The U.S. correspondent for The Observer, a large British newspaper, is in town doing a story on Atlantic City because of the upcoming debut of the "Boardwalk Empire" miniseries on HBO. Expect more of this attention, much more. HBO is hyping the show big-time. Reporters from across the nation and around the world will likely be descending on the city.
And the question is whether Atlantic City is ready for this kind of spotlight.
I sure hope so, but I haven't heard much about what the town is doing. And reading Pinky's Corner this morning left me disturbed that the answer is ... not much.
This is a golden opportunity for Atlantic City to get more international publicity than Las Vegas can buy for it's $100 million marketing fund.
Or the publicity could go the other way.
Fact is, with Gov. Chris Christie's plan for Atlantic City coinciding with the HBO series, one focus is quite likely to be the city's recent downturn. So Atlantic City's leadership - City Hall, casinos and other stakeholders - need to seize this opportunity and set the tone for this attention, which has already begun..
And as Pinky pointed out, Atlantic City should capitalize on the HBO series. Have some fun with it. Along with reporters, there will be a lot of visitors coming in this fall because they are watching the series. Don't let them leave disappointed.
