Marketing the Jersey Shore Back

I'm a big believer that everything can be a brand.  Scratch that ... everything "should" be a brand.  Even cities and towns, especially tourist destinations.  Take a look at what Vegas is doing as a brand.  Classic marketing.

So you can imagine how happy I was to see what the New Jersey Shore is doing from a branding perspective to bring itself back for the summer season, post Hurricane Sandy.  It feels like the "campaign" started about four weeks ago, as many of the towns started to have local festivals to get the locals back engaged.  What followed was a social media stream of people reporting how great the shore was looking, how their house was all in order, and how much they were looking forward to the summer.

Then the news reports started coming in of boardwalks nearing completion, the Governor visiting the regions, how merchants were gearing up for the floods of tourists.  The "opening" of the shore for the floods ... of tourists.

Next the advertising campaign struck up a swell to get people to start thinking about the shore again.

Now comes Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer.  So where does The Today Show do its live broadcast?  The Jersey Shore, complete with guest appearances (including the cast of Jersey Shore) and the start of their Summer Concert Series with the band Fun.  Fun!

All tying together quite nicely, just like a rebranding campaign should.  Makes me want to go down for a visit, completely putting Hurrican Sandy aside.  Exactly the point.  My daughter went "down the shore" and said she could really feel a nice vibe!

What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, The Experience Effect series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, Entrepreneur