media meetings for Richard Gray, the only LGBTQ+ Director of Marketing at a CVB in the U.S.
“We want to show the world that, even in this political climate Greater Fort Lauderdale is an extraordinary oasis in a generally conservative state, said Richard Gray. “Diversity and inclusion is what makes this area so great to live and to visit.”
The pre-promotion of Pride of the Americas 2020 at Pride Place was the first step in a major marketing initiative to attract visitors to the event from every corner of the world.
Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign? Describe how you planned and produced the creative asseets with the mobile canvas in mind.
New York Pride is a busy time and place. The CVB wanted an environment for personal interaction and high visibility for the destination’s brand over a week timeframe. This led to the CVB, its public relations agency Finn Partners and Pride Media to stage an event in the Samsung building in Manhattan’s trendy and high-foot traffic meatpacking district.
As visitors stepped into the Samsung building they were drawn to a visually striking photo set of Greater Fort Lauderdale, summer dressed brand models, a beach setting and a rainbow surfboard. Guests posed alongside the models and surfboard capturing energetic and vibrant user-generated images instantly shared on social media with #greatertogether. The images were also shared on Out Traveler.com, with calls to action to plan a trip at the CVB’s website sunny.org. A camera was set up in time-capsule mode to create a short 30-second video showing the mural creation and featured on OUT.com and OUT’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?
Diversity is in the DNA of Greater Fort Lauderdale
We are all one, We are #Greater Together
Greater Fort Lauderdale welcomes everyone with open arms and open hearts
Greater Fort Lauderdale is the ideal vacation destination for people of all races, religious, gender integration and who they love
Greater Fort Lauderdale is home to inaugural Pride of the Americas 2020
Results:
Which of your original goals did you achieve and how?
How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns.
The Pride Place activation was a success in promoting Greater Fort Lauderdale as a welcoming LGBTQ+ destination for all visitors. Pride Place featured celebrities, notables, panels, luncheons, film screenings, cocktail parties, music & comedy events and more – all showcasing the GFL brand.
The inaugural PRIDE PLACE held at Samsung837 brought the LGBTQ community together for a week-long pride celebration ahead of New York City Pride hosting over 2,000 VIPs. Through a strategic press and social outreach strategy, Pride Media garnered more than 1.5MM media impressions and 2MM+ social media impressions for PRIDE PLACE at Samsung837
In-depth pride coverage across Pride Media’s network of brands, including a custom PRIDE PLACE hub, inspired our readers to celebrate pride authentically and unapologetically resulting in over 13 million-page views.
Situational Analysis
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) is a leader in LGBT+ visitation with more than 1.5 million LGBT+ annual visitors.
LGBTQ+ market focus by the CVB is to promote GFL’s diversity via a Greater Together campaign and the inaugural Pride of the Americas Festival in Fort Lauderdale in 2020.
Greater Together showcases GFL’s welcome to visitors from all other the world regardless of who they love. This campaign served as the inspiration for a showcase event at Pride New York 2018 at the Samsung building in NYC.
The Pride Place activation included a colorfully branded area for visitors to interact with gay and transgender brand ambassadors and be photographed and videoed in a Greater Fort Lauderdale “beach setting.” The photos and video were posted to the CVB’s social channels. The event also featured a large mural of the Greater Together signature thumbprint for visitor affixed thumbprints – including NY governor candidate Cynthia Nixon.