Travel Weekly spoke with Big Idea, founder and president Steve DeFontes to learn more about destination branding and marketing. The article highlights the recent rebrand of St. Maarten and summer travel campaigns including the “Exclusively Yours, Anguilla” campaign. Read the full article, “Summer is here, and so are island marketing pushes” by Omar Perez.
“We are conditioned to expect summer to be a vacation period,” Defontes said. “We aim to amplify the storytelling and the pace of the action in our marketing and social media campaigns.”
Targeting its major markets that include Miami and New York, both of which have increased airlift to the island, Anguilla is running an active social media campaign, featuring imagery and videos of attractions that go beyond beaches and culinary experiences, instead emphasizing family, couples and friends travel, and active vacation experiences such as diving, hiking and kayaking.
“Our ‘Exclusively Yours, Anguilla’ summer campaign is an important component of our marketing strategy to position Anguilla as an all-year-round destination,” said Kimberly King, chief marketing officer of the Anguilla Tourist Board, which will run its campaign through August.
Besides social media, St. Maarten holds regular destination webinars for advisors, a move prompted by the pandemic.
“What’s nice about digital is when you do these webinars, 50 to 60 agents are able to watch in real time and talk to you and ask questions,” said May-Ling Chun, director of tourism of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau. “That is innovative connectivity.”