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Reeling them in

Tourism photo shoots around the county play up opportunities for fishing, swimming, hiking and more.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published September 18, 2005

	[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
	Capt. William Toney, above, a fishing guide from Homosassa, squints while having makeup applied at a boat ramp in Ozello, where a Tourist Development Council ad was being produced.

OZELLO - The sun was just beginning its daily slide from the sky and the peachy color of fishing guide William Toney's casual shirt was really starting to pop.

Capt. Toney was standing in a flatboat fly-casting again and again and again while photographer Lans Stout crouched in the water below him, now and then giving direction or changing lenses.

An uninvolved observer wandered by and wondered what all the commotion was about on this breezy, hot evening where Ozello Trail ends at the Ozello flats.

"We're teaching the gentleman in orange how to fish," quipped Gail Oakes, owner of the Homosassa Riverside Resort.

"I'm going to be a pro," Toney said, his arm pumping back and forth for the camera, his line occasional snapping like a lightweight whip as it swung in the air.

"No smiling," warned Stout. "This is serious business."

In the background was another couple fishing from their Pro-Line boat. Lanie Martin and Michelle King were casting as well, with no more plan of catching fish than Toney had. Now and again Stout used hand signals to direct them to go one way or the other to provide the correct backdrop for his photos.

The staged fishing trip was part of a photo shoot conducted in a dozen or more locations around west Citrus County on Thursday and Friday. The photos will be an integral part of the 2006 marketing campaign approved last week by the Tourist Development Council.

Keith Gold of the county's tourism development consultant, Gold & Associates, stood at the water's edge in Ozello, carefully watching the scene set out before him. The crew had started its workday well before sunrise, battling a persistent haze in the early hours when they visited Kings Bay.

But Gold was undaunted. He said there came a window of several minutes as the sun ascended in the sky that everything was exactly as it should be. The air was clear and the bright orb was framed by wispy clouds.

"It was the perfect moment," Gold said.

And that, after all, is really what it is about. The key to Gold's marketing plan is to capture lots of perfect moments and assemble them all into one welcoming message.

Mangroves illuminated by a setting sun, happy children splashing and playing in a hotel swimming pool, an older couple enjoying a hike, the crystal clear waters of a bubbling spring, manatees frolicking in the river - these are the images that Gold and Citrus County's tourism development community want to project.

They orchestrate every move, from the color of the kayaks and swimsuits to the props carried by the "talent" involved in the shoot to the times of day certain areas were photographed to maximize their look.

Mary Craven, the county's tourism development manager, with help from people like Oakes, a Tourist Development Council member who provided a pontoon boat to help with the photo shoot, was in charge of the logistics. That job includes setting up the sites and even finding people to act as the unpaid talent in the shots.

In this year's efforts, that meant Craven ended up recruiting her bosses' secretary and members of Oakes' family.

Sometimes finding the right people to be in the shots isn't as easy as it looks, Craven confided. "I want it to look natural," she said.

The new marketing campaign revolves around advertisements that show a collage-like collection of the individual images photographed around the county last week. Many carry one key theme: activities around the water.

Although Citrus County has long marketed itself as a destination for nature-based activities, new research by Gold's firm this year cemented that the most appealing message that could be sent to potential tourists was that Citrus County is the water lovers' Florida.

With that as a central theme, Gold & Associates last week unveiled its $203,000 marketing plan to the Tourist Development Council. Helen Jason and Gene Johnson of the firm detailed how they planned to continue to target areas such as Tampa and Atlanta, areas from which tourists have been drawn, as well as moving into Birmingham, Ala., to introduce new people to what Citrus County has to offer.

"You have what they want," Jason told the tourism council.

Their goals included the shift in theme to a water lovers' focus, customizing the messages to different audiences and increasing the numbers of people using the county's tourism Web site, as well as providing printable brochures on that site to save on costs for the county's Visitors and Convention Bureau.

The research done by Gold & Associates earlier this year gave information on the different target audiences. Among the other findings, they learned that they should target family travel into the area.

Their survey also told them how various groups of tourists got their information about an area and what their main interests are. To meet those needs, the firm developed a detailed program to promote the area.

Television ads - including a new push to advertise on the Turner South Network; magazine and newspaper ads; displays at the Florida Welcome Centers, including a kid's corner recently decorated by the county; and even a billboard for somewhere along Interstate 75 near Citrus County - are planned for the coming year.

"It's probably time to have a presence on that corridor," Johnson told the council.

Another plan for the coming year is for Gold & Associates to conduct workshops with local tourism-related businesses to help them organize and promote vacation packages that draw people into the county.

Jason was sure that with so much getting out to so many about what Citrus County has to offer, tourism and the revenues it brings to the community would be healthy in 2006.

"It's really a good time for Citrus County," she said.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 18, 2005, 02:15:36]