Kennebunkport Resort Collection

We "Turned the Tides" of Media Attention to Debut Their First-Ever Beachfront Property.

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In summer 2011, the Kennebunkport Resort Collection (KRC) planned to debut the 21-room Tides Beach Club, set in a Victorian mansion on famed Goose Rocks Beach in southern Maine. This notable launch was a highly-anticipated follow up to KRC's 2008 debut of ultra-luxury resort Hidden Pond and would diversify the company's portfolio while continuing to attract a young, upscale and vibrant audience.

However, with a short annual season (May – Oct), the PR effort had to proceed with minimal tools to support the news – no photos, no model rooms, no useful design plans beyond architect drawings, and no opening date. Redpoint had to be crafty and creative in order to pursue and produce results within such a short window of time.

We leveraged the halo effect of Hidden Pond's success to give Tides Beach Club "instant credibility" as its sister property. To build excitement and awareness among key journalists, we started teasing the opening in January 2011 with this message, and when famed designer Jonathan Adler agreed to furnish two "seaside chic" suites, that became our second wave of messaging. When the soft opening date was finally set, we immediately turned up the heat on pitching, with visit invitations to coveted national outlets and short-lead journalists. And, to help support sales, we kicked off the PR effort with an exclusive grand opening package to appear in an early May T+L Hot Deals newsletter.

The results? Despite the lack of collateral and images, major print magazines provided coverage in 2011, including Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Delta Sky, among others. Week-of-opening placements included key market print and online outlets like The Sunday Boston Globe, Concierge.com, RobbReport.com, ShermansTravel.com. Since the opening, high profile coverage has continued to appear, with a two-page spread in Coastal Living, as well as features and inclusion in DeparturesConde Nast Traveler, Montreal Gazette (multiple stories), Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Forbes.com, Yankee, Improper Bostonian, Boston Common, Boston Globe (multiple stories), and more. Media impressions since the opening have exceeded 50 million, and in 2013, we used the launch of Tides and its sister properties to create a foundation for a front page story in the Boston Globe about the revitalization of Kennebunkport.