A new way to market your destination: Write a TV series Part 2

Continued from Part 1… At other times, the settings feel natural, like the gay nightclub Blur or a tour of the colorful WhimzeyLand “bowling ball house” in an episode featuring a scavenger hunt. Even the countless gratuitous beach shots mostly feel believable. “I’m watching something and I’m drawn into the show because of the storyline, but also the places I’m seeing in front of me,” said Steve Hayes, president of Visit St. Pete Clearwater. While sometimes awkward, the characters in Life’s Rewards refer to every destination in the scene by name. There were no fake dive bars or coffee shops. The hospitality industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, and tourist towns are eager to seize on the new willingness to travel. That’s put more pressure on destinations to market outside the box. “Every single destination in the world is now looking for that tourism boom,” said Alexandra Delf, executive vice president for London-based Grifco, a travel marketing firm. Movie- and TV-inspired travel is so popular that the firm is using pandemic binge shows to promote its biggest clients. For instance, promotional ads note that scenes from Netflix’s Bridgerton were filmed near The Gainsborough Bath Spa in Bath, England. The production company behind the Florida show said scripted shows are a new genre for travel marketing, and that they’re already in talks to shoot some for other cities in the state. “We don’t want people to feel marketed to. We want them to feel lost in the storyline and get invested in the characters like any other show on streaming or TV, but we’re providing a positive context for our destination,” said Brianne Maciejowski, director of film and video for Odyssey Studios. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.