Lifeguard stand takes piece of the beach with Baltimore, Philly
CHRISTINE CULLEN Staff Writer
Ocean City Beach Patrol Lt. Ward Kovacs teaches semaphore, the language of lifeguards that uses flags to spell out words, to passers-by at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore last Monday. The stop was part of a three-city media tour featuring the star of Ocean City's advertising campaign, Rodney the Lifeguard. (July 3, 2009) Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan was not at all disappointed when nobody asked for his autograph during a media trip last week, even when the women lined up to meet Rodney the Lifeguard.
After all, the trip was all about Rodney, the star of Ocean City's advertising campaign portrayed by New York City-based actor Blake Adams, and was designed to bring a little slice of the resort to Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
A small crew consisting of Meehan, Adams, Public Relations Director Donna Abbott and Ocean City Beach Patrol Lt. Ward Kovacs trekked across the region for the three-day tour to drum up interest in Ocean City. In an unusual twist, they brought along a real beach patrol lifeguard stand and set it up at a busy downtown intersection of each city, complete with Adams in full lifeguard gear.
Rodney the Lifeguard, aka New York City-based actor Blake Adams, takes pictures with young fans last Monday at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Rodney is the face of Ocean City's current ad campaign. "We drew a lot of attention. It was a lot of fun, and there was a lot of interaction with the people," Abbott said. "And Blake surpassed my expectations. He was phenomenal with the people, he had so much enthusiasm, he was calling to people through the megaphone, blowing his whistle."
The goal of the trip was to encourage people to visit the beach. The lifeguard stand was strategically placed in busy areas of each city during the lunchtime rush from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to give the lunch crowd ample time to check out the scene, ask questions about Ocean City and even win a prize donated by local businesses.
"We got a lot of attention when we were up there. I think it was an excellent way to promote Ocean City," Meehan said.
The tour began in Baltimore last Monday when the crew set up at Harbor Place in front of the Power Plant Live. The trip hit a snag, however, when the deadly Metro train crash in Washington, D.C. Monday evening forced the crew to cancel Tuesday's gig in the Virginia suburb of Crystal City.
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan, right, is interviewed on the NBC morning show in Philadelphia last Wednesday as "Rodney the Lifeguard" looks on from his lifeguard stand. "We reevaluated the situation and cancelled the event. I think it was the right thing to do. We didn't think it was the time to be out there trying to promote ourselves" in the wake of a tragedy, Meehan said.
That decision gave the team ample time to prepare for the stop in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the most important of the three locations. Ocean City has had a hard time breaking into the Philadelphia market because of the city's strong ties to the beach towns of the New Jersey shore, and officials hoped the unusual event with the lifeguard stand would create an interest.
As part of the trip, Meehan made a live appearance on the local NBC channel in Philadelphia where he pitched, among other aspects of Ocean City, the free events available six days a week. At the last minute, the crew was even able to set up the lifeguard stand for the show.
"This was a wonderful opportunity for us, and I think we impressed them with our ability to put together something very quickly for them. It definitely drew attention to Ocean City, Maryland," Abbott said.
Now it remains to be seen if the publicity stunts translate into more visitors. Abbott said the timing of the trip was planned to occur when people were thinking about what to do for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and she hoped some of the people who came out to meet Rodney would decide to spend the holiday in Ocean City.
