Cape Coral is a city born out of marketing.  Founded in 1957, the Rosen brothers created advertisements to ensure Cape Coral appeared to be a utopic city in the making. 
The Rosens had a background in advertising, particularly false advertising, peddling products such as anti-baldness tonics. They are credited with being pioneers of the informercial, and were famed for the line “Have you ever seen a bald sheep?” In reference to the anti-baldness tonic created from lanolin secreted by sheep. They were also able to drum up nationalism to help sell Cape Coral through statements such as “This virgin land has become a leading symbol of man’s accomplishments!”. 

Creating slogans such as “Legendary Lazy Living” ,“Waterfront Wonderland” and “enchanted City-in-the-Making”.  They ensured the advertisements included buzz words and phrases such as “no winter”, “no worries” and “no taxes” to attract new residents, in particular those from a wealthy background. 
The reality was that much of the land was still uninhabitable swampland, in an area susceptible to hurricanes and storm weather. 
Cape Coral actually provided very few facilities for new residents, and most facilities were in neighbouring towns and cities. This too was hinted at in the advertising, through comments such as “Supermarkets, department stores, theatres - plenty to do in the nearby thriving city of Fort Myers!”.
Despite this, many people persevered in their attempts to build a life in Cape Coral, sold by the Rosen’s promise of large plots, European-style canals, seaside culture and the “American Dream”. 

The Rosens learned how to advertise Cape Coral through listening devices in hotels they invited customers to, spying on customers to uncover which buzz words they would be interested in. They also employed unusual marketing techniques, such as giving away properties on the game show “The Price is Right” and using popular celebrities to promote Cape Coral.   The Rosens often invited tourists to dinners where salesmen pretending to be buyers would announce they had bought property and that the plots were selling quickly. In some cases they invited potential buyers to join them on private flights above Cape Coral to choose land, the distance often making it difficult for buyers to see that it was marshland. 
Sales representatives were employed to travel across the globe, especially to European cities. This included Germany, where the Rosens opened a Frankfort sales office, selling enough plots to create an entire community of German people within Cape Coral, who still live there today and have integrated their own culture into the area.

“Cape Coral was brilliantly orchestrated and terribly planned” - Florida historian Gary Mormino.