At Walton County Tourism, promoting visitation and maintaining our destination is not only our job – it’s our passion. Our guiding mission is clear: to protect and strengthen the South Walton, Authentic Walton and Keep Walton County Beautiful brands, ensuring that our breathtaking beaches and vibrant communities remain a top destination for visitors.
But we can’t do it alone.
Making this mission a reality requires more than just our dedicated team. It also depends on the exceptional work of our agency partners: Zehnder Communications, Turner PR, and Downs & St. Germain Research.
These agency partners are crucial to our success, with each performing a different role. From marketing to research, here’s how our partners help drive tourism, enhance our brands and deliver unforgettable experiences to all who visit Walton County.
Zehnder Communications: Creative Marketing and Branding Support
For the last 12 years, Zehnder Communications has served as the agency of record for Walton County Tourism. With a deep understanding of the tourism industry and a presence in key markets such as Rosemary Beach, New Orleans, Nashville and Baton Rouge, Zehnder’s job is to help market all the attractions that make Walton County a vacation spot like no other.
From leading the rebranding of Visit South Walton to shooting luxe video spots that highlight the beauty of Walton County, Zehnder provides creative marketing expertise that makes our destination a must-visit. In recent years, Zehnder has evolved alongside our tourism organization, rebranding us to Walton County Tourism and expanding our efforts beyond the beaches and north into Authentic Walton.
Now, Zehnder is looking beyond the destination and organization brands, spearheading an affiliation with Keep America Beautiful and developing Keep Walton County Beautiful to ensure both north and south of the Bay remain pristine.
Turner PR: Elevating South Walton’s Profile
Since 2016, Turner has served as the PR agency of record for Walton County Tourism. As a full-service public relations agency specializing in media relations and strategic communications, Turner focuses on promoting the destination across platforms, elevating the destination’s perception through strategic public relations and media relations efforts. By collaborating with Walton County Tourism, their team identifies key opportunities and tailors strategies to enhance our destination’s visibility and appeal to targeted audiences.
Essentially, it’s about getting Walton County in front of the right eyes – and in the right publications. Over the last eight years, Turner has successfully secured extensive media coverage for the destination, including placements in high-profile publications such as The New York Times and Travel + Leisure. Whether they’re setting up in-market media meetings in key cities or developing strategic communications plans, Turner’s media relations expertise helps Walton County Tourism flourish.
Downs & St. Germain Research: Data-Driven Insights
Since 2011, Downs & St. Germain Research has worked with Walton County Tourism to conduct valuable tourism research and develop accompanying marketing strategies. From market segmentation, positioning, promotion, niche marketing, distribution, product strategy and pricing, their Tallahassee-based team does it all, developing insightful strategies based on real research results.
The crown jewel of their work with Walton County Tourism is the year-round Visitor Tracking Study. This study documents visitor metrics like pre-visit behaviors, visitor profile makeup, destination experience, post-trip evaluation and future travel plans. Downs & St. Germain then uses this data to determine the Value of Tourism each year, capturing economic impact indicators like number of visitors, taxes paid by visitors, total taxable revenues of tourism businesses, visitor spending metrics and other important metrics for our destination. Their work often intersects with Zehnder’s, as they collaborate to identify areas where research can support marketing initiatives.
Better Together
The synergy between Walton County Tourism and our agency partners is what drives our continued success. Each partner brings a unique set of skills and expertise to the table, working in harmony to support our mission. By highlighting the roles of Zehnder, Turner and D&SG, we want to recognize the critical contributions these agencies make in supporting our mission. Together, we create a comprehensive approach to tourism that not only attracts visitors but also enhances the quality of life for our residents.
