Best digital campaign

Jamaica is widely perceived as a romantic island for older tourists seeking luxury and, while the country’s tourist board wants to retain that view and demographic, it is also keen to attract new audiences and establish the Caribbean island as a new, cool destination for younger travellers.

The Jamaica Tourist Board retained Brighter PR – a FINN Partners company to shift perceptions while boosting social media engagement and growing follower numbers.

The solution was to work with boohoo.com, an online fashion group which targets 16 to 30-year-olds and has multiple social media accounts, including more than 6.1 million followers on Instagram.

Eight millennial, fashion-forward influencers would be flown to Jamaica for six days, where they would enjoy the sights and experiences that the country has to offer, while wearing the boohoo.com summer range.

Brighter PR selected four male and four female influencers, reinforcing the group holiday theme, including a former Love Island contestant. The latter choice was strategic: the campaign’s target audience are fans of the show and, with a new series about to launch, it was thought that previous contestants might be back in the headlines. Each was contracted to produce two sponsored Instagram posts.

An itinerary was created that had Instagram and millennials front of mind – with experiences showcasing culture, diversity, activities and food. The itinerary also was mindful of what makes Jamaica so iconic, standing apart in the Caribbean, such as reggae, Jerk chicken and Patois. It also wanted to reflect the ‘feel-good’ vibe of the island, with influencers interacting with locals.

The social-first campaign combined three social feeds – the Jamaica Tourist Board, boohoo.com and the influencers’ channels. The influencers created 20 Instagram posts, which generated almost 530,000 likes and 131 stories. Some images were even shared by the Daily Mail, which featured the @VisitJamaica handle.

The total campaign reached 11.1 million people, while followers of the @VisitJamaica Instagram account rose by more than ten per cent – or 7,800 people – in six days. The judges said that this was a ‘good and comprehensive, low budget campaign’ that achieved a great return on investment.