Walton Clounty TDC must re-establish beach brand

[30A Skunkape]

said no local business owner ever.... (except for the fonts and signs)

;-)

I would counter that the TDC's recent MARKET!MARKET!MARKET! strategy, with a damn the consequences mentality of a come one, come all philosophy makes the area so unpleasant at times there may be a tipping point where more equals less in the long run.

 

[Teresa]

I would counter that the TDC's recent MARKET!MARKET!MARKET! strategy, with a damn the consequences mentality of a come one, come all philosophy makes the area so unpleasant at times there may be a tipping point where more equals less in the long run.

Just messing with ya.. You have good points. Especially since we did have an overnight influx of BP dollars designated for marketing - more millions than we will ever see again for this purpose. I doubt the TDC will market at that level ever again. It does seem to have worked too well. I think things will settle as they usually do with more normal crowds. But, high season has always been uncomfortable as far as I'm concerned. It's the reason I love to live in the woods.

 

[Kurt]

Rick - I don't believe anything the TDC has done has brought more spring breakers. They are coming because daddy has a free house (or if they have to pay it's a couple hundred each for a week) and they want to enjoy the beach they enjoyed as kids, drink and hook up as often as possible. The day's plan: meet someone on the beach and go back to the house for self discovery. You don't need a club La Vela for that. Sunshine, tequila, and bikinis are what it's all about.

 

[Lake View Too]

"Self discovery"... Is that what it's called now?

 

[Andy A]

"Self discovery"... Is that what it's called now?

The coining of a wonderful new term!

 

[Zebraspots]

I wish they would focus more on the drinking and hooking up and less on vandalism and throwing trash everywhere.

I find it hard to believe kids who grew up coming to our beaches are trashing the place like this.

We desperately promoted the area to get heads in beds after the spill and get money in the local economy. Now that we have recovered, we need to be smarter about our desired guest list before we drive away our core visitors. 90% of our visitors are repeat visitors and we are starting to drive them away because of crowds and lack if infrastructure.

 

[Kurt]

I wish they would focus more on the drinking and hooking up and less on vandalism and throwing trash everywhere.

Drinking and a lack of respect causes a lot of that.

Comes with the territory. I have a feeling most rental owners will put up with some damage if they make good profits.

 

[Rick Thomason]

Sorry y'all, but not really buying the idea that the spring breakers are coming here because that's what they did as kids. If that were the case, we'd have been over run by spring breakers 30 years ago.
Take a look at the marketing strategy a decade ago as compared to after BP. Granted, the TDC was trying to get heads -- ANY heads -- in beds after BP. Completely understandable as our economy suffered every day.
But my point is that the TDC needs to go back to targeted marketing. That brings a different kind of visitor...and a diofferent kind of spring break crowd (more families, fewer hooligans.
I'm sure this is a point where we'll just have to agree to disagree. And that's great. Wouldn't the word be a boring place is we all agreed all the time?

 

[Rick Thomason]

Like that term "self discovery." Nice and sanitary...yet everyone still has a grip on its meaning.

 

[Jdarg]

The huge groups of kids you are seeing are not the result of any marketing strategy. They all know each other. (This is my viewpoint from the 30A perspective- Miramar/Sandestin seems to be more of a part of the Destin big picture, and is very different.)

How, you say?

Because once upon a time, families from different cities vacationed here, some bought second homes. Every year, more and more of their friends came here on vacation with them, or came here on their recommendation.

Gradually and oh so subtly, it became the "in" thing to spring break with everyone at your school, neighborhood, zip code. The parents think there is a safety factor in all the kids coming to the same place to run loose, but also they like to have their own freedoms to hang with their own friends (while the kids are running loose). The kids wail and tell their parents that they will be ostracized if they are the only family "left behind". So every year, we have more and more groups of families (I bet their are hundreds from several zip codes/schools). I am not sure what happened to the true family vacation- the one where it is just YOUR family, reconnecting, relaxing, having fun- not stressed out over whether any of the kids in your group are going to get in trouble, but powerless to stop them from hanging with the other 499 kids they know at the beach. When you get large numbers of teens who all know each other together, that's when the fun begins.

My real point is this- this spring break crazy phenomenon- it's all about peer pressure and going where everyone else is going, NOT marketing. I have heard parents say "I couldn't listen to little Suzy whine anymore so we just gave up and came here so she could hang out in Seaside with her friends" or "OMG I was the only person left in my neighborhood last year so we just had to some here this year!"

Even with the college kids- non of them really watch commercial TV or read Southern Living. There was a connection (came here as a kid, parents have a place, came with a friend), and connections are like tentacles.

I see where maybe the marketing has been successful in the "day visitors" to the 30A area- they stay in PCB or Destin, but come over to shop or eat.