The City of Dade City is poised to launch a destination marketing campaign — with the aim of attracting more tourists, as well as engaging area residents.
To that end, Dade City Commissioners on June 22 unanimously approved a $14,200 contract with The Creative Stable Inc., a Dade City-based advertising, marketing, media and public relations firm operated by Jennifer Frazier. Frazier is the agency’s creative director, senior copywriter and general manager.
The scope of work entails the creation of a photo library ($2,500), the development of an advertising campaign ($3,200), the design of a destination website called DiscoverDadeCity.com ($1,000) and a video and short television spots campaign refresh ($7,500) — in collaboration with other Tampa Bay area multimedia companies.
In its proposal, Creative Stable listed its objective is for the municipality “to attract more foot traffic from surrounding areas to the downtown core of Dade City by visually portraying it as a unique, rewarding, memorable, and fun destination, thus increasing sales for area businesses.”
The proposal also outlines some of the city’s unique selling propositions. Those include Dade City’s small-town character; its historic buildings, including some Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles; its specialty retail, restaurants, brewery and events center; its public parks; its biking/hiking/walking trails; its cultural offerings, including the Dade City Center for the Arts and the Dade City Symphony; and, a new Visitor’s Center in the works and a splash zone being planned.
A photo library creation will encompass four days of on-site shooting by Rick Tauceda of Tampa-based Rick’s visual, to give the city hundreds of usable shots, be it streetscapes, historic churches, Kumquat Festival event action, local restaurants, pedestrians walking downtown, children playing at Price Park, cyclists and runners on Hardy Trail, and so on.
Meanwhile, a video refresh will be shot and produced by Tampa-based Diamond View Studios, updating a 2016 video library focusing on new footage and more experiential imagery “to avoid logos and storefronts as much as possible to give it a longer shelf life.” The group also will replace footage no longer relevant in the live, work, play, shop and dine spots, for 30-second high-definition television and social media spots.
In its advertising campaign for the city, Creative Stable will create “a cohesive series of community ads to develop wider market awareness for the downtown core.”
These would include:
- An outdoor board
- Print and digital ad series of five ads (live, work, play, shop and dine)
- Social media campaign promoting 30-second spots and an invitation to visit
- Event poster format
- Event digital ad format
- Event print ad
Meanwhile, the design of a “link-centric” destination website for Dade City would have pages to include, “Shop, Dine, Live, Work, and Play” in keeping with the themes of the marketing campaign. For instance, the “Play” webpage on the site would feature the Hardy Trail and city parks, along with other recreational opportunities such as TreeHoppers Aerial Adventure Park, and Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club.
The marketing plan also provides an option for ongoing support with a retainer fee, which can be modified to fit the city’s needs. The company recommended a monthly retainer of $1,500 (approximately 20 hours per month) to keep marketing consistent for the city over time, to provide event posters, print and digital ads, website updates and so on.
City leaders and merchants of late have expressed a need to attract a younger demographic and more foot traffic to support more contemporary types of businesses, such as bike shops, art galleries and taprooms.
As part of its proposal, Creative Stable garnered anonymous feedback from downtown business owners, who shared a mix of opportunities and concerns for the city’s ability to attract new people and thrive, including:
- More affordable rent rates compared to Wesley Chapel
- Too many empty storefronts
- The need for a concert series at Agnes Lamb Park
- Targeting day-trippers from Wesley Chapel, Lutz, New Tampa, Trinity
- Incorporating more crosswalks to make the city more walkable and safer
- Develop a curated mix of retail to better make the city a destination
- More events needed to spur foot traffic
Commissioners like Dade City Mayor Camille Hernandez expressed enthusiasm with the full-throttled marketing blitz and its desired impacts.
“The time is right for Dade City to really move to that next level,” she said. “We want a very high-quality product.”
The mayor described Frazier as “really talented” and “a tremendous asset” having produced campaigns for Florida League of Cities and First National Bank of Pasco, and many other entities.
Frazier has lived in Dade City since 1985 and raised her family in the area. She recently was inducted into the Tampa Museum of Art and serves on the Gasparilla Arts Festival and Gasparilla Music Festival boards.
Commissioner Scott Black added it’s advantageous that Frazier’s company is nearby on Fort King Road “so we can hold her accountable and we can pull her in more easily anytime there is an event going or a need.”
Meanwhile, Dade City Manager Leslie Porter credited Frazier for recently assisting Dade City pro bono on a newspaper ad campaign where “she was a great help and really helped the city a lot.”
With an influx of growth and development on the horizon, Frazier said it’s an opportune time to begin promoting the city more aggressively.
The East Pasco municipality is poised to see some 14,000 new homes on the books within the next five years, plus a slew of downtown amenities and other unique, adventurous hotspots on the outskirts of town, just outside the city limits.
She put it like this: “I think we’re ready for our close-up now.”
Frazier thanked the commission for being receptive with the forthcoming initiatives, too.
“This has been months, and for a couple of us, years in the making to get to this point to try to create a cohesive marketing program for the City of Dade City, that’s easily repeatable, that’s going to bring in new people to our city, and also ignite those people who are already here, to get back and re-engaged, if they’re not already,” Frazier explained.
Work will begin once a signed contractual agreement is in place, outlining specific deliverables, terms and payment schedules.
As for a timeline for the marketing campaign, Creative Stable plans to complete library and video shoots “as soon as possible to avoid storm season.” From there, an eight-week window is planned “to deliver the videos, spots, advertising campaigns and website.”
Published July 14, 2021
