M. Silver Battles Hurricane Wilma
M. SILVER BATTLES ‘WILMA’ PROBLEM WITH OPPORTUNISTIC MEDIA TOUR
NEW YORK – November 1, 2005 – Following hurricane Wilma’s descent on South Florida last week and the resulting loss of local services, M. Silver Associates, AOR for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, maximized the presence of the president of the Bureau in New York City to provide media with “real-time” updates on the destination and its $8 billion in tourism revenue industry.
The agency, which has held the account for 20 years, had planned a three-day NYC promotional campaign for its client to promote the upcoming winter season, changing demographic appeal for the area and new developments, including five-star hotels debuting 2006 and the December blockbuster King Tut exhibition at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
In addition to a media breakfast and receptions for meeting planners, M. Silver had planned a guerrilla event with King Tut costumed “look-alikes” roaming the streets of Manhattan distributing Greater Fort Lauderdale vacation guides.
That was before a category 3 Wilma hit Broward County with 120 mph winds.
“Canceling everything was momentarily considered, but we’ve been through situations like this before and knew that having a high-ranking official in the media capital of the U.S. was invaluable,” said M. Silver agency president Virginia M. Sheridan. “We anticipated that phones would go down and we would not have a good resource for fast-happening media opportunities. We urged the president of the Convention & Visitors Bureau to make every effort to get here – which she did with inconvenience to her family – but it was a coup and very beneficial to have a plugged in resource for “real-time” information. She was the only South Florida tourism person in New York during and following the hurricane.
The agency did, however, postpone the guerrilla campaign until after Thanksgiving. “It didn’t seem appropriate when there are negative front page and television images projected at the same time,” Sheridan said.
In addition to the media breakfast with travel, trade and lifestyle media, M. Silver also arranged interviews for Grossman with USA Today, New York Times, New York Post and Wall Street Journal.
“Now we are gearing up for the recovery stage” said Sheridan.
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NEW YORK – November 1, 2005 – Following hurricane Wilma’s descent on South Florida last week and the resulting loss of local services, M. Silver Associates, AOR for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, maximized the presence of the president of the Bureau in New York City to provide media with “real-time” updates on the destination and its $8 billion in tourism revenue industry.
The agency, which has held the account for 20 years, had planned a three-day NYC promotional campaign for its client to promote the upcoming winter season, changing demographic appeal for the area and new developments, including five-star hotels debuting 2006 and the December blockbuster King Tut exhibition at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
In addition to a media breakfast and receptions for meeting planners, M. Silver had planned a guerrilla event with King Tut costumed “look-alikes” roaming the streets of Manhattan distributing Greater Fort Lauderdale vacation guides.
That was before a category 3 Wilma hit Broward County with 120 mph winds.
“Canceling everything was momentarily considered, but we’ve been through situations like this before and knew that having a high-ranking official in the media capital of the U.S. was invaluable,” said M. Silver agency president Virginia M. Sheridan. “We anticipated that phones would go down and we would not have a good resource for fast-happening media opportunities. We urged the president of the Convention & Visitors Bureau to make every effort to get here – which she did with inconvenience to her family – but it was a coup and very beneficial to have a plugged in resource for “real-time” information. She was the only South Florida tourism person in New York during and following the hurricane.
The agency did, however, postpone the guerrilla campaign until after Thanksgiving. “It didn’t seem appropriate when there are negative front page and television images projected at the same time,” Sheridan said.
In addition to the media breakfast with travel, trade and lifestyle media, M. Silver also arranged interviews for Grossman with USA Today, New York Times, New York Post and Wall Street Journal.
“Now we are gearing up for the recovery stage” said Sheridan.
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