Branding with character- Miami Beach Case Study

Sometimes you are fortunate enough to run across a prospect that is willing to brave the unthinkable…try to be different. Recently, the City of Miami Beach invited us to present a pitch for a new ad slogan and advertising campaign to brand the city as a unique and dynamic place to work, play and live.

They wanted the branding campaign to position the city as an entertainment, culinary, travel, arts, culture, health and fitness and business capital. They also wanted to cut through the clutter with a fresh, different approach (no ritzy, fashion-model looking concept similar to just about what everyone else has) Oh, and we had a little under two weeks to read the available research, do some of our own and develop the slogan and ad concepts as close to final as possible, including media buys and marketing strategy. Well, not only do we love these challenges, we thrive in them!

Branding Strategy:

We evaluated various slogans and concepts based on the City’s objectives, target market, and our criteria for a successful brand strategy…see below:

Brand attribute: the slogan & ads express the city’s brand character, affinity, style and personality

Message: the slogan & ads tell a story in a clever, fun, and memorable way

Differentiation: the slogan and ads are unique and cut through the clutter

Ambassadorship: the slogan and ads inspire you to visit, work or live there

Emotional connection: what every brand should ultimately strive for. If your brand can achieve emotional connection, it can gain customer loyalty. The customer first must know your brand and then he or she must like your brand. Finally, the consumer must trust your brand and feel an emotional connection to it.

We chose an edgy campaign that would illustrate how unique and captivating this city is, and why it can be habit forming. There is so much to do, you just can’t get enough of it. In fact, regardless of what you choose to do here—shop, sun, eat, swim, relax— it’s so habit forming, you can’t stop yourself from doing it, even after you’ve gone home.

So, that approach led to the slogan:

For the ad concept execution, we wanted to show people living their addiction to Miami Beach. These wacky characters were so enamored with the destination and all that there is to do, that they could not get enough. The ad concepts have an exaggerated look to capture the attention of the viewer and cut through the clutter.

We developed print ads, newspaper ads, billboards, a radio (dowload radio script PDF format) and a TV spot. Some of the ads were designed to target locals, others were designed to target travelers from the northeast and still others were designed to reach convention travelers and business people wanting to do business here.
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