JTB Developing new Advertising Campaign

In an effort to attract more tourists to the island, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is in the process of developing a new advertising campaign for destination Jamaica.

For this campaign, the JTB is working with advertising and marketing agency, DraftFCB, to undertake the initiative.

Making his contribution to the 2012/13 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, on July 3, Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, said a decision has been taken to “refresh and redo” the current ‘Once You Go You Know’ campaign, which has been in existence for the last eight years.

He said the use of “new technologies” such as social media, mobile advertising, and other innovative marketing tools will also be used to optimise advertising.

To this end, he informed that the JTB will also embark on changes to the www.visitjamaica.com website.

“We are going to redesign elements of the Visit Jamaica website, which is turning out to be a major source of information for potential visitors to Jamaica. It is intended that these changes and the redesign will be co-ordinated to synchronise with the work being done for the new campaign. These efforts are not an end in themselves; they are for the expansion of Jamaica’s market share in global tourism,” the Minister said.

Dr. McNeill pointed out that in addition to continue targeting its main markets of the United States, Canada and Europe/UK, other areas such as South America and Continental Europe will also be targeted. He added that awareness is also being built in emerging economies, such as China and India.

He noted that greater focus will be placed on health and wellness, sports tourism, with a special focus on wedding and honeymoon markets. “We must also focus on some of the market segments, especially where Jamaica has a competitive advantage and where we see potential,” he added.

Dr. McNeill said the JTB continues to do a good job marketing Jamaica around the world and has been recognised globally as a leading tourism marketing agency, winning many awards, including the World Travel Award, the Caribbean’s leading Tourist Board prize, six years in a row.

“In Canada, which is our fastest growing market, we have won the Agents’ Choice Award for the Favourite Tourist Board in Canada for seven consecutive years, including 2012. Over the years we have had many award winning campaigns,  for example ‘Come back to Jamaica’ and even our most recent ‘Once You go You Know’, to name a few,” he informed.

By Chris Patterson, JIS Reporter