HOW TO PROVIDE HOPE IN A TIME OF CLIMATE CRISIS

 

By Dorn Martell

Last summer, the water temperature in the Florida Keys broke a record set in the Persian Gulf.  101.1 degrees. The shock of this, combined with other factors, caused the largest coral bleaching event ever witnessed in The Keys. Coral Restoration Foundation had to do the unimaginable and rescue corals from their open-ocean Coral Nursery and bring them back to land. It was our job to help them tell their story.

Tinsley Advertising wrote and produced a documentary film that highlighted the emergency situation that CRF faced and the heroic efforts made to save years of hard work and thousands of living creatures. Raising awareness and raising money is critical to the future of Florida’s reefs as the existing corals represent approximately two percent of the corals that once lived here. But the efforts of CRF made a huge difference. By saving precious coral fragments from bleaching and raising an abundance of heat and disease-resistant genotypes, CRF represents the best hope for restoring our precious coral reefs.

“Thank you and the Tinsley team for creating the amazing opening video. The message resonated with our attendees and I’ve received fantastic feedback on how the video set the right tone for the evening.” Martha Roesler – Chief Development Officer, Coral Restoration Foundation

To find out how you can get involved with Coral Restoration Foundation go to coralrestoration.org. You can donate or volunteer to help on land or out in the open ocean.

To find out how Tinsley can help your brand, go to tinsley.com or email us at dorn@tinsley.com or john@tinsley.com

 

Tinsley Wins at The Flagler Awards, Again!

No, we didn’t win Best in Costume Design, but we did bring home some nice awards from this year’s 2023 Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism on September 6th in Orlando, Florida.

Tinsley won top honors (Henrys) for our Los Angeles Outdoor Campaign, The Florida Keys & Key West Print Campaign and our Film Commission Look Book. Tinsley was also honored with a Silver for our Florida Keys Fishing Campaign.

Competing against some of the largest Destination Marketing Organizations in the state of Florida, our submissions placed in the Print, Out-of-Home, Promotional Trade, and Niche Marketing categories and showcased the broad range of advertising we create for The Florida Keys & Key West.

The Visit Florida Flagler Awards recognize the Best in Tourism Marketing, and The Florida Keys & Key West has consistently dominated the field. No destination has received more honors from this organization since its inception.

Tinsley Full-Service Advertising is in Coconut Grove, Florida and has been the Agency of Record for The Florida Keys & Key West since 1986. No agency has won more Flagler awards than Tinsley and we take great pride in our partnership with The Florida Keys & Key West.

Tinsley and The Florida Keys Recognized with Top Honors at The Florida Governor’s Conference

 

By John Underwood

We are excited to announce that Tinsley Advertising came home from the 2022 Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism with several awards.
Held at the Boca Raton Resort & Club on Wednesday, September 7th. Once again, this year’s Flagler Awards attracted diverse entries from Florida’s tourism
partners of all sizes including the large Destination Marketing Organizations within the state.We are proud to have taken home a total of four (4) Flagler Awards for our creative work for
The Florida Keys & Key West.

Tinsley’s awards included two (2) Henrys (the top honor) for Print Advertising and Digital/Internet
Marketing (a content module with Conde Nast Traveler) and two (2) additional Flagler Awards for Out-of-Home and Print Advertising.Every year, Visit Florida honors many of the countless individuals and organizations that help maintain and improve Florida’s position as one of the world’s most popular travel destinations.
While it’s an honor to be recognized for the success of our efforts, we are especially grateful for our
partnership with The Florida Keys & Key West.

Congratulations to our team and our partners in The Florida Keys & Key West!

 

 

 

TINSLEY AND CORAL RESTORATION FOUNDATION SET NEW FUNDRAISING RECORDS

By Dorn Martell

We live in an interconnected world. The more we learned about the role that coral reef ecosystems played in the overall health of our planet we knew we had to get involved. Tinsley and Coral Restoration Foundation™ have worked together for several years raising awareness about the threats that coral reefs are facing, not only in The Florida Keys, but around the world. This year we are happy to report that not only are the coral communities improving and spawning new coral our fundraising efforts were the most successful in the history of the organization.

We created a series of posts on Facebook and Instagram that lead up to Giving Tuesday. We tracked each post for effectiveness and saw that our videos outperformed our still posts by a considerable margin. All our efforts lead to a strong push to hit that DONATE button on the global day of giving.

Tinsley also created a long-form film that ran on YouTube and was the main sales tool at their annual Gala. Giving Tuesday and the Gala raised more money than any other promotions in the history of the organization.

“Tinsley has been a consistent supporter of Coral Restoration Foundation™ since 2019, lending their advertising savvy to the mission to restore Florida’s Coral Reef. Thanks to their donated expertise, our Giving Tuesday campaign has grown year over year. In 2021, we raised more than twice as much as we raised in 2020, and far exceeding our previous fundraising records for the global day of giving. This success was in no small part due to the extraordinary assets that the Tinsley team put together for us. We are still crunching numbers, but the gala was a huge success – far and away our best one yet. Thank you and Tinsley again for the fantastic video! “We are so grateful and look forward to continuing to build on this wonderful relationship,” said Martha Roeseler, CRF™ Chief Development Officer.

We look forward to the continuing success of Coral Restoration Foundation™ and we believe that giving back defines who we are as a company.

 

 

 

TINSLEY LAUNCHES NEW VIDEOS FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS

by Dorn Martell

New videos for The Florida Keys & Key West launched January 10th promoting eco-tourism and wide-open spaces. The three new videos “Slice of Heaven”, “Find your way” and “Wonders of the world” all embrace the brand pillars of The Keys: Sustainability, Diversity and Geo-tourism. Slice of Heaven promotes the vast expanses of The Keys and shows viewers that there is a perfect spot, just for them. Find your way reminds us of the healing powers of nature and the natural escapes in The Florida Keys. Wonders of the world reveals the world-class destinations and treasures within The Florida Keys.

The new videos were shot throughout The Keys from the Everglades to the Dry Tortugas with local and national crews and talent. We shot with underwater specialists as well as nature experts, delivering a stunning array of breathtaking natural moments.

The Florida Keys experience epic comeback after the COVID shutdown.

by Dorn Martell

On the morning of March 24, 2020 a roadblock went up on the only road leading into The Florida Keys. The lifeblood of The Keys, the tourism industry, was completely shut down. The roadblocks were up for over two months and places like world-famous Duval Street were completely void of travelers. It was predicted that it would take years to get back to the occupancy and room rates of the pre COVID world. But Tinsley had a plan to keep The Florida Keys & Key West top-of-mind during the lock-down in anticipation of meeting pent-up demand after travel restrictions were lifted.

It is now one year later, so how are The Keys doing?

According to The Miami Herald, “A year after the Keys did what no other place in Florida could do — put up barriers to keep people out — the lifeblood of tourism has returned. The crowds are back. Tax revenues are up.” “In October 2019, for instance, the county collected about $1.8 million in tourist development taxes. In October 2020, that rose to nearly $2.6 million, by July it shot up to 3.2 million” according to data provided by the tax collector’s office.

“We’re busier now than in 2019,” said Richard Strickland, Director Key West Airport.

Smith Travel Research reported that the Florida Keys led the nation in occupancy at 95% and led the rest of Florida in both room rate and RevPar.

Our strategy of “Keeping our distance. Remaining connected.” really worked. We created digital post cards so the tourism industry could reach out to past guests. We ran “PSA” messaging during the lockdown to encourage wearing masks, hand washing and social distancing instead of going silent. We wanted people to know that The Keys have safety protocols in place and that The Keys have plenty of open spaces and room to spread out. And as The Keys reopened in June, we announced the re-opening in all media while continuing to encourage responsible behavior, in-county, on pole banners, digital billboards and signage at the airport.

It’s been a tough year and our hearts go out to those who have suffered, but the future looks bright and we are honored to be an integral part of the recovery of The Florida Keys & Key West.

THE BEST TOURISM MARKETING IN THE STATE – AGAIN

by John Underwood

Once again, Tinsley Advertising dominated the Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Held in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, November 19, 2020, the Agency walked away with five (5) Flagler Awards for our creative work produced in 2019 (pre-Covid advertising efforts) for The Florida Keys & Key West. The multiple awards won were more than any other DMO or tourism-related business received in the state.

The Flagler awards included three (3) Henrys (the top honor) for our thirty-second “Twisted” television spot promoting direct flights to the destination, a print campaign promoting the variety of fishing in the Florida Keys & Key West and for our out-of-home taxi promotion in the UK. The agency also took home two (2) more Flagler awards in the Local Marketing and Direct Marketing categories.

The annual Flagler Awards are named after developer and railroad pioneer Henry Flagler and were established by Visit Florida in 2000 to recognize excellence in the Florida tourism marketing industry. To date, no agency has won more awards for a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) than Tinsley.

We continue to be thankful for our long-standing partnership with the Monroe County Tourist Development Council that has allowed us to create award-winning work that has been extremely successful for this remarkable travel destination.

Holy Cross – Keeping the Faith in the Time of Corona

By Dorn Martell

During this unprecedented time, in the COVID-19 Pandemic, it is extremely difficult to find the right information and someone to trust. Holy Cross Hospital has risen to the challenge and has become a beacon of hope in our community.

Holy Cross Hospital was founded in 1955, by The Sisters of Mercy, as a non-profit hospital. Their mission was and is to be a healing ministry that improves the health of the whole community. The cornerstone of this mission is faith. Science confirms the fact that faith speeds healing time and helps create better outcomes. And never has our faith been put to the test like in this latest crisis.

As part of our on-going campaign promoting faith and safety, “Faith is a Powerful Ally” was featured in print, outdoor and digital to reach Holy Cross’ Greater Ft. Lauderdale market and the ad below was created specifically to honor Holy Cross’ nurses and staff during these challenging times.

Holy Cross isn’t resting on their laurels; they are on the cutting edge of treatments for COVID-19. Recently, the hospital employed ECMO Therapy (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) to save a man’s life who was suffering from the effects of the virus. He could not breathe and was placed in an induced coma and on a ventilator.

“There is no doubt Alberto would have died within the hour,” said Dr. Irving David from Holy Cross Hospital.

ECMO is a machine that has an oxygenator for the lungs and a pump to cycle a patient’s blood.

In layman’s terms, cardiothoracic surgeons at the hospital say it can be considered a lung and heart machine.

Alberto is on the mend now because the machine kept him alive long enough to receive antibody serum or the blood from a different patient who has recovered from the virus.

The treatment is rarely used, as only 21 lives in the entire world have been saved by it. Alberto is the first such patient in South Florida. At Holy Cross science and faith go hand-in-hand and we could not be more proud to be part of the team.

To see the whole story: https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/04/30/holy-cross-hospital-uses-new-technology-to-save-live-of-man-with-covid-19/

To donate to the COVID-19 Response Fund or the Sr. Catherine McAuley Fund go to: https://www.holycrossdonations.com/

 

HERE’S TO THE GAME CHANGERS.

Winners change the game.

Don Shula knew a little something about winning, racking up a record 347 wins in his 33-year career…17 of them back-to-back in The Perfect Season of 1972.

Along the way, he earned a reputation for discipline, integrity and character that remains the gold standard in professional sports 25 years after his retirement. 

All that winning makes the loss of this Miami Dolphins legend that much greater.

In many ways, it’s a symbolic bookend to a year where we also lost our Founder, Sandy Tinsley.

Sandy and Shula made history together, reinventing the rules of advertising with a handshake deal that launched the Tinsley Sports Network, and led to the longest running coach’s show in television history. 

While Coach Shula presided over the least penalized teams in NFL history, Sandy conquered a male-dominated field by making her own rules. Granite jaw versus iron will. She launched Tinsley Advertising with a single client in 1974, and chalked up a string of victories of her own over the years. When she learned that The Don Shula Show had lost its sponsorship, she instantly recognized the value of Don Shula’s reputation and loyal audience, and took a leap of faith to buy the airtime, produce the show and sell the advertising. 

Today, anyone can own a YouTube channel, blog or podcast. You can shoot a feature-length film on your phone. And edit the entire thing on an iPad. But back then, content generation was a revolutionary idea…with enormous risks. Turns out, everyone wanted to be associated with Shula, and the show was sold out right up to the end, when Coach Shula retired in 1995.

The lesson to be learned from Don Shula and Sandy Tinsley is that you always have to keep the ball moving forward. They both assembled winning teams. Instilled an unbreakable work ethic. And left behind a playbook for how to win at life. 

Rest in peace.