Several weeks ago it was revealed that the new slogan for Atlantic City would be “Do AC”, however we didn’t know what to “do.”Now the official marketing campaign has been released in full, and the answer is simple, “Do Anything Do Everything.”

Liza Cartmell, President of the Atlantic City Alliance presented the new 20 million dollar marketing campaign that aims at widening the appeal of the city through all of the different, non gaming, attractions. Revitalizing the brand and reawakening the audience.

“Our aspiration also is to extend the average length of stay that visitors are coming to Atlantic City and enjoying.” Says Cartmell.

The goal of the campaign will be to change the conversation of people who come back to Atlantic City.

“We found that people who come back from Atlantic City are often asked, ‘how much did you lose?’ we want to turn that into ‘What did you do?’ or ‘What did I miss?’” says Cartmell.

The campaign focuses on the entire city as a destination. Cartmell says one of the problems they faced was people associated Atlantic City with a specific casino rather than the city as a whole.

The focus of the advertisements is to highlight the things that make Atlantic City attractive to people, and expand on that.

Instead, the brightly colored and vibrant ads showcase people doing a plethora from activities, from dancing at night clubs to swimming on the beach, to eating at restaurants.

“We call them “the trios,” the stiletto the flip flop or barefoot; the famous chef, the foi grois, the funnel cake. Really trying to build out the sense of diversity of experiences.”



Video by Ilya Hemlin

Much of it entails making the trip to AC something that is spontaneous. Cartmell notes visitors come to the city for a weekend expecting an adventure or an experience and it’s important to built it as a destination like that.

Ads feature people of different ages, races, and genders. Cartmell says they didn’t specifically target any demographic, instead are trying to appeal to a mindset.

“It’s about someone who’s coming to kick back cut loose and have some fun.”

One thing you won’t see in any of the advertisements however, is images of any casinos or of people gambling. Cartmell says there is a very good reason for that.

“There isn’t one person out there who doesn’t know Atlantic City offers gaming. We don’t need to tell anybody we offer gaming, we need to tell everyone else about what we offer here.”

The funding will come from legislation which allocates thirty million a year for five years. Cartmell notes the money is unprecedented in marketing Atlantic City however it’s still a fraction of what places like Las Vegas receive.

“As we move forward we’ll figure out where we want to put that money in the best way as the campaign continues.” Says Cartmell, noting that in the future more funding will likely be allocated to web and social media presence.

Advertisements will be posted on TV, Print, Radio, and billboards throughout the entire Northeast Corridor, as far south as Washington DC and Maryland and as far North as Boston with major media pushes in the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the NY/central and northern NJ area.

Cartmell notes one of the biggest marketing push’s will be seen at Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York which will be covered with advertisements showing all of the things Atlantic City has to offer.

‘Bus transportation is important to us, and New York in particular is a previously untapped marketplace. Philadelphia they have been to Atlantic City more often than other locations. New York given the size of the marketplace is perceived to be a huge opportunity for us.”

Ultimately results are what matter in this campaign and in the past several years tourism visitation has been down to thirty million visitors.  Cartmell is optimistic in hoping to get back to the 35 million visitors a year benchmark within five years.



Video by Ilya Hemlin

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