I Heart Timeshare

Nearly four decades ago, New York began a culture-changing marketing campaign that not only reversed its economic decline, but spread virally long before the word ‘viral’ meant anything more than a bad cold you caught at the office.

As difficult as it is to imagine today, in 1976 the world saw the Big Apple as a withering, rotten apple. Businesses were fleeing the city, schools were closing, crime was up and the city of New York was known as the city of striking garbage collectors. With a sinking (and stinking) flagship city, the entire state was caught in a rapid downward spiral.

Facing their bleak reality and with more than a billion dollars of debt, New York state turned to the federal government for a loan only to be declined as President Gerald Ford took a, “No way New York,” position on the bailout. Apparently bailouts weren’t so easy to come by in those days. …

I ♥ NY
In 1977, New York launched a remarkable media campaign that was so successful it not only turned around a great city and state, but it survives today as an ongoing marketing movement and part of our pop culture. The campaign utilized very simple messaging: put a microphone in front of A-List celebrities who would each voice the same message, “I Love New York.” …

I ♥ timeshare
In the timeshare industry, we can all relate to New York’s predicament. Asking the media to write good news stories about timeshare clearly isn’t working. Rebutting negative messaging only gives the original bad news timeshare story more media play because bad news is the lifeblood of media. Whether the subject is garbage strikes or timeshare fraud, the negative story grabs the headlines while stories of happy timeshare owners make the small print, if they get any coverage at all. …

But how does a product that millions of people love and enjoy counteract negativity that represents only a small percentage of the industry, yet makes nearly all the headlines? Perhaps, just as New York did, we turn to our raging fans. …

Presently, the ARDA communications committee is working to provide owner vacation experiences and memories through ARDA’s consumer web site, www.VacationBetter.org. This initiative is part of ARDA’s promotional efforts to help non-owners understand why a timeshare is a better way to vacation.

“I am so pleased to see this committee, many of them competitors, working together to share their owners’ vacation experiences,” said Howard Nusbaum, ARDA president and CEO. “These stories, photos and videos will give far more credibility to our positive timeshare message than any salesman or spokesperson.” …

Can we in the timeshare industry change the world? Maybe not, but we can change the way the world sees timeshare.

Because if we don’t, we could find ourselves left with nothing but a rotten apple.

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We hope you will read the full article in the current issue of The Resort Trades magazine or online at: I ♥  Heart Timeshare