Sunshine Matters

Connecting Industry with Texas Media

VISIT FLORIDA conducted a media mission January 14 – 17 in the emerging markets of Dallas and Fort Worth.  Led by PR representative Pam Forrester, Industry Partners from Discover the Palm Beaches & Boca Raton, The Florida Keys & Key West, Visit Pensacola, and Visit Jacksonville met with nine media outlets: American Airlines’ in-flight publications American Way Magazine, Celebrated Living Magazine, and the Spanish-Portuguese publication Nexos; Overseas Travel Magazine; Insider Magazine; Avid Golfer; local ABC broadcast affiliate WFAA-TV; Dallas Morning News; and Southwest Airlines’ magazine Spirit.

During a desk side meeting with Rita Cook, editor-in-chief at Insider Magazine, one story idea being pitched for The Florida Keys caught Cook’s attention for use in The Washington Times – one of several publications Cook contributes to on a regular basis.  That same week, the story was published online: “Stone crab, the Florida Keys’ renewable seafood resource“.

To ensure the quality of the meetings, the missions are limited to four Partners.  Participating representatives received insight and feedback on editorial themes and preferences from the media.  The following takeaways from the mission can be applied to broader media outreach efforts by our industry:

• For airline magazines, publishers prefer to runs stories about destinations serviced by their flights
• Golf publications are looking for what’s new (greenway courses, luxury facilities)
• Golf editors may consider other sports for additional editorial themes (spring training, motor racing)
• Culinary trends are often of interest to lifestyle editors

There is still time to include a press release at a minimal fee for inclusion on our digital press kits during the NYC media receptions (February 20), the Chicago media mission (week of March 25) and the Boston media mission (week of April 22).  For details, contact me at kmorgan@VISITFLORIDA.org.

Pitching and Celebrating Florida’s Local Chefs and Culinary Experiences

In our ongoing local celebrity chefs series via drive market affiliates, VISIT FLORIDA’s PR team works with destination Partners to feature their local culinary heroes.  Recently, Tallahassee’s Chef Joe Rego – a Food Network Chopped Champion – was featured on WJXT-TV in Jacksonville.  Chef Rego is now the lead chef for Tallahassee’s newly opened Front Porch restaurant.  You can view the TV spot with Chef Rego here and learn how to make tuna and shrimp ceviche.

Our local celebrity chef series complements the awareness of Florida’s culinary experiences now being bolstered by VISIT FLORIDA’s partnership with Industry Partners and The Cooking Channel to bring consumers the new Emeril’s Florida TV series.  To inquire about future opportunities for your local celebrity chefs, contact Pam Forrester at pforrester@VISITFLORIDA.org.