Tourism boosters to launch Craft Your Own Vacation campaign

As the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to market the destination, a “Craft Your Own Vacation” campaign will be launched with a chance to win that customized trip.

Visitors will be able to create their own itineraries online at bradentongulfislands.com, and then share that itinerary on social media and email for a chance to win the trip to Manatee County.

“You can choose from these ingredients to craft your own vacation and make it your own,” said Dave Di Maggio, the president and CEO of Aqua Marketing & Communications.

Di Maggio added that more shares on social media equate to more chances to win.

During Tuesday’s county commission work session, the Convention and Visitors Bureau presented its 2016-17 marketing campaign, which will shift away from promoting the peak of season such as February, March and parts of April, according to Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We have shifted those digital and traditional advertising away from those months,” Falcione said. “We made a shift there. There is some risk in that. ...We are listening to the community. We are playing around a little bit.”

The bulk of the marketing campaign dollars will be spent on the pre-summer, summer and fall seasons, according to Di Maggio.

“We’ve had great visitation in the wintertime and spring,” he said.

The marketing campaign also makes a shift to digital media, Di Maggio said.

“We have the opportunity now, particularly with online and digital media, to actually reach these people directly,” he said. “It’s a big shift. We are able to reach them directly online.”

The Convention and Visitors Bureau will continue to market the destination, Falcione said.

“We have to protect the life blood engine of our economy,” he said. “We are listening because we are shifting equity away from our peak season because we have a little bit of a problem. We are acknowledging that. We are going to shift things away.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Tourism boosters to launch Craft Your Own Vacation campaign."