A relatively new co-op, called Coastal Vision 3000, and consisting of local business owners, community leaders, etc, has launched a new brand that will encompass Gulf Coast beaches from Apalachicola to Ft. Walton Beach.

The brand?

"The beach"

Don't believe me?

See for yourself:
TheBeach

I sure hope this co-op fares better than most co-ops, which seem to have very short periods of cooperation and ultimately end up defunct.

The problem with co-ops is... it's tough to get that many leaders, that many type-a personalities to agree on important decisions.

However, I hope this one survives... it has potential to really do some good in coordinating marketing efforts abroad (which will become increasingly important).

But, they need a new agency... already.

"The beach"?????

That's the best they could do?

To see how annoying that brand will be (at least how they're currently presenting it visually), look at this flier (pdf):
http://thebeachfla.com/pdf/coastalVi...00Brochure.pdf

And, while I'm at it... Coastal Vision 3000 sounds like a new lasik option at the Eye Center or something.

But, good luck anyway guys.

I concur with your points about the name, AND I think the flyer is hideous.

great idea, but whoever was responsible for this has dropped the ball.

Maybe that's why they're already looking for a new agency?

I didn't know they had the people from Hooters designing their Coastal Vision 3000 print stuff.

LOL on the Coastal Vision 3000 sounding like a lasik place.

A friend of mine from Destin has been sending me links on stories about this The Beach initiative.

As many may already know, the back story is that Southwest Airlines has an interest in starting flights to the area down the road. Southwest needs to serve the area as a region using only one airport to make this happen (getting almost everyone flying to the entire region to fly Southwest to one airport). To do this, Southwest needs to be able to advertise or note:

"Let us take you to (name of area)" with (name of area) being an umbrella term for everything from Navarre to Apalachicola. The term Northwest Florida is to vague. Half the people in the U.S. would think they were talking about Jacksonville. (Remember, American's aren't too great with geography). Emerald Coast at this time doesn't cover the entire area in question.

Having said all of that, even attempting to brand the phrase "The Beach" to all of the United States in terms of it representing Northwest Florida beaches is literally the most insane tourism marketing concept I've seen. An ad budget the size of McDonald's wouldn't get the job done for something this generic.

This is a joke, right?

The people at Southwest Air have to be rolling their eyes.

Per thebeachfla website... The background music in the promo video sounds like the part of a movie when someone is thinking back to a time someone died. Not music that says "come look at how amazing this is."

Off the top of my head, how about:

Florida's Perfect Beaches

or similar. You get beach, you get Florida, and you get what sets it apart.

Be interesting to watch this all pan out.