Escambia commissioners approve half of $500,000 marketing request to leverage Condé Nast honor
Summary
The Escambia County Commission approved releasing $250,000 now from its marketing reserve to help Visit Pensacola promote Pensacola Beach’s Condé Nast Traveler recognition, with the remaining $250,000 contingent on a performance report due in May. The vote passed 5–1.
The Escambia County Commission voted 5–1 to release half of a $500,000 marketing request from Visit Pensacola to promote Pensacola Beach after its selection by Condé Nast Traveler as the nation’s top beach.
Sterling Gillum, chairman of VISIT Pensacola Incorporated, told the commission the marketing push is a “huge win” and that Visit Pensacola’s board unanimously approved asking the county for an additional $500,000 to amplify the award and attract higher-income travelers. “Pensacola is so much more than its beach,” Gillum said as he read excerpts of the Condé Nast citation and described the potential economic lift.
Nicole Stacy, Visit Pensacola’s vice president for destination development, described a one-year licensing arrangement purchased from Condé Nast that Visit Pensacola controls and said the campaign would run across Visit Pensacola–owned channels plus paid placements (digital display, social amplification, connected-TV and programmatic digital outdoor). Showcase team members presented a plan aimed at affluent audiences in markets such as Atlanta and Dallas and estimated more than 8 million impressions across tactics.
Commissioners questioned how the county would measure return on investment. Brian McCall of the Showcase team said much of the campaign is top-of-funnel awareness and acknowledged some channels are not directly trackable, but said digital tagging, STAR market reports and services such as Key Data and Adara Impact could be used to estimate lift in origin markets and lodging revenue. “We can judge fairly well how it performed relative to our other campaigns,” McCall said.
Several commissioners expressed concern that the funding request had not been clearly presented as a funding item on the public agenda and sought stronger, measurable commitments. One commissioner said public notice did not clearly indicate an ask and stated they would not support the request today for that reason.
An unnamed commissioner moved to approve half the requested funds immediately and to release the second half only if a May update from Visit Pensacola showed satisfactory results; another commissioner seconded the motion and the clerk called the roll. The recorded votes were: Ashley Hoffberger — Yes; Charles Baer — No; Jason Nicholson — Yes; Brad Mullenix — Yes; Jennifer Breyer — Yes; Mary Hoxie/Hoxing — Yes. The motion passed 5–1. Commissioners specified the spending would come from the county’s marketing reserve, which was stated in the meeting as holding about $3.5 million.
The commission directed Visit Pensacola to return with performance data in May; staff said lead times and attribution windows mean measurable reservation lift would most likely begin appearing in April–May if the campaign started immediately. The chair closed the meeting with brief remarks thanking Visit Pensacola for the presentation and the meeting was adjourned.
What’s next: Visit Pensacola will begin campaign buys if funds are released and must report back to the commission in May with the agreed performance metrics before additional county funds are released.
