- December 26, 2024
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New Yorkers passing through Times Square in chilly Northeastern weather might now see a little slice of Florida to warm them up.
Flagler County has taken out a 10-second ad on a 520-square-foot screen in the Square, and it will play 18 times a day until Jan. 2, according to a news release from the county.
“It will be there for the Macy’s Day Parade, the Halloween Parade, the wine festival and the ball drop,” Flagler County Economic Development Director Helga van Eckert said. “It increases our exposure outside the county tremendously.”
The ad, produced by the Flagler County Economic Development Department and the Tourist Development Council, was shot in Flagler Beach. It opens with a young man in a suit walking down the beach, shedding his coat and tie to hit the water with a surfboard. It closes by showing the county’s Economic Development Council logo and Tourist Development Council logo.
An ad in Times Square would normally be beyond the county’s budget, van Eckert said, but the county got this one cheap after a company that owned one of the CBS screens had a last minute vacancy and contacted the county to offer the spot. The ad cost $15,000 — a fraction of the standard price — split between the county and the TDC.
So the county scrambled to prepare the ad, using a chair from County Commissioner Barbara Revels’ porch and surfboards from Z Wave Surf Shop and Sully’s Surf & Skate in Flagler Beach as props. Flagler County Videographer Craig Hockinson produced the ad, with help from Department of Economic Opportunity Administrative Coordinator Katrina Austin.
“It is just a great way to get the word out about Flagler County to a wide audience,” Revels said.
Van Eckert said the ad will help the county mold its image.
“The whole concept is ‘business to beaches,’” she said. “It helps us promote the image of being proactive with respect to business.”
The ad can be viewed on the Flagler County website at www.flaglercounty.org.
