FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched an unprecedented new destination brand initiative to serve as a warm welcome and visitor invitation to the international travel community. The campaign, which includes a new brand video and comprehensive digital marketing strategy, launched on United Nation’s World Tourism Day, a day that celebrated the importance of tourism and its cultural, political and economic values.
The #greatertogether video is an expression of Greater Fort Lauderdale’s open-door/open heart philosophy for visitors in times of travel bans and safety concerns. “In Broward County, we are making sure that we let the traveling public understand that we are a welcoming destination to all people across the world regardless of the colour of their skin, whom they choose to love or what religion they believe in. We want to make sure that our message gets through despite the negative clutter they see on their nightly news, every day,” said Stacy Ritter, President/CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Central to the initiative is a 1:45 minute video that draws the viewer’s attention to a story that plays out in a sunrise-to-sunset destination experience with people of different ethnic backgrounds. It opens with an iconic visual of yoga on the beach and continues with a portrayal of diverse activities and visitors, including two Muslim women wearing hijabs enjoying a cup of coffee together with a non-Muslim friend, millennials of mixed nationalities at play, LGBT couples and friends in warm embraces, members of the indigenous Seminole tribe, a not-so-mythical mermaid, local African-American street art and ending with a reveal of a human thumbprint and a welcome message in multiple languages. The video serves to foster resident’s continued pride in community and let the world know that in Greater Fort Lauderdale, everyone is welcome…every day.
An international marketing campaign has launched the #greatertogether video to consumers and international tour operators. The video is featured on the CVB’s website (www.sunny.org/greatertogether) including the stories of diverse residents and visitors describing why they enjoy living in Greater Fort Lauderdale and how they welcome visitors to the community. The “Faces” social media component of the program includes key local residents that were featured in the video and communicate diversity of the destination and how proud they are of the community that they live in.
The #greatertogether video is now featured on Greater Fort Lauderdale’s 24/7 streaming, multi-platform network, Hello Sunny TV and will be at prominent trade shows and conferences. The initiative will also include a digital distribution strategy through social media platforms, as well as international tour operator programs including Travel Audience, Travel Port, Tourico Holidays, LMT Club and Hotelopia. Marking efforts have been directed to audiences in the U.S. and Canada, the U.K., Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, Colombia, Dubai, India/Sri Lanka, and other international markets with airline service to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Created by Starmark International, the CVB’s advertising agency, and produced by Diamond View, the video design conveys a strong human message: “A thumbprint symbolizes unity. No matter where you come from or what you look like, it represents the universal truth that people are one in the same. We are all human beings,” said Stacy Ritter, President/CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The 1.8 million population of the Greater Fort Lauderdale area, that celebrated its centennial in 2015, can easily justify its claim of being a progressive international visitor region. It is the most diverse county in the state of Florida with 32 of residents being foreign born. It also has one of the largest concentrations of LGBTQ households in the nation, with more than one million LGBTQ visitors annually.
Please find images here.
Video link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIB8PuIwn5M&feature=youtu.be
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About Greater Fort Lauderdale
From the seagrass to the sawgrass, Greater Fort Lauderdale, located in Broward County, boasts more than 34,000 lodging accommodations at a variety of hotels, luxury spa resorts, and Superior Small Lodgings reflecting a vibrant cosmopolitan vibe. Visitors enjoy 23 miles of Blue Wave certified beaches, discover 300+ miles of inland waterways that run from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Everglades, dine at thousands of restaurants and eateries, get immersed in a thriving arts and culture scene and indulge in top shopping.
For more information, contact the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 22-SUNNY or visit www.sunny.org. Get social and engage with Greater Fort Lauderdale on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and Pinterest: @visitlauderdale.
