Daytona Beach's 'Beach On' tourism campaign makes a splash in New York's Times Square
A bit of the World’s Most Famous Beach is now making a splash in the Big Apple.
A towering 3-dimensional anamorphic billboard touting Daytona Beach as a tourism destination made its debut this month in New York City’s Times Square. It’s arguably the destination’s most high-profile exposure tied to the "Beach On" promotional campaign adopted in 2022 by Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
In the branded 15-second video spots, a kite surfer rides a wave with the landmark Daytona Beach Pier in the background, followed by a dolphin jumping through the Daytona Beach logo. On the bottom of the surfer’s board is the logo for the CVB’s “Beach On” campaign.
The billboard at the corner of 20 Times Square and 47th Street will show the video ad 20 times per hour non-stop through April 30. It’s the creation of the Zimmerman Agency, the Tallahassee-based firm contracted to do the destination’s tourism marketing.
Anamorphic billboards combine images from different angles to create attention-grabbing three-dimensional illusions. Planning and production of "Beach On" billboard took about three months.
In addition to the billboard itself, the Times Square marketing push also incorporates social media and geofencing components. The latter is a reference to technology that enables marketing notifications to be sent to mobile phones within a prescribed boundary near the billboard.
As part of the promotion, a street team also will be deployed to distribute Daytona Beach-themed bags with giveaways and QR code cards.
“There is this larger-than-life energy to Daytona Beach that can be hard to get across in traditional media, so when we discovered the opportunity to create something immersive on this massive 3D board in Times Square, we knew it was right,” said Lori Campbell Baker, CVB executive director in the announcement of the ad’s debut.
“It’s the ultimate expression of ‘Beach On’,” Baker said, “and invites every New Yorker to come experience the warm hospitality of our destination for themselves.”
Times Square ad part of re-launch of 'Beach On' campaign
The plan for the Times Square ad was approved in January by the Halifax Area Advertising Authority, the county-appointed board that oversees and funds the Daytona Beach Area CVB.
At the HAAA board’s Jan. 18 meeting, board members unanimously approved spending $250,000 to move ahead with the project in the famed intersection. The Times Square billboard is part of the re-start of the destination’s ‘Beach On’ campaign, after its planned October rollout was sidelined by the impact of back-to-back tropical storms Ian and Nicole.
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Board members were excited about the agency’s pitch to turn the idea into a reality.
“That’s what I love about you guys,” said Androse Bell, board chair and general manager of Hard Rock Hotel. “You came to us with guts and courage and the ability to do something different. Something like this is unique and that’s what we want.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach's 'Beach On' tourism campaign debuts in Times Square
