Best Leisure Integrated Ad Campaign

Having gained the title, "Surf City USA," the Huntington Beach Marketing and Visitors Bureau sought a full-service digital agency that could help position the city as THE beach/surfing town in Southern California that best exemplified the laid back, relaxed California lifestyle.



Aristotle felt the HBMVB needed an online/offline viral marketing event that would promote the city as a safe, fun, family-friendly, ecology-friendly vacation destination.


To accomplish this, Aristotle’s Integrated Marketing team created a surfing event called Surfboards in the Sand. The new campaign would bring thousands of surfers and ocean enthusiasts to Huntington Beach to “plant their surfboards in the sand for a historic photo opportunity, to celebrate eco-friendliness, and to be photographed by Transworld SURF Magazine for a world-record photo.” In the beginning,Surfboards in the Sand had no sponsors, no history, no awareness among the public, and no money for advertising.




To begin building buzz for the event, Aristotle created online/offline branding campaigns, including: SurfboardsintheSand.com and an accompanying mobile site. Logo development. On-site video. Social media campaigns (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) Print advertising. And a new, targeted e-newsletter.



Overall, Surfboards in the Sand portrayed the perpetually youthful energy, surfing culture, vacation “experience” HB offers, and brought thousands of surfers, locals and tourists to the beautiful Huntington Beach beaches. Never before had so many surfers been in one place at one time showing off their surfboards and posed for a giant group photo.

Contributors:

ARISTOTLE

Location: USA