‘Tis the season of college bowl games, and a new ad campaign by Visit Savannah aims to encourage football fans trekking to and from Florida to swing through Savannah.
With four bowl games slated for Florida’s east coast alone, the digital marketing blitz will remind southbound Interstate 95 travelers to make a detour downtown.
Joseph Marinelli, president of Visit Savannah, explained the online campaign would go to markets that include the universities playing in Florida this year, meaning Athens, Columbia and Clemson. He said they planned to spend $15,000-$20,000 on the effort.
“Because those first few days of the year typically are a bit slower for the local tourism community, we are attempting to attract folks that may be hoping to get one more holiday weekend in before going back to work for the new year,” said Marinelli.
“We also know that Ohio State fans will be traveling to Miami for the Orange Bowl, so we may be lucky enough to also get some Buckeyes here, too,” he added.
In the campaign’s favor, Marinelli said, is the number of fans willing to travel to watch their team play.
“(We) know that the stadiums in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami all hold about 70,000 people or so,” said Marinelli. “We also know that the four schools that we are targeting all travel well. So if we can create some traffic for that first week of January, we’ll be pleased.” Marinelli said the city’s hotels depend more on convention traffic in January than other times of the year.
The first of the eastern Florida bowl games will be Dec. 28 with the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, where Louisville will face Miami. On New Year’s Day, Georgia will play Nebraska at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, and South Carolina plays Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. Ohio State and Clemson square off on Jan. 3 at the Orange Bowl.