Miami Beach won’t be ‘dictatorial’ in spring break messaging. It’s hiring influencers.
The city of Miami Beach, which once warned spring breakers to “come on vacation, don’t leave on probation,” says it plans to roll out a more welcoming message this March when thousands of college-age tourists come to town.
But it won’t be delivering that message alone: The city will pay local influencers to use their social media followings to welcome spring breakers and remind them to follow the law.
No contracts have been signed yet, but the city plans to hire 6 to 8 influencers from Miami and Miami Beach to take part in a spring break marketing plan that will include ads at the airport, on bus shelters and on travel websites.
The idea is to deliver safety messages to a party crowd that has long given the city headaches, while at the same time welcoming its visitors and taking a more “casual” tone, said Matt Kenny, the city’s assistant director of marketing and communications.
“We decided this year we wanted to welcome visitors to Miami Beach rather than have too much of an authoritative or dictatorial tone,” he said. “We wanted to welcome them first and foremost to Miami Beach, make them feel welcome in our community while promoting local offerings and reminding them of our regulations to enjoy the city safely.”
Kenny presented the plan to the Mayor’s Art Deco Cultural District Panel on Friday. The two slogans for the month-long spring break campaign are “Welcome to Miami Beach” and “Take care of our city and it will take care of you.”
The revamped marketing campaign — which dovetails with a city-sponsored concert and event series that will feature artists like Alanis Morissette and Juanes — comes one year after an out-of-control spring break in 2021 that led the city to impose an 8 p.m. curfew amid clashes with police and resident uproar.
Through its programming and marketing efforts, Kenny said, the city is trying to change its perception as just a place to party. But this year’s ad campaign will aim to speak to the crowds of spring breakers the city knows are coming: people between the ages of 18 and 28.
The influencers selected will represent diverse backgrounds, a move Kenny said echoed comments from the Miami Beach Black Affairs Advisory Committee and the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board. Kenny presented the Art Deco panel with a mock-up of ads featuring influencers, Miami Beach Police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez and Mayor Dan Gelber.
The marketing campaign, which will also include business partnerships and opportunities for residents to submit their own video or photo testimonials about fun activities and “house rules” for vacationers, is estimated to cost about $50,000, although all media contracts are still in negotiation, a spokeswoman said. The media spend includes ads at the airport, bus shelters, billboards, pole banners, trolleys and online.
The plan was developed in partnership with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau and marketing firm VMLY&R.
For as long as Miami Beach has been a popular spring break destination, city leaders have faced criticism from rights groups and Black leaders over it’s heavy-handed approach to busy weekends that attract young, diverse crowds who come to let loose in South Beach. In 2019, the city’s spring break slogan was “Come on vacation, don’t leave on probation.” Then came “Vacation responsibly.”
Along with public messaging campaigns, the city mobilizes a large contingency of police to maintain order during spring break, which Gelber has often likened to an “armed camp.” In recent years, clashes between police and spring breakers have led to criticism of excessive force and drawn international media attention.
Kenny said the marketing campaign does not need commission approval but the city has briefed elected leaders on it and plans to discuss its efforts with residents as well.
“First and foremost, we always want to be sure we’re a welcoming city,” Kenny said.
Jane Krupp, an Ocean Drive resident and member of the Art Deco panel, criticized the presentation at Friday’s meeting because she said it would attract partiers to a city that doesn’t want to be the spring-break capital anymore.
She said the city’s mock-up of different influencers was not “diverse” because it did not include “European” families or children. Everyone in the city’s presentation, she said, looked like they were going to a party.
“We’re trying to shut down spring break and here you are with all these influencers that you call diverse. They all look exactly alike to me,” Krupp said. “I don’t see me there. I don’t see a European family. I don’t see young children. I don’t get it. You are marketing to the people that have destroyed us. You’re inviting them back.”
She said the city was “promoting drinking and drugging” instead of the city’s Art Deco architecture.
Kenny took issue with the criticism, saying that the city was not promoting any wrongdoing and that the younger crowds are going to come to South Beach regardless of whether the city wants to stop them.
“I think what we’re doing is understanding who is going to be here,” he said. “Whether we like it or not, there’s a demographic that is going to be in Miami Beach at this time.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
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