Myrtle Beach might reconsider ad tactics, tourism official says

The brouhaha over which Beach is better – Myrtle or Virginia – has convinced Myrtle Beach to take another look at its ad campaign. Maybe.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce released its first official statement this morning, two days after questions arose over a marketing Web site that touts the South Carolina hotspot as “The Ideal Alternative to Virginia Beach Vacations.”

The campaign was launched in the fall of 2006 as a way to attract people looking at other vacation resorts, the chamber said. The Web pages are only accessible through search engines or direct links.

Brad Dean, the chamber head, said the idea is a friendly competition, not a targeted attack on Virginia Beach. But Virginia Beach officials took it that way, asking for the ads to be pulled.

“At this time, we don’t plan to make any changes to the ad,” Dean said in the statement, “but this tactic will be reviewed by our advertising committee at some point in the future.”

Here is the full statement from Dean:

Since the fall of 2006, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has sponsored an ad (paid with private funds) on various search engines, including Google and Yahoo!, that encourages travelers to consider Myrtle Beach as an alternative to Virginia Beach. When Google visitors search “Virginia Beach Vacations,” the sponsored link “Escape to Myrtle Beach” is also displayed. The ad appears on a dead-end Web page that can’t be accessed through the chamber’s Web site. A variety of destinations and tourism interests engage in this practice.

Placement of the chamber Google ad was based on quantitative research. In 2005, the chamber’s advertising co-op commissioned research targeting mid-Atlantic visitors. The focus of the research was to compare similar tourism destinations, including Virginia Beach, to determine how Myrtle Beach fared among its competitors. The results revealed that Myrtle Beach did exceedingly well, even better than expected. Myrtle Beach rated more favorably nearly 85 percent of the time when compared by visitors who had visited both Myrtle Beach and Virginia Beach.

Nearly two years after the ad placement, Virginia Beach officials discovered the Google ad when doing a Google search. James B. Ricketts, director, Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, sent a letter to Brad Dean, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. The letter accuses the chamber of “attacking another nearby destination.” Ricketts also states that the ad is “unethical, unfair, and frankly beneath the dignity of a major resort like Myrtle Beach.” Further, he requests that the “offensive language and spirit” be removed.

“I was surprised to learn that a premier resort destination like Virginia Beach was so deeply offended by our playful Internet marketing tactic,” Dean said. “The wording was intended in the friendly spirit of competition between resort destinations and doesn’t criticize or attack Virginia Beach. Rather, it simply describes why Myrtle Beach might be an alternative. At this time, we don’t plan to make any changes to the ad, but this tactic will be reviewed by our advertising committee at some point in the future.”

Last year, Myrtle Beach welcomed nearly 14 million visitors to America’s Beach Playground®. Most recently, the Travel Channel filmed the destination for a full half-hour show on the “Samantha Brown: Passports to Great Weekends” series, which will air this summer. In 2007, 2006 and 2003, the Travel Channel named Myrtle Beach one of “America’s Best Beaches,” an honor bestowed to only 10 U.S. beaches. In two consecutive polls conducted by Yahoo! Travel and National Geographic Traveler magazine, Myrtle Beach was voted one of the nation’s Top 10 beaches.

In the end, visitors to both destinations will decide.

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com