New Atlantic City ad campaign puts focus on destination

The Atlantic City Alliance has begun filming for two ads promoting the “city on the ocean” as a vacation spot beyond a gaming town — part of an aggressive marketing campaign that will include magazine, newspaper and radio ads splashed across the region from New York to Baltimore, according to the…

The Atlantic City Alliance has begun filming for two ads promoting the “city on the ocean” as a vacation spot beyond a gaming town — part of an aggressive marketing campaign that will include magazine, newspaper and radio ads splashed across the region from New York to Baltimore, according to the organization.

The ad blitz, expected to begin April 16, will tout the resort city’s dining, shopping, entertainment and access to public golf courses, among other amenities, said Liza Cartmell, president of the nonprofit Atlantic City Alliance promotional organization.

“The broader campaign is really to, for the first time, market Atlantic City as a destination, rather than a collection of individual properties,” Cartmell said. “The focal point of the campaign will be to demonstrate the broad variety of things there are to do in Atlantic City for the target demographic of people who are looking for a getaway vacation.”

Cartmell acknowledged Atlantic City needs to shed the perception that it’s merely a gaming town, and the city faces stiff competition from resort towns and gaming outlets up and down the East Coast for vacation and leisure dollars, but she said the new campaign aims to help differentiate the resort.

“The reality is the people who come here in recent years understand that the destination has much more to offer than that,” Cartmell said.