by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Jacksonville is known for a variety of things when it comes to attracting tourists and conventions. There is football, there is golf, there is fishing, there is culture and there is a great climate.
Visit Jacksonville’s new development initiative takes all those things and combines them with something else Jacksonville has, but isn’t exactly known for – yet.
The plan to change that will be put in motion Jan. 1 when the “Jacksonville: America’s Health Center” marketing campaign is launched, said John Reyes, president & CEO of Visit Jacksonville.
“This is a great opportunity for economic growth by branding Jacksonville as a center for patient care and businesses that provide medical care products. We also have a tremendous potential for meetings and conventions for the health care field,” he said.
The Dalton Agency has created the campaign and will place print advertisements in medical trade publications that will associate Jacksonville’s existing attractions like the beaches and recreational activities with the medical care facilities and businesses in the region.
“While other cities are known for a single medical facility, Jacksonville has a number of products,” said Dalton Agency owner and President Jim Dalton.
Dalton also unveiled the campaign’s logo that will be featured on the print advertisements and at www.visitjacksonville.com.
Reyes pointed out in the past five years, medical associations and corporations who have met in the Southeast and have headquarters located in the Southeast have booked 99,655 room nights and have accounted for $30.3 million in direct spending with a total economic impact of more than $50 million. Meetings held in Jacksonville in the same period have accounted for 10,261 room nights, direct spending of $3.1 million and total impact of $5.2 million.
“The first phase of the campaign will be placed to target groups to bring meetings and conventions to Jacksonville because that’s easier to measure than people who come to our medical facilities to receive treatment,” said Dalton.
The 2008 budget for the campaign including creative services, collateral materials and media buys is $125,000 or about 10 percent of Visit Jacksonville’s total advertising budget for the year.
“We know it’s smart to focus on things that have been successful in Jacksonville,” said Mayor John Peyton. “Health sciences is one of those fields. One thing we know is people want to live longer and feel better and Jacksonville has an amazing concentration of health care facilities. It’s time to seize an opportunity we’ve had in our lap.”
Jacksonville: America’s Health Center
• St. Vincent’s Medical center has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Top 50 cardiac care programs (2003, 2005, 2006).
• Home to one of only three Mayo Clinics in the country.
• UF/Shands Jacksonville has one of only five proton beam therapy centers in the United States.
• Child magazine ranked Wolfson Children’s Hospital as one of the top three facilities in Florida (2006).
• Naval Hospital Jacksonville is the fourth-largest naval hospital in the country.
• Baptist health and Flagler Hospital were ranked as two of the 50 best hospitals for digestive disorders (U.S. News & World Report, this year).
• Memorial Hospital’s CyberKnife Robotic radiosurgery system is the first of its type in the world.