Sunshine Matters

The ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ campaign is off to a great start!  This statewide, grassroots tourism campaign encourages all Floridians to send a personal e-mail to out-of-state friends and family inviting them to visit the Sunshine State.  The campaign was successfully launched by Governor Crist during a tourism industry rally on Miami Beach last month.  The Governor asked Floridians to get involved, saying “Together we can encourage more visitors to come to the Sunshine State. In this way, we will help keep Floridians employed, create new jobs, and help keep our state’s world-class restaurants, resorts, parks and attractions strong.” 

Since then, the campaign has really taken off – earlier this month, actor/racer Patrick Dempsey carried the ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ paint scheme on his #40 Mazda RX-8 during the Rolex Racing Series Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway and this past weekend, Richard Kent’s #33 car sported the campaign logo during Round 1 of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship at Sebring International Raceway.  The campaign has also received tremendous support from several state agencies, including the Florida Film Commission and the Florida Attractions Association.

VISIT FLORIDA is now asking you to join the campaign, too.  Whether you are directly associated with Florida’s tourism and hospitality industry or are just a proud Florida resident, you can help increase our number of visitors by simply ‘Sharing a Little Sunshine.’

For those who would like to send invitations to family and friends, please visit www.ShareaLittleSunshine.org to find themed e-cards and videos to share, as well as special offers for both senders and receivers.  While on the campaign website, be sure to click on the icon to become a fan of the ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ Facebook Fanpage so you can keep up with all the latest scoop, plus post your favorite Florida pastimes to share with other Facebook fans.  For those businesses or organizations who would be interested in hosting a ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ event or finding out more about how to leverage the campaign locally throughout your community, we have created the Share a Little Sunshine Toolkit at www.visitflorida.org/sharetoolkit to help you get started.

We know that tourism strengthens the economy and this campaign embodies that message.  To that end, we are promoting the ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ campaign statewide through public service announcements appearing on television, radio, and outdoor advertising.  Our partners at the Florida Association of Broadcasters, the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association, and the Florida Cable Telecommunications Association have been gracious to support this PSA effort.

As we promote the campaign on the statewide level, we encourage you to customize it locally.  The toolkit contains tips and ideas for hosting ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ events, sending e-mails to your database of employees, vendors, and customers encouraging them to send invitations to friends and family through the ‘Share a Little Sunshine’ website, creating a customized PowerPoint presentation for use in promoting tourism to other groups in your community, as well as many other resources.

This campaign is truly unique as it is a grassroots effort amongst Floridians and the first instate campaign that residents and tourism industry representatives alike can customize on a local level.  We can’t do it without you, so please join us and help ‘Share a Little Sunshine.’

For more information about how to join the cause, please contact me at tmccaskill@VISITFLORIDA.org or call 850-205-3855.  I look forward to the opportunity to tell you more about this fun and easy way to help promote the great State of Florida.