The Department of Tourism’s first ever TV sponsorship deal is just one of the ways its European office in the UK is currently trying to attract visitor arrivals from the UK market.
The CI DoT is sponsoring UK TV station Channel 4’s six-part series, The Ascent of Money, a programme detailing the history of money.
According to Channel 4, ‘The Ascent of Money is a timely series in which historian Niall Ferguson examines the dynamic role of money and financial institutions in world history.
‘He goes on an epic tour of world finance and demonstrates that behind every great historical phenomenon – empires and republics, wars and revolutions – there lies a financial secret.’
The Ascent of Money began on 17 November with the CIDoT sponsoring all six hour-long programmes.
Regional Manager Europe with DoT, Don McDougall, explained that the DoT agreed to sponsor the programme because it will make an impact through its quality, integrity and substance and its topical subject matter. ‘The Cayman Islands is very happy to be associated with it because we feel that the followers of the series present exactly the right profile and demographic of visitor who will want to book a holiday to the Cayman Islands,’ he said.
The whole point, he said, is to get the Cayman Islands on the consideration for its target visitors.
Air arrivals from Europe have grown 6.7 per cent so far this year, despite the global financial crisis.
Within each episode, the sponsorship consists of 15 seconds of Cayman Islands footage coming into the show, along with three five-second bumpers for each of the ad breaks, and another 10 seconds at the end of the show.
‘We’re telling the story of someone’s fantastic holiday experience through these segments,’ Mr. McDougall explained. ‘In each programme someone sees between six and seven stunning images of the Cayman Islands.’
The slogan used in UK advertising ‘Cayman Islands – The Other Side of the Caribbean’ is also used to help attract the discerning visitor who wants to go away from the mass market Caribbean.
The Cayman Islands’ target market in the UK is the more affluent traveller over 45 years of age with a minimum household income of £100,000 British Pounds, who has probably already been to some of the well known islands and is looking for somewhere new.
‘They are looking for new experiences where their neighbours haven’t been and the Cayman Islands give them bragging rights,’ said Mr. McDougall.
The programme, described by Mr. McDougall as ‘incredibly intellectual’, ties in to the target audience. ‘If we want to target the high-end, free-thinking audience we have to target a high intellectual programme,’ he said.
The sponsorship deal, which cost the DoT in the region of £150,000, has been exceedingly cost effective for TV sponsorship, considering the ratings it is getting, Mr. McDougall said.
The total audience figure that watched the first episode was 1.25 million.
‘The ratings are vastly exceeding the show’s producer’s expectations,’ Mr. McDougall said.
The price of the deal also includes the sponsorship of the repeats on C4More and the Cayman Islands sponsorship logo on the ads running up to the first episode.
Since the first episode aired, the phones at the UK DoT office have been very busy, Mr. McDougall reports, resulting in new dialogue being opened with people in the travel industry.
‘One small tour operator saw it and is interested in doing business with us. We’re getting a number of phone calls and positive enquiries through the travel industry,’ he said.
The programme details the history of money, from why it stopped being metal and morphed into paper, to why interest rates were so high in the 1980s, to stock market bubbles bursting, to what hedge funds, futures, options and derivatives are.
And, contrary to a recent article posted on Forbes.com, there will be no reference to the Cayman Islands throughout the actual series itself.
‘What it’s not doing is covering Cayman in any way shape or form,’ said Mr. McDougall.
The Forbes piece, titled, ‘Cayman’s Revolution will be Televised’ opens saying, ‘A new show aired in Britain on Monday and claimed to unravel the mysteries behind the global financial crisis, may look a little awkward once it gets to the bit about tax-evasion and dodgy, off-balance sheet funds. Its main sponsor? The Cayman Islands.’
But DoT asserts that the programme is absolutely not about the financial crisis, although the historian does mention up front that since the programme was shot there has been a financial crisis.
On a positive note, Mr. McDougall said that there is much positive media coverage coming out of the UK currently.
Rough Guide, a Channel 5 travel programme aired last week featuring the Cayman Islands. It showed Stingray City and Little Cayman. ‘A number of people contacted us to say they saw it. It was so positive,’ said Mr. McDougall.
And in Condé Nast Traveller UK edition there are 11 pages featuring all three of the Cayman Islands. There was also a recent double page spread in a recent Mail on Sunday, all the result of visiting journalists to the islands.
Other promotional initiatives in the UK include the screening of the movie Cayman Went this week in Leicester Square, London, along with a London taxi being painted in a Cayman Islands creative. This will bring a year of advertising for the islands for less than £3,000, as it zips in and out of traffic in the city.
‘We’re working hard with Cayman’s objectives at heart, and we’re looking after them as custodians of the brand in Europe,’ Mr. McDougall said.
Mr. McDougall
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