In 2023, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB’s long-term branding objective is to position Myrtle Beach as a year-round destination of 60 miles of “beach plus” among a high-value traveler influencing measurable overnight visitation from our core audience segments. Beginning as early as May 2020, Myrtle Beach led the way for destination demand and the goal is to continue this as well as grow market share. The 2023 destination marketing key strategic priorities are designed to further increase that demand, enhance partnerships, and expand insights.
The summer campaign is just one of many layers of marketing the CVB utilizes during a calendar year to achieve a robust messaging strategy. See the chart below for the 2023 leisure campaign/messaging roadmap.
Summer Media Mix
The focus of the campaign is a once again full-funnel approach which includes three phases: Inspire, Engage, and Convert. Each phase has its own unique purpose, messaging, and individual media content. The mix of media that was included in the campaign is as follows:
Audio
Integrated Packages
Linear TV
CTV
Cross Channel Programmatic
Paid Social
Travel Endemic/OTA
OOH
The campaign was also supported with additional marketing efforts that include public relations, email, and promotion via owned media channels.
Summer Audiences
3P Data Segments
App usage segments
The Visit Myrtle Beach audience indexes 146 for travel and event app usage
Transaction data
Weather targeting
Terminal personas
Beach Sophisticates
Family Tides
Classic Beachers
Playful & Practical
Behavioral
Is planning a trip, and search for family, beaech, unique destinations
Interested in finding a destination to fulfill needs of their whole group
Enjoys beach vacations and trying new things
Keyword/Content/Domain
Searching for summer family travel, SC beach resorts, summer vacation, family beach destination, NC hotels, Florida summer travel, etc.
Interest in Travel, news, lifestyle, food & drink, outdoor adventure and entertainment
Researches travel, travel activities, boat tours & events, outdoor activities
Pixel Activity
Site visits
Time spent
User journey
Number of sub pages on site
Geo-targeting
Key markets
Past visitors
Competitive visitors
Summer Markets
The summer market mix is determined by many factors, including:
Market size and proximity
Direct Lift access
Relative advertising costs
Current macro and micro trends
Arrivalist visitation
Measured online demand
Consumer planning behavior
Key Data vacation rental data
Key Leisure Markets
*Markets below in bold are focus markets and will include linear TV
**New York will be a video and CTV focus market
Harrisburg/Lancaster
Johnstown/Altoona
Knoxville
Lexington
Louisville
New York**
Norfolk/Portsmouth
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Raleigh/Durham
Richmond/Petersburg
Roanoke/Lynchburg
Tri-Cities-Tn-Va
Washington DC
Wilkes Barre/Scranton
Youngstown
Albany/Schenectady/Troy
Atlanta
Augusta
Baltimore
Boston
Buffalo
Charleston/Huntington
Charlotte
Chattanooga
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus OH
Detroit
Greensboro/High Point
Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville
Markets, audiences, media channels, and timing varied for each campaign and were chosen based on insights from our various data sources and past performance. Of course, these campaigns are all fluid and will be optimized to maximize the results or as conditions change.
The following are highlights from each channel, as well as sample creative for current campaigns.
Linear TV
Strategic Details
Focused on cable as it had the largest share of linear summer viewership in 2022 compared to network broadcast. Total flight will be 6-8 weeks.
Partners
Ampersand – Local Cable
Placement Types
:15 and :30 spots
Linear Markets
Atlanta
Augusta
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Norfolk/Portsmouth
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Roanoke/Lynchburg
Washington DC
Connected TV
Partners
Hulu
MiQ
Peacock
Placement Types
:15 and :30 video
Standard CTV
Dynamic CTV
CTV Overlay
Cross Channel Programmatic
Strategic Details
Targeting
Partners
Jun Group
Zeta
Vox
Epsilon
Amazon
Bidtellect
MyCode
Placement Types
Display
Video
Native
Amazon
Interactive Audio Ads
Digital Audio
Strategic Details
Turn the concert-goers of the Carolina Cuontry Music Festival into repeat visitors and destination ambassadors that view Myrtle Beach as a place that shares their passion for live music.
Partners
Pandora
Spotify
Placement Types:
:15 and :30 audio spots
Mobile Welcome Interstitial
Audio Everywhere
Mobile Overlay
Sponsored Session
Video Takeover
Pandora
Mobile Audio :15 or :30
Mobile Welcome Interstitial
:30 Host Read Pre Roll: 99% Invisible, a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. Hosted by Award winning producer Roman Myers.
Integrated Packages & Content
Strategic Details
Targeting
Partners
Buzzfeed
New York Times
Okra
Southern Living
Garden and Gun
Grit
Magnolia
Placement Types
Custom Video
Social
Display
Custom In-Stream Crossword and in-stream Wordle Sponsorship
AV Display
The Idea
utilize placements where the media adds value to consumers during the advertising experience to deliver a teaser of the fun-loving experience to be found in Myrtle Beach.
Buzzfeed
BuzzCuts: take advantage of our social and creative expertise, massive cross-platform reach, and strategic distribution to make the assets work harder and smarter. Buzzfeed adapted the existing assets to make a scroll-stopping post.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/visitmyrtlebeach/plan-a-getaway-and-well-tell-you-which-myrtle-beach
Custom Posts
Leveraged classic BuzzFeed native posts created to drive Beach Lovers to Myrtle Beach. A variety of different formats were designed to draw in high-value travelers and showcase all the exciting outdoor experiences Myrtle Beach has to offer.
Custom Myrtle Beach Crossword
Custom Myrtle Beach Wordle
Southern Living
Paid Social
Partners
Meta
Pinterest
TikTok
Reddit
Placement Types
Video
single image
carousels
stories
reals
organic boosting
conversation and in feed image and video
New for summer ’23:
TikTok Premium Placements
Top Feed Placements: This ad placement is served as the first ad that users see after opening the app
Pulse Placements: pulse ads are placed directly after a trending video.
Travel Endemic/OTA
Strategic Details
Targeting
Partners
TravelZoo
Priceline
Booking.com
Placement Types
Display
Video
Custom Content
Custom Landing Page
Homepage Sponsorship
OOH
Partners
Project X
GSTV
Placement Types
Billboards
Video Spots
Other Summer Campaign Elements
Visit Myrtle Beach’s Passport to Fun
Articles – New and Updated
Myrtle Beach Beer Trail
Brand Partnerships
Spirit/Vacations
Harris Teeter and Huggies
PROOF