Sea Isle City Gets Ready for Summer Tourists

By Maddy Vitale  Video vignettes of families splashing in the ocean, a child making sand castles and a pair of paddle boarders gliding along in tranquility are just a few of the short clips that are at the center of Sea Isle City’s $100,000 summer tourism campaign. The new series of videos, unveiled Thursday during a tourism meeting, are part of Sea Isle’s vacation theme, “The Forecast is Fun!” The commercials reflect a heavier emphasis on social media than in the past, to broaden the city’s customer base and keep it ahead of the rigorous competition when it comes to tourism and seashore towns. The Sea Isle City Tourism Commission listened to a 2018 advertising plan update from Mickey Coskey, Sea Isle’s marketing consultant, before viewing a couple of the commercials. “At our last meeting, we went through the plan and we are tweaking the final commercial. Everything is in place. All banners are up and running and we are getting ready for tourist mode,” Coskey, owner of Seven Mile Publishing & Creative LLC., explained to the tourism commission. She also said the goal is “to cover all the bases” by putting the video vignettes on YouTube and Facebook, along with other digital platforms. Videos can already be seen on the city’s Facebook page. “We did our normal 30-second spot,” Coskey said. “Video is king, and you need the short video segments.” Paddle boarding is one of many enjoyable activities showcased in Sea Isle City's video advertising campaign. Then Coskey played the vignettes for the commission, one with the paddle boarders, the other with families enjoying the city’s beaches, entertainment and restaurants. “They mimic our visitor guides,” Coskey said. “As we go through the season, we will rotate them and make sure our fans are active.”  “Well done,” remarked James Bennett, chairman of the Tourism Commission. Sea Isle tourism representative Diane Merson commented after the meeting, “Thanks to our successful 2018 marketing campaign, we’re looking forward to welcoming our visitors back to Sea Isle City for another exciting summer.” Merson continued, “As our advertisements indicate, there’s a lot to do in Sea Isle during the summer months – including a variety of free, city-sponsored evening events at the Excursion Park Band Shell, festivals and other family-friendly activities.”  The theme “The Forecast is Fun!” in Sea Isle City, has been the successful slogan for the marketing campaign since 2014. Since then, the emphasis on multi-platforms to get the message out that tourists should select Sea Isle City when planning a fun, vacation getaway, has been a major push by city officials. Digital billboards, short videos and use of social media platforms have been the focus for the city. Sea Isle City Public Information Officer Katherine Custer said of the marketing campaign, “Once again, Sea Isle has launched an impressive advertising campaign – thanks to a coordinated effort from our Tourism Commission and our City’s Tourism Office.” Demographic figures from 2017 showed that 38 percent of the visitors on Sea Isle’s tourism website www.visitsicnj.com are people who live in Philadelphia. Forty percent of the web visitors live in New Jersey, 7 percent in Washington, D.C., and 4 percent in New York. Sea Isle City mainly targets the Delaware Valley in its advertising campaign, Custer said. However, Custer added, “People clearly know about Sea Isle City far beyond the Philadelphia region, because we welcome visitors from across the country each summer.”  Custer also said, “Everyone loves to be in Sea Isle City, and we are thrilled to welcome everyone back this summer. It’s going to be a great year ahead.” James Bennett, chairman of the Tourism Commission and Diane Merson, a tourism commission representative, watch, along with other commission members, a vignette of the city's vacation theme, "The Forecast is Fun!"