IN VOLUSIA COUNTY, COKE IS THE REAL THING
The Volusia County Council approved Coca-Cola as Volusia County’s official soft drink, signing a contract with the soft drink giant on Nov. 5. The deal is expected to generate $3.4 million for the County over a five-year period.Volusia County has 49 miles of oceanfront and is about 60 miles northeast of Orlando. Its largest city is Daytona Beach.
"There’s no doubt this sets a new standard for our marketing/sponsorship program," said Jamie Seaman, Director of Volusia County’s Economic Resources Service Center. "We’ve been working to get to this level for the last several years. We’re honored and excited to embark on a long-term partnership with one of the World’s biggest companies."
Volusia County has worked slowly and deliberately to build its corporate partnership program. The soft drink partnership concept was approved by our citizens beach advisory committee and eagerly endorsed by elected officials, Seaman said. In addition, the County is aggressively pursuing corporate partnerships in several different areas.
Volusia’s corporate partnership program was started in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Like most local governments in rapidly-growing Florida, Volusia County was seeking new revenue sources to avoid an over-reliance on local property taxes to finance services and capital improvements. The notion of turning to corporate marketing and promotional partnerships was appealing. Volusia’s leadership borrowed greatly from the experiences of Los Angeles County, which was developing corporate partnerships on its beaches.
Although considered a conservative county, Volusia County Government has earned a statewide reputation for being in the vanguard on many issues. Volusia, for example, was the first county in Florida to have a voter-approved home rule charter. Today, three quarters of Florida’s populace lives within a charter county, many of those charters modeled after Volusia’s.
Volusia forged ahead with its marking/sponsorship program, long before most Florida counties dared to go there.
Volusia’s administration sees huge potential in allowing corporate America to expose its products and services to County government’s customers. County government is well positioned to capitalize on this potential new source of revenue because World-famous Daytona Beach and the county’s other ocean beaches are under the management jurisdiction of County government. So are the convention center, public transportation system and international airport. County leaders believe corporations are interested in reaching a potential annual audience of 12 million visitors annually.
The partnership gives Coca-Cola exclusivity on sales and prominence in County facilities including Volusia’s beaches, the international airport, public transportation system and the convention center. World famous Daytona Beach and beaches north and south attract about 10 million visitors a year.
In exchange, Coke will pay the County cash and will provide national and international marketing promotions.
"Coke told us they were impressed by the way we approached them with this sponsorship/marketing package," said Seaman. "This relationship isn’t so much focused on logo impressions, it’s more about creating a relationship that associates a pleasurable recreation experience and drinking Coca-Cola products."
Seaman said the partnership benefits the entire community. The County receives cash which can be used for capital improvements or to defray operating expenses and national/international exposure will be created for the community through Coke promotions.
"As taxpayers, the benefits of this sponsorship agreement will be tremendous," said Seaman. "We’ll be able to move forward on a variety of projects that will make our community more enjoyable for all residents."
Volusia County spent about a year and a half developing the soft drink proposal. Requests for proposals were received by Coke, Pepsi and Gatorade.
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