Agency life often takes us away from our desks to all kinds of fun, unique outings – and we wouldn’t have it any other way! We recently teamed up with our client, Sea Rocket Adventures in Ocean City, MD, to host a special media day to kick off their new location and newly-offered pontoon fishing charters. We called it the VIP Sea Rocket Experience.
We invited members of the local media and tourism associations, family/lifestyle bloggers and their families for a day of parasailing, fishing and ride aboard The Sea Rocket (an oversized speedboat with a rooster tail spray that cruises Ocean City’s coastline).
Here’s a sneak peek of how the day played out for me and my colleague, Danielle:
6:30am: Channel Danielle’s superpower to locate the closest Dunkin’ Donuts – I’m convinced she could find one in the lost city of Atlantis.
7:00am: Arrive at Sea Rocket Adventures’ private pier, Munchkins in hand. Discover the pristine, air conditioned bathrooms on-site.
7:15am: Slather on SPF 70, don our VIP badges, and instantly regret our premature Dunkin’ run upon seeing the bountiful donut and pastry spread the Sea Rocket team provided.
7:45am: The first fishing trip of the day embarks! Danielle joins the fishing crew, and catches the world’s tiniest fish. Dolphins are seen, a blogger’s daughter helps drive the boat, and smiles abound upon the group’s return.
9:30am: Awkwardly lurk around the Sea Rocket pier for so long that you draw attention from Captain and co-owner, Brad Donahue. Assure non-creeper status. Discover that he used to work with my uncle in the parasail industry. #smallworld
10:00am: Parasailing begins! Many of our guests are first-timers, but we assure them the Sea Rocket crew are highly trained and safety is
their top priority. Everyone returned to the dock a happy camper, thrilled to have checked parasailing off the bucket list.
12:00pm: Everyone’s favorite part of the day – LUNCH! I was particularly pleased to find Cheetos Puffs and braved the formidable combination of cheese dust + networking.
12:30pm: Reapply SPF, realize humidity has reduced hair to full-blown chinchilla status. Frantically debate between my army of bobby pins and baseball cap. The hat wins.
1:00pm: Sea Rocket co-owner, Todd Burbage of Blue Water Development Corp., addresses the crowd. He discusses plans to build out a family recreation zone, upcoming philanthropic events, and welcomes the public to use Sea Rocket Adventures’ private boardwalk and beach.
1:30pm: Everyone boards The Sea Rocket. Captain Brad whisks us into the ocean for an epic view of the Ocean City coastline. The Sea Rocket boasts an 88% dolphin sighting rate – fortunately, the dolphins got the memo that day as they were out in droves to dazzle our special guests.
2:30pm: The final fishing trip of the day departs, everyone collects their Sea Rocket photo memento and the rest of our crew heads off to parasail.
4:30pm: Sea Rocket Operations Manager extraordinaire, Nicole, saves the day with an afternoon Dunkin’ run.
5:00pm: Danielle and I see off the final parasail group and pile back into the Jeep. Onward, to Cyphers HQ in Annapolis!
The day was a whirlwind of excitement and activity, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We loved visiting with the Sea Rocket team and all our wonderful VIPers.
This type of event is an excellent way to make connections in a fun, casual environment while creating a steady stream of buzz. Every eye-crossing revision to our meticulous master schedule was well worth the day of smiles, first-time triumphs, social media shares and refrains of “that was awesome.”
It was, indeed.
