Broward uses pop-up store in New York to promote subtropical vacations

New York, NY -- The weather in Manhattan was finally blustery and cold. Snow flurries -- among the first this season -- had arrived that January morning.

As it snowed outside, a bit of South Florida sun, fun and games were being dished out in a New York retail store.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau unveiled "Coast(954)," a weeklong "pop-up store" promotion. At 15th Street in Union Square, a woman was putting on a makeshift green. Nearby, a man was playing "virtual fishing," where players cast and catch in a simulated fishing experience. And standing just inside the store's glass doors, CVB President Nicki Grossman said she was heartened by New Yorkers' warm reception.

"I'm freezing, and that's the good news," Grossman said as she commented on the snow flurries blowing outside. "It was 65 and unseasonably warm last week. People are bundled up. All of our prayers have come true."
Bureau marketing executives think this was the first time a vacation destination has done a "pop-up" retail store. A pop-up store takes a vacant retail storefront location and converts it temporarily into a branded, experiential destination. Apple has done pop-up stores for its various products, as have other, more traditional marketers and retailers, Grossman said.

At the store, people viewed the bureau's Web site, perused brochures and stayed warm. Beneath two 28-foot metal palm trees stood six tons of beach sand crafted by New York sand sculptor Matt Long into a presentation featuring a lighthouse, sailfish, shells and even cypress knees.

This isn't the first time the bureau has made its place amid New York's cold weather. Several years ago, the bureau debuted its "BeachMobile." The glass-enclosed trailer displayed a life-sized beach scene, with beach sand, palm trees and live, bathing-suit clad models. The trailer has visited high-traffic, wintry destinations, including Manhattan, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Washington, D.C., said Stacie Faulds, the bureau's creative director. Later this year, the trailer will stop in Puxatawny, Pa., for Groundhog Day. The setting will include a stuffed groundhog popping up out of the sand, Faulds said.

Union Square was an ideal destination for the store, Grossman said. Urban mothers strolling by with their children stopped by for a tour, as did harried and bundled workers. Staffers gave away hand warmers, bottled water, palm tree pins, beach towels and ice scrapers bearing the bureau's logo. Travelocity was on-site to handle direct bookings and to give away its branded "roaming gnomes."

The idea for the pop-up started with the bureau's New York P.R. firm M. Silver & Associates. The pop-up itself was created by Red Peg Marketing in Alexandria, Va. The bureau works with the South Florida office of ad shop MarcUSA. The bureau's current tagline is, "A sunny state of mind."

Of the bureau's $7 million annual budget, $200,000 was spent on the pop-up program, Grossman said. The bureau's marketing budget is smaller than that of many other destinations, she admitted. So bureau executives have to be more creative and aggressive.

The budget also included a wrap around the New York Times, Grossman said.

"There are hundreds of destinations spending more money than we do. Every year we feel the need to elevate out of the clutter," she said. "It's a very successful way to do a little guerrilla marketing and get some face time with the traveler. We'll measure success by how much buzz is out there."

In a related item, marketing executives with the new Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort recently created "Take me to the Hilton." The marketing program reached out to 1,500 area cab drivers in an effort to literally steer business to the new hotel. In the program, the hotel's marketing team hosted a breakfast for area cab drivers to introduce them to the hotel, said Tom Parke, director of sales and marketing with the property.

Parke tapped a similar program with different hotels in Thailand and Maui with considerable success, he said. Drivers were given T-shirts and small coolers each emblazoned with the company's logo, he said.

In fact, hoteliers' and the bureau's marketing programs should work hand-in-hand to boost tourism and the reception people receive when they arrive in Fort Lauderdale.

"We can spend millions to get visitors to a destination, and the first impression they get is from cab drivers," said Parke, a member of the bureau's marketing advisory board. Hilton worked with Lou Hammond & Associates, Coral Gables, to promote the program. "One property opening doesn't change a destination. It takes a whole destination working together."

Jeff Zbar is a freelance writer. Reach him at jeff@jeffzbar.com.