Video: Global Hue Contract Not Renewed
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon [Feb 16] Minister of Tourism & Business Development Patrice Minors confirmed that the GlobalHue Advertising Agency contract was not renewed.
In response to a question Minister Minors said: “The contract does indeed expire and we have secured another option pertaining to the promotion of Bermuda as a tourism product.” When asked why the Minister said: “Well its term limit expires… they haven’t expressed an interest to continue.”
In July 2010, the public meeting of the Public Accounts Committee [PAC] centered around the Tourism budget, and in particular the contract awarded to Global Hue. Following it, then-Premier Dr Ewart Brown spoke about allegations that Don Coleman, Chairman of Global Hue, was an “old buddy” of his, saying he met Mr Coleman in a professional capacity when “he was introduced to me as a major force in the advertising industry, as the owner of one of the largest, award-winning multi-cultural ad agencies in the world.”
Hmmm…non-renewal speaks volumes…hmmm
No surprise there. Costly and controversial … and did not attract tourists.
It is interesting that after years of supporting Dr. Brown’s many exploits as bold and visionary … the PLP is quietly and systematically dismantling most of them, or admitting to their gross problems.
It was part of the huge apparatus of Brown kickbacks. Give me a break.
The friends and family plan must have reached far and wide.
Global WHO?
If I may quote from Dire Straits, “THAT AIN’T WORKIN, THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT, GET YOUR MONEY FOR NOTHIN’ AND YOUR CHICKS FOR FREE”
When asked why the Minister said: “Well its term limit expires”
… amazing that even when issues are totally unrelated to one another (Tourism & Immigration) the political-speak continues. Certain politicians appear unable to think or speak for themselves; relying instead on pre-programmed rhetoric for something as mundane as the expiration of a contract.
The taxpayer funded SDO advertorial video posted by the PLP earlier this week is a great example of this over reliance on buzz words and absence (or more accurately obfuscation) of facts.
I thought I was the only one who caught that…
Funny how Global Hue can succeed and win awards everywhere except Bermuda. Reminds me of Bill Marriott’s book in which he counts his only real failure in business as Castle Harbour. Maybe, just maybe, its us, not them. The reason we get second-rate, shark oil salesmen here is because the real professionals will not bother having their reputations ruined by this asylum. The Minister said “they haven’t expressed an interest to continue”. Why would they want to? And which PLP are you talking about that always supported Dr. Brown? The same “visionaries” who ganged up to kill gaming? The same crew who leaked after every meeting of Caucus? Stop rewriting history folks.
@ Hmmmmmm….you speak in riddles….
had they expressed an interest to continue, then at what cost….why didn’t their ‘efforts’ produce results to even equal the cost of securing their services.
Bill Marriott’s Castle Harbour would still be in business in the new Bermuda…..90% foreign labor, no union worries.
After Brown & Global Hue is there any selfrespecting agency which will touch Bermuda now?
First of all they need a product to sell. At the moment there is next to nothing in Bermuda. We have been Browned back to the 50s. The future looks grim this time for tourism. There is all kinds of new competition & coming soon is Cuba.
In 1998 the golden goose was sick but still alive. With the right attitude towards tourism it could have been saved. Now in 2011 the goose is all but dead yet still the BIU puts the finishing blows to it with wildcat strikes & we have a Government which does not have a clue of what to do.
Here are a couple of basic ideas learned from 18 years on the front line of tourism, before The Platinum Period put the final nail in the business coffin.
Promote where the fish are i.e. East Coast cities & cities that have air service same airline, same day, one connection to get here.
Advertise on channels such as TWC, Discovery, History, Food network etc. Channels that have the type of demographic that is most likely to be able to afford a Bermuda vacation.
Oh yeah…I forgot an important thing. Get a Tourism Minister who is a Salesperson extrordinaire, not a talking head. Somebody who at least has a marketing background.
We need another Jim Woolridge, a Shorty Trimingham even a David Dodwell. Looking across the PLP ranks there is only one with such energy.
yeah, but he’s had is ‘testicular fortitude’ crushed as well…..once crushed (bitten) twice shy
@ TD you forgot one major combination…..travel/hotel packages. I can get from NYC to Bahamas $150/night kids stay free. We probably can’t match that but with AirTran, WestJet, USA3000 combined with stuggling hotels begging for the tourist dollar, we’ve got to do something to get our air arrivals out of the pit
Just to add some actual facts to the conjecture, Global Hue is not the only advertising or similar agency serving Bermuda. The Bermuda Department of Tourism has contracts with at least 1 more global ad agency, the largest in the world if I remember right. They also employ a US PR firm. So, yes, wherever there is money, and make no mistake there is money, ad people will be willing to serve.
The bermudatourism.com website is not designed nor maintained by Global Hue, nor were the Bermuda advertising spots that you may have seen on TV. The question everyone should be asking is “Well then, what exactly did Global Hue do?” Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to that, but at least its been rectified.
The packages you are talking about are things that need to be subsidized by the government. So it really isn’t the ad firms that have anything to do with that. The dept of tourism says “Hey we have these deal, promote them.” The effectiveness of that is a matter for debate, but I’d hesitate to make a bold a statement as others here without the facts.
Finally, the ideas you have come up with in the 5 minutes you wrote the post are things that the people at the ad agencies would have come up with in the same 5 minutes. So saying, “Oh we should advertise on Discovery channel!” is a pretty weak comment.
anyone got any spare toilet paper…
I’ve used all mine cleaning up the b/s I see
Years ago I sat on a flight next to a Marriott executive flying into Bermuda. His description of the problems Marriott encountered at Castle Harbour were:
1. The BIU.
2. It was the most popular place for people to cash in their Marriott “frequent guest” points so it never had enough “full paying” customers.
more so #1…….as proven last week. Otti may have been a pit bull, but he had good reason to be that way back then…..no reason a labor government should publicly lock horns with a union at our peril
@ Some fact….Well said
toilet paper…. whites has the best price for toilet paper !!!it is extra thick…and it will clean up the B/S
All I know is there’s a whole lot of adverts for all kinds of islands on the US and UK news channels, prime time entertainment, etc, and also on plenty of them on high traffic websites – but I’ve yet to see one for Bermuda! During the bad weather out stateside many islands acted up fast and put out commercials that basically said – hey it’s cold there, come to us! Did we do anything? Not that I or anyone I’ve asked saw. Who here’s seen a BDA commercial anywhere lately? In london other places with half our budgets had got big posters on the tube when I went over there recently. Anyone seen those for Bermuda? Anyone seen any advertising for BDA either when spending time overseas or when watching foreign media? I know I haven’t.
Ignoring the perceived personal interests of utilizing Global Hue, under the tenure of the previous Minister of “Tourism” his desire was to change the demographic to what he saw as his ideal visitor using Global Hue. Whilst this failure was going on our competitors were succesfully targeting the people who used to visit Bermuda, and are our bread and butter. However Bermuda deserted that market and the new market never materialised,nor was it likely to. Now Bermuda has to build a product that will appeal to potential visitors and which is different to our nearby competitors then go and sell it. Even it a product can be agreed upon, it is likely to take many years to start to see any improvements.
I wonder what the tourism budgets are for destinations like Aruba, Australia, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Key West & the Bahamas? These are just a few of the places which are regularly seen on channels like Discovery etc.
A quick blitz in local markets like NY when the weather is projected to be bad is good too. Imagine a tagline for New Yorkers. “Escape the snow. Join Bloomberg in Bermuda”.
LOL Bloomberg connection should be exploited. Everyday ppl will want to sample Mikes lifestyle…..
This Govt. aint got no money to keep the likes of Global Hue here doing business anyway. THEY HAVE NO MONEY BERMUDA…DON’T YOU GET IT!!! The pirates have already raped this island in the past 13 years. Now it’s time to rape you tomorrow in the budget!!!!
Good to see it’s making international news about our Governments antics:
http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-business/bermuda-8217s-experiment-with-ad-agency-cronyism-ends-in-failure/7628?tag=mantle_skin;content
That’s a greta article. Should be re-printed in the Daily.
How about getting the BBC (UK), Americans, Canadians, and the Caribbean to list Bermuda on there weather channel, that way the world will know where we are located, the only time we are mention (which is very seldom) is during hurricane season.
It’s so simple, when you think about it.
p,s, It should be Bermudians advertising Bermuda, not foreigners who know nothing about us, keep BMD dollars in Bermuda.