The Tourism Department is launching its latest television and radio advertising campaign Monday in 12 mainland markets, separately targeting St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, with coordinated print ads slated for summer issues of several popular and travel industry magazines.
The new campaign continues the "moving postcard" motif introduced earlier this year in a series of TV and radio spots that were the first ones produced for Tourism by the territory's new mainland advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather/Atlanta.
The summer push consists of three spots in each medium, each focusing on a particular island, and "will double the amount of media coverage" from spring, according to the government's mainland public relations agency, Virginia- based Martin Public Relations..
The new 30-second TV and 60-second radio spots will air through September in the Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte (N.C.), Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham (N.C.), San Francisco and Washington, D.C., areas.
Coordinated print ads will appear in the magazines Essence, Parade, O, Smithsonian and Town & Country; the trade industry publications Travel Agent and Travel Weekly; "and many others," according to a release distributed Friday by Martin P.R.
"The seasonal ads are designed to entice visitors to leave the hot and humid weather of the States for the year-round ocean breezes, tropical temperatures and beautiful scenery of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas," the Martin release stated.
The Tourism summer advertising "aims to continue the success of the spring campaign's ‘moving postcard' theme, the release said. "The new advertisements will spotlight the unique attributes of each of the three islands. . . by dedicating an individual spot to each island. Viewers and listeners alike will witness a series of postcards which ‘come to life' to reveal St. Croix's world-renowned snorkeling, St. John's secluded beaches, and the tropical, cosmopolitan ambience of St. Thomas." Voice-overs are by Crucian Malcolm Evans and St. Thomian Lee Vanterpool.
The spots employ Ogilvy & Mather's new tag line for the territory — "America's Caribbean," a replacement for the old line, "They're our islands." The new ads also incorporate the destination's new logo, the release stated.
The spring TV and radio campaign, aired in five major markets, ended in early May. According to the Martin release, calls to Tourism's toll-free number "reportedly nearly tripled as a direct result of the campaign." Tourism aims "to build upon the success of those ads by maintaining the ‘moving-postcard' theme and doubling the amount of media coverage for the summer series," the release stated.
Tourism Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson told a Senate committee last month that the first "Picture Yourself in Paradise" postcard-image campaign launched in March — at the end of a high season for which there had been virtually no government advertising — included a 15-second tag on the longer radio spots aimed at attracting the "spur-of-the-moment" traveler.
"By building on the initial momentum we gathered from the spring campaign," the release quoted Jackson as saying, "we hope the summer ads will evoke a sense of familiarity and encourage more summer travel to the United States Virgin Islands."
The territory in recent years has spent relatively little on advertising compared to most other prime Caribbean vacation destinations as well as up-and-coming rivals such as Aruba.
The "moving postcard" campaign came in for criticism at the Senate Agriculture, Economic Development and Consumer Protection hearing at which Jackson testified. After committee chair Gregory Bennerson commented that he didn't like the ads, comments were made that the agency "had to do that in a rush" and "this was the best we could do with the limited footage we had."
The Martin P.R. release concluded by referring those wishing additional information to telephone "the Visitors Bureau at 800-372-USVI (8784)" or to contact "the nearest USVI Department of Tourism regional office in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., or Toronto."