| Overview |
| The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau executed the first interactive live broadcast bus shelter activation in the United States. Live satellite video of Greater Fort Lauderdale beaches was used to surprise commuters during Boston and Chicago’s cold winters, and was supported through a special packages partnership with Southwest Airlines. |
| Challenge |
| Greater Fort Lauderdale has launched consumer brand activations in northern markets during winter previously, but this year’s challenge was to exceed previous benchmarks and provide a greater ROI. They wanted to go beyond click-through rate and impressions metrics, and rather create a unique activation that fulfilled objectives, including conversions. |
| Insight |
| Greater Fort Lauderdale knows that Boston and Chicago are key winter feeder markets. By choosing outdoor bus shelters near more affluent areas, they could reach a highly-motivated and engaged audience. Use of the #HelloSunny hashtag would encourage more awareness on social media and therefore more interest in the activation. |
| Idea |
| Bus shelters in affluent and high traffic areas were chosen for the activation. The activations were planned during different times of day. Greater Fort Lauderdale street teams would visit the activation and pass out #HelloSunny sunglasses and encourage patrons to take #HelloSunny tagged photos. Greater Fort Lauderdale created excitement by giving away six free vacations over the course of the activations. |
| Results |
| The activation yielded results for Greater Fort Lauderdale and for partner Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines reported a 30 percent increase in bookings to Greater Fort Lauderdale from Boston and Chicago combined during the month of February. The campaign got placement in National Geographic Magazine in an article recounting the harsh winters in these cities. Public relations efforts generated more than 130 million impressions, and social media generated over 12 million impressions in both cities. Greater Fort Lauderdale saw record breaking occupancy in February 2015 with a 93 percent occupancy rate (and increase of 3.4 percent) along with a $180.16 average daily rate (an increase of 9.4 percent). |
