“Sir Yacht” was there – Times Gazette

Ring the victory bell at McClain and Hillsboro High Schools, put your name on a giant sign, shop for delicious food at a myriad of area restaurants, get a glimpse of history at the Pioneer Days celebration of the historic society, enjoying the great outdoors at Rocky Fork Lake, and crowning a great game of disc golf, with a little bowling, seems like a lot to handle over a 24 hour period.

But it was just a typical day in the life of Internet sensation and Rocky River, Ohio native, Joey Kinsley, best known to his thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube as “Sir Yacht.”

Kinsley’s popularity and his knack for producing viral videos featuring towns in Ohio inspired Jamie Wheeler, executive director of the Highland County Visitors Bureau, to start talks in February to sponsor a trip for Kinsley come to Highland County to make videos featuring local places of interest. Once, “board approved,” Kinsley’s whirlwind tour of Highland County finally came to fruition in August, and the resulting videos, featuring Hillsboro, Greenfield and Highland County as their respective themes, were featured in aired last week on social media platforms Instagram and TikTok, the latter of which Kinsley has, to date, more than 385,000 followers under his nickname, Sir Yacht.

Kinsley turned his talent for making “city videos” into a full-time business after “quitting (his) full-time job because of Covid in February”. Kinsley said Mayor Cat Miller of Struthers, Ohio saw his TikToks, “and asked me to… make a promotional video for the city.” The 600,000 views that followed the video, Kinsley said, generated additional demand for its uniquely styled content. Kinsley said that to date he has made “probably about 60 videos” featuring cities in Ohio.

Kinsley commented on his recent experience that “I really enjoyed my time in Hillsboro and Highland County” and that, “I especially enjoyed how outdoors it is. Hillsboro is a city full of amazing people who have treated me very well. So much to do and I will definitely be back. ”

Wheeler said the type of content Kinsley produced was ideal for helping promote Highland County to a younger population, and talks began in February to sponsor his trip to Highland County. Wheeler said the way Kinsley’s visit came into play was the result of the Visitors Bureau’s attempt to “expand its marketing” beyond traditional modalities such as radio and print media. Capturing the interest of a younger generation, Wheeler said, is something that continues to be important going forward. She said the inclusion of non-traditional media in her efforts to promote Highland County is part of an intentional strategy to “include all demographics” in its advertising communications.

“Our goal is to bring people to Highland County and experience all that we have to offer,” said Wheeler.

Sir Yacht’s videos on Hillsboro, Greenfield, Highland County and many other towns in Ohio can be accessed at https://www.instagram.com/siryacht or https://www.tiktok.com/@siryacht.

Juliane Cartaino is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.

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