Commentary
Ocean City Today Oct. 29, 2021
Page 44
Will marketing reflect product? Surveying visitors’ and residents’ perception of Ocean City is one thing, but it’s quite another to effect change where the opinions gathered suggest the resort is falling short in terms of its attractiveness to potential customers. That’s the difficulty Director of Tourism Tom Perlozzo faces, as he and consultants gather data that can be used to guide new marketing materials designed to draw an affluent crowd. Take resort nightlife — many survey respondents say it’s not what it should be, although a good follow-up question to that observation would be “as compared to what?” Unlike some metro areas where all the joints are jumping year-round, Ocean City is constrained by a relatively short season of profitability. Consequently, going all out to emulate big city nightlife in the summer makes no sense when it’s a pushup just to keep the lights on in the winter. And then there’s the question of value and whether patrons believe they’re getting their money’s worth. Some do and some don’t, depending on their expectations, but not much can be done about that either way, as business operators and proprietors operate however they see fit. The good ones will do whatever they can — and can afford — in terms of service, product and price to keep customers happy. And then there are the operations whose fragile margins won’t permit them to be too generous, and finally there are the one-and-done operators who just take the money. There’s no way to control that because it’s a matter of individual business philosophy and circumstances. To be sure, Ocean City could use some new and improved packaging, and in all likelihood Perlozzo and his department will get that done. It’s also likely that the tourism department will produce some exciting new promotions and attractions designed to draw the crowd that the resort wants. The bottom line, however, is that the quality of the product beneath the packaging and the perceptions that engenders will be determined by the hundreds of diverse components that make Ocean City what it is.
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EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR ................................ Lisa Capitelli STAFF WRITERS .................. Greg Ellison, Greg Wehner, ..........................................Jack Chavez, Mallory Panuska ACCOUNT MANAGERS.......... Mary Cooper, Vicki Shrier ..............................................................Amanda Shick CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER .... Nancy MacCubbin SENIOR DESIGNER ................................ Susan Parks GRAPHIC ARTIST .................................... Kelly Brown PUBLISHER........................................ Christine Brown ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ...................... Gini Tufts Ocean City Today is published weekly by FLAG Publications, Inc. 11934 Ocean Gateway, Suite 6, Ocean City, Md. 21842 Ocean City Today is available by subscription at $150 a year. Visit us on the Web at www.oceancitytoday.com. Copyright 2021
PUBLIC EYE
I’ll have a booster shot
Not to make fun of, or to be insensitive to, people with mood disorders, but the recent CDC advisory that people with these problems should get the covid booster shot proves what I have known for years. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I’m in a bad mood ... give me a shot.” In fact, this turn of events in the immunization program has made me realize that back in the peak of my bar visiting days, I should have approached things in an By entirely different, and more excusable, manStewart ner. Dobson The way I see it, I now have the option of saying one of two things when I come home an hour late, accompanied by the delicate wisp of Old Stumphole, and am confronted at the front door by She Who Must Be Obeyed. Normally, I would say, “Sorry, I stopped off at the bar for a drink.” That would be the truth, of course, but would still result in less-than-wonderful circumstances. But now, courtesy of my CDC-inspired thinking, I could employ a better marketing approach and say, “I stopped off for a booster shot.” Again, I’m not making fun of people who have mood issues, as I have several myself. Mine are the product of an exceptionally active imagination that conjures up the worst possible scenarios for any given situation.
For instance, if She is five minutes late coming back from the grocery store, I don’t start worrying about the possibility of an accident. No, I start worrying that she’s been kidnapped by members of a terrorist cell. And that they were in accident, then stole a car and continued on their way after eluding police in a high-speed chase. That is until they stop in some remote location, where at this very moment they are texting me a ransom note that I can’t do anything about because She has the checkbook. That’s on a good day. On a bad day, the kidnappers refuse to take a personal check. I don’t know if that falls into the CDC’s new category for booster shot eligibility, but it must come close, not that it makes a difference. I already had my real booster, courtesy of my local pharmacist, who also stuck it to me in the other arm with a flu shot because she likes the power. That’s also why I was relieved to learn that I’m up-to-date on my pneumonia shots, as I was running short of inoculatable appendages. Just kidding about all that, although I do wonder what the people in front of the store are thinking when they hear riotous laughter in the back and then see a woman walking around with a needle. The truth is I feel good about having gotten the booster shot, because I’ve been sticking close to home for many months now, and being fully inoculated will allow me to return to a normal social routine. Besides, I can think of five or six places that just might have a booster shot waiting for me when I return.
