Tourism Marketing: Data and the Future of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater

Enjoy an exciting panel discussion where we explore the dynamic landscape of tourism marketing with Steve Grimes, CMO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and Eddie Kirsch, Director of Digital & Data. This sector holds immense historical and future promise for economic growth, cultural exchange and environmental stewardship. Our discussion will delve into three areas: 1) Emerging Trends in the State of Travel and Tourism 2) The Impact of Data and Technology on Tourism Marketing 3) The Future of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

Steve Grimes serves as the Visit St. Pete-Clearwater Chief Marketing Officer, leading all advertising, promotions, marketing, market intelligence, digital, communications, and social media efforts for the Visit St. Pete-Clearwater brand. He owns more than 20 years of previous marketing experience and extensive senior leadership roles with the NBA, Ironman, Topps, Getty and Comedy Central, marketing the globally recognized brands with international presence and intercontinental programming across sports, entertainment, and consumer services. Grimes’s work included digital and media strategy development, content creation, advertising, marketing, sponsorship, data analytics, social media, product development, strategic business planning, and innovation of new technology-based products. He holds a BA in Advertising from Plymouth College of Art in Plymouth, UK and is a two-time Emmy Award winner while with Comedy Central.

Eddie Kirsch is a performance-driven marketing director with extensive knowledge in digital marketing and public relations. A team-building content creator with an excellent record of growing the company brand.

Leroy Bridges serves as Adara’s senior vice president, sales, and brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the table. Serving as vice president, marketing and communications at Visit St. Pete/Clearwater for 9 years, Leroy has been a mainstay in destination marketing for more than a decade, and has been a trusted voice on marketing trends at the travel industry’s leading conferences such as ESTO, eTourism Summit, TTRA’s international conference and Destinations International’s annual convention. When he’s not nerding out on all things data, Leroy can be found cheering on one of his Tampa Bay area sports teams, or his alma mater Purdue University. Leroy lives in the St. Pete/Clearwater area with his wife Katie and son Benjamin.

MEET OUR MODERATOR

Kerry O'Reilly is the Director of Marketing at the Tampa Bay Times. In January he’ll celebrate his 25th Anniversary at the Times. Just like the Times, his marketing work has evolved over the years from branding the St. Pete Times Forum and activating partnerships with the Bucs, Rays and Lightning, to targeted digital campaigns to drive engagement and subscriptions to tampabay.com

In addition to promoting the Times products and providing marketing solutions for local businesses, Kerry and his team have collaborated with Visit St. Pete Clearwater on the creation and annual publication of the award-winning Gulf to Bay magazine, which reaches more than 500,000 people.

In the community, Kerry is the chair of Leadership Tampa class of 2025, an exclusive program of the Tampa Bay Chamber. Other leadership roles included:

• Past Chair of the Advisory Board of the USF AMA Student Chapter
• Past President and current Board member of the Ronald McDonald House of Tampa Bay
• Past President and current Board member of Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts
• Past Board Chair and current Lay Leader for St. Pete First United Methodist Church

On the personal side, Kerry and his wife, Linda Kay O’Reilly, are empty nesters with one daughter at college in New York and one in Colorado. Kerry is also a part time adjunct professor of marketing at USF and plays in an Irish band called Paddy O’Furniture.

Host or Publisher AMA Tampa Bay