Saying that Atlantic City had a tough year in 2013, the city’s main marketing arm is launching a new approach to its “Do AC” marketing campaign to emphasize special events in the city and hopefully draw in a younger group of tourists.
The Atlantic City Alliance, a casino-funded marketing group, says it’s refocusing the campaign, which is entering its second year.
In the first year of the campaign, the emphasis was on promoting the city as a clean and safe place to visit, combatting longstanding perceptions about the city. The new campaign will promote specific events and will use social media and other tools to attract more tourists.
The move comes after Atlantic City saw fairly flat results from entertainment and food revenue in 2013 after increasing for the previous four years, according to a report put out by the alliance. Meanwhile, casino revenue in the resort continues to fall.
Liza Cartmell, president of the alliance, said the resort’s 2013 problems could be blamed partly on Hurricane Sandy. Though the storm hit in 2012, cleanup along the New Jersey shore lasted well into 2013. The city also saw a very cold winter and a cool summer in 2013, hurting shore tourism.
“It’s been a tough year for the region,” Cartmell told the website Philly.com, which is the online site for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
The Alliance spends $20 million a year on marketing the city.
This year’s campaign will focus on portraying Atlantic City as more than a gambling resort, Cartmell told the website. As an example, the alliance is sponsoring programs to bring well-known DJs to the city’s nightclubs as well as staging events like a planned Boardwalk Wine Promenade scheduled for September.
Other programs include allowing users on Facebook and Twitter to select the music for the city’s annual 4th of July fireworks show and a redesigned website.
Last year, the alliance focused most of its budget on the city’s brand, rather than events, Cartmell said. The 2014 campaign will continue to use most of the same TV commercials as last year, but it will spend nearly 50 percent of its budget on securing and promoting events and only 30 percent on branding, Cartmell said.
The alliance will also focus on promoting events like the Miss America Pageant, the city’s Sand Sculpting World Cup and a free beach concert featuring The Voice star Blake Shelton announced for July 31.
