Reaching the Beach
With a captive audience of beachgoers and vacationers at the Jersey Shore, business have always sought out ways to reach these potential customers. There’s always been some traditional and clever ways of advertising over the years.
Of course, there’s the iconic planes that have been pulling the word about fudge, saltwater taffy, frozen custard or drink specials in the sky high above the New Jersey coastline – some since the mid-1940s.
You’ve probably come across newer advertising styles with messages stamped into the sand. Of course, there’s your standard billboards and signage along the roadways leading toward your favorite beach, or on piers and boardwalk railings, depending upon which of the towns you frequent.
But veteran advertising executive Bill Sablich, the owner of Total Reach Media and his newly purchased Ocean Media, is hoping to make his impact by sea, doing so in and around what is known as “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” – Ocean City, NJ.
Sablich’s boasts a 25-foot catamaran boat with a digital screen that can present motion or animated video, static photos, and written text all on a 300-square-foot digital screen that floats along the coastline at a rate of 3 to 5 miles per hour.
After pulling out of the Boatyard Marina in Somers Point at about 9 a.m. each day, the floating messenger goes under the Longport-Ocean City Bridge, goes past the Gardens section of Ocean City and then goes from 1st Street all the way down to 55th Street in about 90 minutes, then when it gets to Corson’s Inlet, it turns around and heads back up toward the Gardens, making another 90-minute trek for a roughly three-hour tour – without Gilligan and friends. It will make two full trips down and back before making its way back to the marina, but is visible to beach goers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
In June, Sablich got his first taste of the boat life from aboard the vessel.
“Stepping onto that boat for the first time and seeing the people on the beach — it genuinely stopped me in my tracks,” explained Sablich, a 30-year veteran of the advertising industry primarily working with billboards and radio advertising over the years. “There’s something you can’t fully prepare for: watching families, vacationers, people just soaking up the day, and knowing that right in that moment, a local business owner’s message is reaching them.
“These are real people supporting real businesses, and we’re out there on the water making those connections happen. It felt less like work and more like a reminder of why I do this. The beaches in early June were already beautiful — the energy, the people, the whole scene. But peak season? I have a feeling we haven’t seen anything yet, and honestly, I can’t wait.”
Sablich, who is a resident of Dresher, PA, but owns a home in Ocean City, bought Ocean Media back in January after leaving his long-time corporate role at OUTFRONT Media, Inc., in July 2025. He started Total Reach Media in November, and the floating billboard boat of Ocean Media is now a part of the fold.
“I started Total Reach Media as a media sales company where I sell billboard owners’ inventory, so I would sell the space on other people’s billboards that just wanted to own and operate and manage them. I do the selling. I also sell radio commercial advertising on Phillies Spanish Radio broadcasts and some digital media products as well. Then this opportunity came along for me to grab some of my own assets, which is better than selling other people’s products. So, I bought the boat. When I first bought it, I was going to make it under my umbrella of Total Reach Media, but Ocean Media NJ was the boat company, and it had a brand and sounded better. I kept that company name as its own separate company, but it operates under Total Reach.
“Having the boat is unique, it’s different, it’s seasonal. I truly love the Jersey Shore, I’ve been going to the Jersey Shore for my whole life, and Ocean City specifically the last 26 years with my family (which includes his wife of almost 30 years, Jennifer, and his three children: Conor (27) and 21-year-old twins Catherine and Kyle). Just to be a part of the Ocean City community, buying Ocean Media made a lot of sense to me.
“In terms of opportunity, the previous owner – while he was doing a great job with it – was utilizing the business to kind of promote himself. He owned a lot of other businesses along the Jersey Shore, so he would use the boat advertising as a way to promote those businesses. I saw a lot of opportunity to create special kinds of advertising and unique sponsorship opportunities. I thought it would be a great way to do more than just billboards and make it part of the community. I’m trying to work with the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce so they can use it for broadcasting messages and promoting activities that are going on in Ocean City. I want to make it more than just an advertising solution, … more of a special part of the community and do some great things with it.”
Along with ads for pizza, surf and turf specials and mini golf, Sablich wants to add messages about the tides, the weather, and other things that will help the everyday vacationer improve their enjoyment of Ocean City and open people’s eyes to the variety of entertainment options in and around town.
“As you’re sitting on the beach, you can plan your day. I want to try to provide some information for beachgoers because that’s an important part of visiting the shore. It is definitely attention getting, and it’s brand-safe too. I’m not going to allow controversial ads or strong political messaging either way. Clients seem to love it because they know they’re reaching families, and it’s a certain kind of advertising that’s basic. Plus, it allows them to do multiple things. If it’s Storybook Land that’s advertising, and then it’s raining out, it puts opportunities like that in people’s brains. ‘If it’s not a great beach day, what else can we do in the area? Oh yeah, what about that place we saw on the boat? We have kids and we don’t want to be stuck in the house.’ Maybe it’s an ice cream shop, or a miniature golf course, or the chance to visit a winery, or something like that. It gives businesses like that a greater and different opportunity to reach people.
“(Non-business) people love the opportunity, too. I get quite a few calls from people who want to do personal messaging – graduation, anniversary, engagement messaging – any type of congratulations or birthday wish. One other unique thing we can do with the boat is create situations where we can have events such as movie nights and enhanced coverage of other special occasions.
“To be able to do some cool things, like including the weather, flashing up news, maybe even sports scores and being informational, we can probably get someone to sponsor those elements. That kind of excites me. That’s what made me buy the business.”
So far, Sablich has found the biggest challenge to his new venture to be the boat life, for instance, scraping barnacles.
“But what has surprised me is how much work goes into maintaining a 25-foot catamaran boat and keeping the engine going and all the work that has to be done on the boat itself. The advertising part of the business, it’s super exciting, but I don’t really have any boat experience. All of the maintenance, the upkeep issues, the challenges of keeping it in the marina and not getting it stuck in the mud during low tide, all of those things that revolve around the boat itself, that is a whole learning curve that I’m really getting up to speed quickly on.”
Sablich says that because of the unique way the boat delivers its messages, it can quickly become as beloved and iconic as the famous planes that soar over the ocean.
“Besides just having one stagnant message per pass like the planes, the boat can carry more variety and includes pictures. It’s a 300 sq ft screen where each ad flashes for 10 seconds over a roughly 8-minute rotation, and it’s hard to forget. The boat is eye level, and I definitely believe it’s going to catch everyone’s attention, even if you only look up for a second or two. And, encouraging people to put up those personal messages, birthday, anniversary, graduation, retirement, I think it gives us a little more credibility in the community and makes us more of a part of it.
“I’m also creating a feature where people can submit photos through social media – uploaded onto our screen – with people enjoying the best family vacation spot in the country. That also makes us closer to the community. And I intend to participate in Night in Venice (July 25) and put the boat in the water for that annual celebration. I truly want to be part of Ocean City community.”
