Preparing to hit 'The Beach'

Undaunted by a mixed reaction when they unveiled "The Beach," members of Coastal Vision 3000 are pushing ahead with their mission.

That basically involves bringing more tourists here, and bringing them in seasons other than summer.

It took more than a year for a coalition of major players on the local business scene to come up with their "halo brand" involving six counties that stretch from Gulf west to Escambia.

"Our focus groups, and that included 43 people, were unanimous," said Davage "Buddy" Runnels, chairman of the founding committee. "It's a little arrogant, if you will, but I don't know of another beach in this country that can back it up the way we can."

Turns out "The Beach" was a little confusing and even downright upsetting to some folks who had lived here more than a decade. The big knock was that the term left no room for local identities.

In the meantime, Coastal Vision 3000 has hired Mel Ponder as its executive director and launched its Web site, www.thebeachfla.com.

Now it's time for "rebirth and relaunch," as Runnels put it when he and three other key players visited the Daily News' editorial board last week. Ponder was there, along with Park Brady and Lino Maldonado of ResortQuest. Other founders of Coastal Vision 3000 include Peter Bos, Keith Howard and Jay Odom.

More than 50 members have joined the effort and have contributed money in the process. The St. Joe Co. is in for $300,000 over three years. Memberships are at various levels: $15,000, $5,000, $2,500, $500 and $100. Tourist development councils from several counties are contributing money and staff members to serve on subcommittees.

Tracy Louthain from the Beaches of South Walton is among them.

"It's growing on me," Louthain said of "The Beach" branding. "At first, I was a little shell-shocked. But I'm on the marketing committee now and I understand more. And we've had evolution of the brand."

The official slogan of the campaign remains, "A way of life that can change yours."

But there have been geographic locaters added to the marketing tools to identify "The Beach" as "Northwest Florida's Gulf Coast."
"We have to claim our stake with visitors," Louthain said, "and this way they're going to know where we are.

Each one of our communities has so much to offer, depending on what you're looking for," she added. "We all have something special and unique. But at the end of the day, our visitors do not see boundaries or county lines. So in order for us to be successful we have to be united."

Major goals for Coastal Vision 3000 include:

- Marketing the region outside the Southeast, which has traditionally supplied a steady stream of tourists who drive here. This could mean anywhere in America and even as far as Europe. Airports are the key.

The entire Coastal Vision 3000 concept sprang from discussions with Southwest Airlines several years ago, Runnels said. Southwest is America's top low-cost airline, but it is not connected with the airports in Pensacola, Okaloosa County or the international airport being built just outside Panama City.

"Southwest is the carrot we're all chasing, all across the country," said Greg Donovan, airports director for Okaloosa County. "It's up to them to decide where they want to go. We think we have better qualities to attract Southwest. We have a lower operating cost and, geographically, we're right in the middle."

But regardless of what Southwest might do, Donovan says he believes in Coastal Vision 3000.

"For Okaloosa Regional, there is distinct value in selling the region," he said. "The entire region has wonderful attributes and anytime we can partner with an entity to convey those attributes, we're supportive."

- Marketing the region as a year-round destination, not just a summer hot spot.

"We have as many rooms to rent here, from Pensacola to Panama City, as there are in Orlando," said Brady.

"But what we don't have is Mickey Mouse, and everybody in eight counties down there uses that," added Maldonado. "This is why we need the one brand of ‘The Beach' over all individual brands."

- Introducing the region as somewhere with multiple "eco-tourism" opportunities. That would involve guided tours of bays and other water bodies to promote better ways to preserve and enjoy nature.

"Part of eco-tourism is educating the tourist," Brady said. "That way we show them, ‘You help us protect what is important to us.' ... Costa Rica has its rainforest, and many of their tourists are from Brazil and India."

Last week's discussion naturally touched on the challenges everyone is facing with the current national and local economic woes.

"Our mission is to provide hope," Runnels said. "It will pass. None of us is smart enough to determine the length of the time frame, but it will pass."