Visit St. Pete-Clearwater leaders are betting good money that people from around the country can help introduce the region to a larger audience.
Pinellas County’s tourism marketing and management organization has launched the SPC-Suite and is seeking individuals to apply for three unique new positions: Chief Vibes Officer, Chief Flavor Explorer and Chief Sunset Curator.
The selected candidates will spend 10 days in the Pinellas area. Each new “executive” will be compensated $10,000 for their efforts. Additionally, airfare and accommodations will be paid for.
“We were looking for some interesting ways to tell the beach culture story,” said Visit St. Pete-Clearwater chief marketing officer Steve Grimes. “When you live down here, you know what the beaches are like and that we have so much more than the beaches. But, after you’ve lived here for a while, you kind of take some of that for granted.”
Applications opened Oct. 1. Candidates are required to submit videos to explain why they would want to participate. Since launching the initiative, thousands of individuals have already applied.
The Chief Vibes Officer will explore the region’s nightlife, entertainment, live music and “wherever else the vibes lead,” according to a post on the organization’s Instagram page. As noted in the name, the Chief Flavor Explorer will investigate Pinellas’s culinary and drink scene. The Chief Sunset Curator will be tasked with finding inspiration across the region’s museums, galleries, neighborhoods and cultural institutions, among other places.
All three individuals will come to Pinellas County in November.
“We’re going to give them a bunch of recommendations and places that we think they should go,” Grimes explained. “But, they’re also going to be free to go and find those hidden gems by themselves. All along the way, they are going to be generating content and telling the world what it is they’re discovering.”
The Visit St. Pete-Clearwater team wants the selected individuals to create material that will “live across all of our social feeds.”
“It will be primarily video,” Grimes said. “Although, it will depend on who we select. If our Chief Vibes Officer ends up being a musician and wants to compose a piece of music? Great! If our Chief Sunset Curator is a photographer and wants to create some imagery? Great! We are very much open to seeing who feels like the best fit.”
He explained that the selection process will be extensive due to the number of responses. Individuals can submit their applications until Oct. 22.
“It’s always interesting to look at ‘somewhere’ through someone else’s eyes,” Grimes said. “I think we’re really interested to see how the different types of people who come down here experience this destination in different ways. So, we’re really interested to see how they dig into these specific positions and what stories they think should be told.”
While there is not a set plan to have a “second round” of the SPC-Suite initiative in the future, Grimes believes that the program can have a lasting impact.
“Our hope is that we stay in touch with the people we end up bringing down here and do other things with them.”