'Visit Mobile' ad editor says "We love Mobile"
By Michelle Matthews | mmatthews@al.com AL.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on February 02, 2016 at 9:35 AM, updated February 02, 2016 at 9:58 AM
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When Visit Mobile, formerly known as the Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, released a 1½-minute promotional video, "Born to Celebrate," at its annual meeting in November, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Stacy Hamilton knew it would be a hit. In the past couple of months, it's received a respectable 9,000 page views.
Then Tad Denson of Airwind Creative in Mobile edited the longer video into two, 30-second advertising spots that aired during Saturday's Senior Bowl. Within 48 hours after he posted the ads at game time, they had been viewed more than 100,000 times through Facebook.
"We're just blown away," Hamilton said. "Something connected with our followers Saturday, and it's just been amazing."
Both the GoDaddy Bowl, held Dec. 23, and the Senior Bowl on Jan. 28 donated air time during the national broadcasts on ESPN and NFL, respectively, "as a gesture toward the city, county and Visit Mobile," said Hamilton – and then the city and county gave Visit Mobile their spots.
"Before, you never got the true sense of 'One Mobile,'" she said. "This year, we wanted the same 30-second spot to run several times."
Denson calls his production agency, which manages the websites and marketing efforts of the city and county, "pro, pro, pro Mobile." "We love Mobile and are glad to be part of the team," he said. "It's a collaborative effort across the board."
Set to an upbeat, guitar-driven tune, the ads begin with the sentence "Mobile has a certain magic." Then viewers see scene after scene shot all over the city: oak tree-lined Government Street, downtown Dauphin Street, the Excelsior Band in Bienville Square, Wayne Dean as Joe Cain, John Serda from Serda's Coffee, a cast net, an airboat ride, a shrimp boat, the Mobile Carnival Museum and much more.
Comments have been overwhelmingly, and surprisingly, positive, Denson said. The fact that so many people have viewed and shared the ads "is a testament to the power of social media," he added.
For Hamilton, the number of views went "beyond anyone's expectation," she said. "We'll continue to track its engagement and activity levels through social media, and some more cool things will be rolling out soon."
For video see link below: