Summer Broadcast Affiliates

The summer following the landfall of Hurricane Ian brought with it challenges and opportunities. With a historically strong drive market, the Lee County VCB sought to target this audience to further entice them to head out to Fort Myers’ islands, beaches and neighborhoods for a weekend or weeklong vacation. We customized our broadcast ads for families and couples in Miami and Atlanta who were looking to get away without having to go far.

Our messaging communicated that while our area may look different, we are open and ready to welcome you with the same warmth and hospitality we’ve always had. We also highlighted the open attractions, particularly the shops and restaurants on our island communities, who were most impacted by Hurricane Ian. Ultimately we sought to increase drive visitation over the summer while also encouraging people to stay for a long weekend or even an entire week.

Thanks to our strategic marketing, Miami replaced Tampa as the top origin market in June, indicating that our strategy to increase visitation from our target markets was successful. Not only did Miami drive 62K trips in June, but it also delivered 93K trips in July and 120K trips in August. From April through June, Atlanta visitors climbed from 3% of total visitors from the same time period in 2022 to 4% in 2023.