Jamaica Tourist Board Seeks Hispanic Media Coverage
Challenge:
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Jamaica had never targeted the Hispanic media in the United States. While they had great media coverage in English-language trade and news publications, they lacked the Latino publications interests. With the growing Hispanic market buying power, this was not something the Jamaica Tourist Board could afford to neglect.
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Competition from Spanish-speaking islands in the Caribbean such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic also contributed to Jamaica being ignored by Spanish media.
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Therefore, the challenge was to gain interests from Spanish-language trade and news publications as well as Spanish-language broadcast media. In turn, making Jamaica a popular tourist destination for Hispanics.
Approach:
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Planned and executed a media trip with Hispanic journalists to Jamaica for on-island activities in Kingston and Ocho Rios, such as swimming with dolphins, a visit to reggae legend Bob Marley’s home, canopy tours and white-water rafting.
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Drafted press materials and contacted media months in advance to invite prominent Hispanic journalists, such as Telemundo Network, to Jamaica.
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Translated all Jamaica press releases into Spanish and distributed to Hispanic print and television media throughout the United States.
Results:
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Secured six segments about Jamaica for Telemundo’s Cada Dia morning show, all of which aired during the February and May television sweeps 2007.
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Telemundo was so pleased with Jamaica during their first trip, they signed on for subsequent Jamaica press trips in July 2007, which covered another part of the island, including Montego Bay. Video footage shot during this trip will be used for future sweeps.
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Telemundo also contributed to the media coverage by adding an online article about Jamaica on Yahoo!
