Selling the Shore: Wildwood, Atlantic City, and other beach towns spend millions on ads to attract summer visitors

You may have been noticing more commercials, billboards, and digital ads for your favorite Jersey Shore towns.

Maybe your eyes were drawn to the Ocean City billboard on the Walt Whitman Bridge or to the Atlantic City bus-enclosure ads during the Eagles Super Bowl parade.

Tourism folks in the Wildwoods and Atlantic City have rolled out multimillion-dollar ad campaigns in recent months. These renewed efforts are combined with longer-standing campaigns like Cape May County’s “Escape to the Jersey Cape” commercials.

“The Jersey Cape is a place to create new memories,” a voice says in one 30-second promo. “For generations, we have welcomed visitors to enjoy our great beaches, exciting boardwalks, eclectic dining, and natural beauty.”

In towns like Wildwood and Atlantic City, the marketing campaigns are more nuanced, tourism officials said, as they try to stand out from neighboring towns without direct comparison. Sometimes, the aim is to rebrand and leave behind undesirable misconceptions.

In Atlantic City, “this effort is all to change perception,” said Gary Musich, Visit Atlantic City’s president and CEO. While some may think the city is floundering, he said, in reality it is busy with visitors. “You can’t get in a restaurant. You can’t get a room on the weekend.”

Local tourism departments’ spending on these efforts runs the gamut, according to officials, with Sea Isle City spending about $80,000 a year; Ocean City spending $650,000; and the Wildwoods spending $1.2 million. In Atlantic City, it’s a $4 million effort.

Officials from multiple towns said they try to target multiple demographic groups, but especially women, who they’ve found through research are often the family decision-makers.

This summer, with air travel projected to be down amid economic uncertainty, these advertising efforts could pay off more than usual. Most vacationers drive to the Jersey Shore.

“If they’re not getting on a plane to travel, they’re going to be looking for vacation destinations closer to home,” said Ben Rose, director of marketing and public relations for the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority.

And while some Shore-goers have been priced out of their family’s favorite towns, a beach trip can still be less expensive than an international vacation.

Here’s a look at how three different Shore towns are selling themselves this summer.

Atlantic City recently did away with its DO AC brand. It was a slogan that Musich said resonated with some people in the Northeast but could confuse consumers from farther-away places.

So in February city officials combined DO AC with Visit Atlantic City, and rolled out “Endless Reasons to Celebrate in Atlantic City” commercials, digital ads, billboards, bus wraps, bus-station enclosures, and a new website with its own booking platform. Online, they’re also using influencers to promote the city with slick videos on Instagram and TikTok.

While many of their advertising dollars are spent in Philadelphia, including for prime spots along the Eagles Super Bowl parade route, their marketing efforts go as far as Boston; Washington, D.C.; and Pittsburgh, Musich said.

“It’s really talking more about what’s going on and getting our name out there because it hasn’t been out there,” said Musich. The hope is “you look at Atlantic City as not just a place to gamble,” but a place to dine, drink, golf, take the kids to a water park, and enjoy free beaches and nice resorts.

He said Atlantic City has 18,000 hotel rooms, more than Center City Philadelphia, and those hotels have made $1 billion in upgrades recently.

The tourism team also wanted to combat misconceptions about Atlantic City that have been percolating since the Air Show canceled. In a reversal, the show is back on this year under a new title, the Atlantic City Soar & Shore Festival.

“To me, any messaging is good messaging right now,” Musich said. “If there is no messaging, you just make assumptions.”

The ultimate goal of the celebration campaign, Musich said, is to get people to extend their stays in Atlantic City, where visitors now spend just over a day on average.

He’s optimistic. Since the new website was unveiled early this year, more than 20,000 rooms have been booked through it, which Musich said “shows that people were starving to hear good things about Atlantic City.”

The Wildwoods’ 2025 campaign advertises the five-mile island with an array of adjectives: Safe, fun, and with “spacious, clean, and FREE white-sandy beaches.”

It’s centered around the greeting “Welcome to the Wildwoods.”

“In developing a campaign, we have to look at what our main assets are and how we differentiate our destination over other destinations,” said Rose, of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority. “Overwhelmingly the research shows people feel welcomed in the Wildwoods.”

And while other “bedroom communities” up and down the Shore have their own assets, Rose said their market research shows the Wildwoods’ boardwalk and amusement parks are a big draw for families, as is the fact that they don’t have to pay for beach tags to get on the sand. Beach tags elsewhere can cost $10 or more a day.

“With today’s economic condition, every dollar that a family can save really goes a long way to help their budget,” said Rose, noting the community also offers free events throughout the year.

The campaign will run for at least three years, with a focus on digital ads targeting women between the ages of 25 and 54, families with children, millennials, Gen Xers, and multigenerational family vacationers.

The marketing extends to Southern New England, upstate New York, eastern Ohio, Virginia, and into Canada, though Rose said they are anticipating a drop in Canadian visitors due to the political climate.

Still, he said, the Wildwoods anticipate another year of record-breaking tourism tax revenue, which was nearly $7.7 million last year. The towns have 8,000 hotel rooms and 3,000 vacation rentals.

In recent years, “you’re seeing shorter stays and multiple stays,” with more people opting for a couple long weekends over the course of a summer, Rose said. But “there are still people staying for a week or month.” And he said the retention rate for visitors is about 85%.

Sea Isle City is sticking to its “tried and true” marketing strategies, spending about $80,000 a year on billboards, digital ads, and commercials, said Katherine Custer, the director of the Department of Community Services, which includes tourism.

“We don’t think we can rest on our laurels,” Custer said. “There are many opportunities for families to vacation in many locations.”

Their Philadelphia-area billboards in December said, “New Year‘s resolution ... Spend more time in Sea Isle City, NJ!” By January, the messaging was more focused on planning a family vacation.

Custer believes the strategy is working based on the feedback she hears from the business community — and the city’s consistent $1 million beach-tag revenue each season.