In 2025, Miami Beach faced a critical challenge: how to build on the success of the previous year's "Breaking Up With Spring Break" campaign while delivering a high-impact message that curbed the Spring Break chaos of previous years.
Our approach needed to balance deterring college spring breakers with not alienating other valuable tourist segments. The campaign had to communicate that Miami Beach remains a vibrant destination for those seeking culture, cuisine, and relaxation, just not for spring break partying.
Our primary audience of college-aged spring breakers (18-25) presented unique challenges because they’re bombarded with content, actively skip traditional advertising, have short attention spans, and are skeptical of authority, which meant that direct messaging from city officials or police would likely be dismissed.
Our research revealed a critical insight: While this audience might ignore traditional PSAs, they are deeply engaged with reality television. In fact, 76% of Gen Z actively follow reality TV, making it one of the few formats that consistently captures their attention.
To be successful, our audience's media consumption habits demanded content that felt authentic and unscripted, featured relatable characters, delivered entertainment and drama, and appeared on platforms they already use.
We also needed to resonate with Miami Beach residents who had grown increasingly frustrated with spring break chaos, city officials and business owners seeking a safer environment without sacrificing tourism, media outlets that could amplify our message beyond paid and organic channels, and other potential tourists looking to enjoy a more laid-back visit to Miami Beach during spring break.
Miami Beach has long been considered an iconic spring break destination, but in the past few years, it’s taken a darker turn, with stampedes, arrests, and even deaths. Our previous year's "Breaking Up" campaign successfully reduced crime and created safer conditions, but we couldn't simply repeat the same message. Our audience needed a fresh approach that acknowledged the continuing restrictions while delivering the information in an even more engaging format.
Our strategy centered on a crucial insight: While Gen Z might ignore traditional PSAs, they're deeply engaged with reality television. Rather than telling spring breakers about restrictions, we could show them in a format they're already primed to obsessively consume and share.
This insight led us to create "Spring Break Reality Check,” a public safety campaign disguised as a trailer for the hottest new reality show. This approach allowed us to communicate serious consequences while maintaining the entertainment value necessary to capture and hold our audience's attention.
We worked closely with a reality television story producer to meticulously craft the campaign to mimic the look and feel of reality TV. We cast college-aged actors, filmed in recognizable Miami Beach locations, and employed techniques like shaky camera work, dramatic music cues, and confessional-style interviews.
Our "show" follows a group of excited college students arriving in Miami Beach, ready for the best spring break ever, only to encounter the harsh reality of curfews, towing, beach restrictions, and police enforcement. Their disappointment and frustration play out in classic reality TV fashion — complete with tears, arguments, and dramatic exits. But just like many shows, our campaign had a plot-twist ending as well: While the show was fake, the rules and restrictions were very real. The villain wasn't a cast member, but Miami Beach's actual spring break restrictions.
What made this approach particularly effective was how it leveraged the psychological principles that make reality TV so compelling. Viewers were drawn in by the drama and emotional storytelling, making them more receptive to our underlying message than they would be to a traditional PSA. By showing rather than telling, we created content that our target audience would willingly consume and share.
The campaign launched with a teaser, mimicking reality TV formats. We created a series of interconnected content pieces, including a full trailer and rule-specific videos about parking and beach restrictions. Supporting content included social media "confessionals," behind-the-scenes footage, out-of-home advertising, and a dedicated website.
The campaign also brilliantly balanced deterring spring breakers with maintaining Miami Beach's appeal to other tourists. The message wasn't, "Don't come to Miami Beach," but, rather "Don't come for spring break"; a crucial distinction that protected the destination's broader tourism economy.
"Spring Break Reality Check" represents a bold evolution in PSA messaging. Rather than fighting for attention in a crowded media landscape, we created content our audience actively wanted to watch. By staying true to our audience and objective, we transformed what could have been a dry public safety message into viral entertainment with serious impact.
"Spring Break Reality Check" exceeded expectations, proving that innovative creative drives behavioral change. The campaign generated 56.5 billion impressions (185% increase) and earned coverage from major news and entertainment outlets like The New York Times, Today Show, and TMZ. Audiences actively sought out the content, with over 42,000 comments asking where to watch the show, and 78% of surveyed college students reported awareness of Miami Beach's spring break restrictions after campaign exposure (compared to 31% pre-campaign).
Most importantly, the campaign achieved its primary objective of deterring spring break chaos while maintaining Miami Beach's appeal to other tourists, with the spring break period resulting in a 6% reduction in felony arrests, zero fatalities or shootings, 31% decrease in emergency service calls, and a 27% reduction in noise complaints from residents. At the same time, Miami Beach enjoyed 87% hotel occupancy (+12% daily rate increase compared to the previous year) and an 18% increase in family and luxury traveler bookings.
The campaign delivered $4.2 million in earned media value against a production and media budget of $850,000; an estimated $3.7 million savings in emergency services, law enforcement overtime, and cleanup costs compared to pre-campaign years; and a $5.1 million increase in tourism revenue from higher-value visitors replacing spring breakers.
These results demonstrate that by meeting our audience where they are — with content they actually want to consume — we can achieve meaningful behavioral change while generating exceptional marketing performance.
