Visit Savannah brings magic and wonder to the Southern city’s image
Savannah, Georgia is a fairly magical place, full of old world Southern charm and amazing architecture. Visit Savannah is bringing even more magic and intrigue to the city with the debut of its new advertising campaign, featuring the tagline: ‘This isn’t ordinary. This is Savannah.’
Visit Savannah campaign highlights the magic of the city
Developed by St. Petersburg-based Paradise Advertising & Marketing, the campaign utilizes unique and sometimes surrealistic photography to convey the quirky-yet-beautiful vibe of the city.
Showcasing many of Savannah’s most recognizable and charming locales – from the famously haunted-yet-welcoming Hamilton-Turner Inn and the colorful Gingerbread House to the iconic Forsyth Park and Wormsloe State Historic Site – the campaign highlights the city’s enchanting ambience and inviting beauty.
Highlighting a walk in Forsyth Park, a couple walks with their daughter, who is floating above them like a tethered balloon. The copy states: “Some Walks in the Park are More Magical than Others”. Another, for the supposedly haunted inn, has a couple enjoying tea in the parlor, with the copy reading: “Few Cities Define the Spirit of Hospitality Quite Like We Do”.
"Our campaign was driven by two things. The first was research, which enabled us to know and understand our target market – who they are, what they expect to find in Savannah and what they hope to find there,” said Tom Merrick, chief creative officer at Paradise. “The second driver was our own experience in the destination, where we discovered that Savannah is the quintessential Southern city, but with a twist. It is elegant, yet unpredictable. Classy, yet eccentric. Savannah really is anything but ordinary. After that epiphany, the campaign quickly came to life."
Washington, DC photographer Cade Martin was selected by the agency to bring the integrated campaign to life. Aside from showcasing the beauty of the city, the campaign needed to convey the surprising nature of the city and its people. Martin’s storytelling-through-photography approach complemented the copy and art direction, according to the agency.
The campaign hopes to inspire leisure and business travelers to visit and explore the city’s new hotels, award-winning restaurants, and revered historic sites. Joseph Marinelli, president of Visit Savannah, said: “Our goal was to showcase the destination through arresting, page-stopping visuals, and Paradise achieved this goal and then some.”
The campaign will run nationally across print, digital and social. The in-print creative may be seen in leading publications such as Atlanta Magazine and Travel + Leisure.
