Pensacola ad manager talks effects of disaster on economy
The Gulf of Mexico's Deepwater Horizon oil spill was devastating, but as its two-year anniversary approaches, Mike Craney wants people to know that the beaches of Pensacola, Fla. have been back in business for a while.
Craney, an account manager and media strategist in Pensacola, spoke with representatives of Student Media Wednesday about the successes the city's tourism industry has been able to achieve thanks to its "never give up" attitude.
The Florida city was the first and most directly hit by the disaster. Craney said that the effects of the spill on tourism were immediate.
"Within a week, people started dropping reservations," he said. "It was a nightmare."
Craney works closely with Visit Pensacola, an advertising campaign put on by the Pensacola Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. He said that his role during the spill and its aftermath covered "everything."
"We were all asked to chip in," he said. "All the walls of traditional [jobs] — videographer, copy writer, ad exec, artist — all those walls went down.
"I didn't have time to say, 'No, I'm an account manager.' I was part of the team."
Craney said that Visit Pensacola rose to meet the challenge the spill presented to tourism.
"If your apartment was on fire, would you put a 'For Rent' sign on it?" he asked. "That was the school of thought — that if your house is on fire, you don't try to sell it. We said no. We have to stay in the market so that people are aware of it and know the truth about what's going on."
With this attitude, Visit Pensacola was able to launch a successful multimedia marketing campaign in four parts over the next four months. Since each part applied to a different phase of the crisis, potential tourists were told exactly what they could expect to find.
Craney said that Pensacola's efforts paid off: the city's tourism revenues only dropped 5 percent as a result of the oil spill. Other counties in Florida and Alabama saw revenues decrease by as much as 70 percent.
Looking toward the future of advertising, Craney said that its role will follow that of consumers' habits. A transition, he said, has already begun with the bureau's presence on Facebook and YouTube.
But, he added, word-of-mouth and consumer testimonials are still critical factors in advertising.
"If you come down to see me in Pensacola Beach and you have a great time and come back and tell these two guys, that's brand authenticity by your endorsement," he said. "They're going to believe you over my advertising."
Craney told the students that he learned a lot from his experience with the oil spill crisis.
"The first thing is to take care of the environment — that's important," he said. "And don't let anyone put you in a box and tell you you can't do something.
"The big lesson that we learned is that even though you may go through bad things like the oil spill, there's a lot of good things that came out it — a renewed sense of community, connections, ad campaigns, things like that."
But above all, Craney is a Pensacola man through and through and wrapped up his discussion with a plug for his city.
"Ya'll come down and see us," he said in closing. "There's a lot of fun to have down there."