Every March hoards of spring breakers descend upon Miami Beach taking over the streets of South Beach. In recent years spring break in Miami Beach has made headlines, and not for good reasons.

In 2023 Miami Beach decided it was done with spring break. It called a state of emergency for the month of March which included: midnight curfews, no alcohol past 6pm, traffic detours, garage closures, increased police presence, and sobriety checkpoints. Despite all of this, there still was record breaking crime: over 500 arrests, 101 seized firearms, 16 stampedes, and 2 fatal shootings.

Even prior to last year the city tried authoritative ads to discourage unsafe behavior but clearly, this crowd was not dissuaded by authority.

For spring break 2024, Miami Beach needed to make it clear that they were done with spring break and dissuade spring breakers from coming at all during the month of March.

We made the message personal, expressing what we wanted in a relationship: someone mature and respectful enough to relax on the beach, enjoy the spa, check out a new restaurant, but most importantly, obey the law. We reminded spring breakers (and the world) of the trauma from the previous year and announced we were done with the abuse.

To prove we meant it, we backed it up with curfews, bag checks, restricted beach access, increased parking fees, sobriety checkpoints and strong police enforcement for drug possession and violence. By doing so, we humanized the problem, making it relatable to spring breakers instead of coming at them with authority alone.

It took bravery for a city that relies on tourism to launch the first anti-tourism campaign that invited people NOT to come.

Spring Break was a risky situation for Miami Beach, but relying on law and order alone was even riskier because one thing was clear from the year prior: this audience was not deterred by authority.

We dug into the neuroscience of the developing brain and found that young adults 18-25 are the group that most significantly leads with emotion over logic.

Furthermore, the research told us that the most visceral emotion people experience - the type that has the power to change behavior - are negative ones. And what’s the most common negative experience young adults deal with? Rejection.

Given that most college students have been through a breakup, they can relate to the grief and regret that comes when a relationship that’s taken for granted comes to an end. This led us to our insight:

Heartbreak humanizes the toxic relationship that spring breakers have with Miami Beach.

The Breaking Up with Spring Break campaign launched with a video that went viral in the weeks before Spring Break. It also included out-of-home, and social executions. The language in all executions tapped into the city’s vibrant (and sometimes bizarre) dating zeitgeist, speaking like its residents and visitors while also expressing the city’s attitude without being off-putting.

We also needed the campaign messaging to be relatable to spring breakers about the real, concrete measures that would be taken during 2024 Spring Break: DUI checkpoints, bag checks, $100 parking and increased police presence. The executions generated the right conversations while informing would-be visitors (and residents) about the restrictions in place.

Breaking up with Spring Break perfectly threaded the needle between the city’s stakeholders, would-be tourists, and the local residents who have been demanding an end to spring break.

Statistically the campaign performed beyond expectations. Total campaign impressions were 19.8 billion. This included 49.4 million paid media impressions, 408 million organic social impressions and 19.4 billion earned media impressions. The campaign also garnered international attention with over 1,000 articles from over 200 media publications.



But more important than those stats was the change in behavior. There was a 32% drop in felony arrests, which included all violent crimes as well as a 31% decrease in visitor arrests. Additionally there were zero shootings and zero deaths involving spring breakers.

Beyond numbers the campaign was met with positive reactions, everyone from city officials, to celebrities expressed support for the initiative. The Mayor of Miami Beach Steven Meiner, called it, “The calmest spring break we’ve had in years.” Locals and visitors expressed their support on social media. And in the end no one can argue with a peaceful and safe city.