Supplier News
US – Atlantic City Alliance launches ‘Do AC’ 2014
By Phil - 11 April 2014
The Atlantic City Alliance (AC) has launched another US$20m tourism campaign to increase travel to the iconic seaside resort.
The goal of the “Do Anything. Do Everything. Do AC” campaign is to broaden AC’s image beyond gaming and to attract more leisure tourism. DO AC ads will begin to appear on April 20 and include TV, radio, print, digital and billboard advertising. The DO AC campaign was first launched in April 2012.
The advertising campaign’s call to action remains the same: DO AC. Extending the massive advertising buy is an aggressive social media, activation and PR program. The online advertising is national while traditional advertising is concentrated in Atlantic City’s largest feeder markets—New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
A separate $1m DO AC advertising campaign, funded by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and managed by the Atlantic City Alliance, was launched earlier in April in Chicago and Houston to support new, non-stop service on United Airlines to Atlantic City International Airport.
To coincide with the DO AC launch, the Atlantic City Alliance and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) today launched a brand new mobile-friendly website for doatlanticcity.com. The website is now responsive to a variety of smart phone technologies and for tablets, iPads and desktop computers. The website adds more social media and direct marketing capabilities. Content improvements with new photos, videos and AC stories will be added over time. Events now take center stage and visitors can play a new “Who Am I in AC” game to help them discover their AC
through itineraries.
The 2014 “Do AC” campaign includes new radio spots and new full-page ads and advertorials that focus on big and small events that have the greatest potential to drive visitors such as the Atlantic City Airshow, Challenge Triathlon and the July 4 fireworks. Atlantic City will take center stage in TV shows that will film segments in Atlantic City including Good Morning America, My Family Recipe Rocks with Joey Fatone and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Radio DJs from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and Houston will travel to AC. They’ll use these visits to spur on-air dialogue and build word-of-mouth. New York Magazine, FOOD + WINE, AAA Mid-Atlantic and others have planned extended features with Atlantic City destination guides throughout the summer.
Atlantic City Alliance has also released a new report: the Atlantic City Alliance 2014 Snapshot Year 2, detailing the progress the DO AC campaign has made in increasing positive perceptions of AC.
Respondent’s “intent to visit” increased 21 per cent comparing 2012 to 2013 with more than half of those who saw the advertising indicated they intend to visit after seeing the DO AC ads.
Since the launch of the DO AC campaign, Atlantic City now has a higher degree of awareness among potential visitors in several key categories: “a great getaway all-year round” and for “a variety of appealing activities” and “offers more than just gambling.”
Respondents say that Atlantic City appears cleaner and safer than before the campaign began, albeit with more room for improvement in this category.
An independent analysis of Atlantic City’s media coverage showed that negative coverage of the city decreased 28 per cent and positive coverage increased 95 per cent.
