Tourism Authority Names New Agency Partners
The Bermuda Tourism Authority has named new agency partners; BerlinRosen has been chosen as the PR and creative agency of record and Miles Partnership will be the media agency of record.
A spokesperson said, “In a continued effort to drive visibility, cultivate understanding, and attract visitors to the island of Bermuda, today the Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] is elated to announce its partnership with two best-in-class agencies that will provide ongoing support to the destination marketing organization.
“BerlinRosen, a leading full-service communications agency, has been chosen as the PR and creative agency of record, which will span earned media, influencer relations, advertising, branding, digital marketing, and design. Miles Partnership, a strategic marketing consultancy partnering with more than 130 destinations and hospitality businesses worldwide, will be the media agency of record, continuing an eight-year relationship between the company and the BTA.
“This new agency ecosystem will work cohesively to support the BTA in reaching its goals and objectives. BerlinRosen’s PR team will develop integrated earned campaigns highlighting all that makes Bermuda unique: its stunning pink sand beaches, rich cultural heritage, and soft adventure activities.
“The firm will work closely with the BTA to support the seven pillars of the National Tourism Plan: Awareness & Relevance, Greener Environment, Frictionless Infrastructure, Local Involvement, Innovation, Prioritizing Teams & Groups, and embrace the island Year-Round.
“Through facilitating partnerships with key stakeholders on the ground in Bermuda, including hoteliers and local businesses, BerlinRosen will assist the BTA in meeting overall objectives that benefit the island in totality. Miles will play a key role in developing and implementing holistic, multi-channel national and international advertising campaigns utilizing engaging visual assets produced by BerlinRosen’s creative team that captures the island’s essence.
“The joint efforts will showcase why Bermuda remains one of the most desirable destinations in the world and how it caters to leisure and business travelers year-round as a full-service destination.
“BerlinRosen is known for its work in the Travel & Hospitality industry representing clients including Singapore Airlines, Lark Hotels, RVshare, Aspen Hospitality Limelight Hotels, and Boston Seaport. “Just a 90-minute flight from New York City, our team can’t wait to immerse ourselves further into the Island’s vibrant culture and alluring attractions,” said Sara Joseph, EVP at BerlinRosen. “Bermuda has so much to offer travelers and we are thrilled to be able to work alongside the Bermuda Tourism Authority and Miles to execute a meaningful communications strategy as their new agency partner.”
“Miles has long supported the BTA, dating back over eight years, and across several successful projects and programs, from digital development to content marketing. The two companies have a history of collaboration and innovation, including launching a first-of-its-kind program with Google Street View to film footage of the entire island and upload it to the Google platform. “
We are thrilled to renew our partnership with the BTA and to begin work on a new chapter of innovation,” said Lauren Bourgoing, Vice President at Miles Partnership. “Together, we will amplify the Bermuda brand through a targeted media strategy aimed at expanding awareness of and increasing visitation to the island.”
“The Bermuda Tourism Authority is excited by the opportunities these partnerships present in bringing the island’s story to life and driving awareness of all Bermuda has to offer. “Both agencies have proved that they understand our vision and are aligned with our goals and objectives,” said Jamari Douglas, VP of Marketing, PR and Communications at BTA.
“We’re confident that our work with BerlinRosen and Miles will effectively raise awareness around Bermuda’s proximity, unique on-island activities and our rich culture.”
Whatever happened to that gaggle of “influencers” that the BTA flew to Bermuda who were going to influence more tourists to come to Bermuda?
Will these PR & Media gurus bring down airfare prices?
BTA is a marketing & PR organization. Why does the BTA constantly spend millions of dollars every year using outside vendors to do its job? Seems to me that BTA should be dissolved and everything outsourced with Hazel Clark managing the vendors. Millions of taxpayer dollars would be saved.
“Will these PR & Media gurus bring down airfare prices?”
No. Neither the PLP Government nor the BTA can effect economic change
“Why does the BTA constantly spend millions of dollars every year using outside vendors to do its job?”
It does what the PLP Government tells it do to. The law was changed in 2018 to allow the Minster to direct the BTA
My question on airline fares was to point out a major pain point that the BTA and Government are not trying to fix. Airlines are taking people where they want to go. Fewer people coming to Bermuda means less route revenue.
BTA and its predecessor have always outsourced millions to vendors because the organizations hired people with few relevant skills. The mindset has always been that Bermudians cannot do the marketing plan and execution, but can hire outside people who can. If the mindset is to outsource, the BTA is an over-bloated organization. One good vendor manager can replace 3-4 current staff.
Many Bermudians have excellent tech skills to design, build, and maintain websites – but even that is outsourced overseas for a significant amount of money.
Yes, sadly the belief that foreigners are better than Bermudians persists, even under the PLP Government.
A classic example of such nearsightedness comes from the 1980s. HM Customs wanted a computerised system. The Bermuda Government contracted a New York firm to write the program. The New York firm outsourced the to a Bermudian living in Bermuda, the late Jim Haire. He wrote the program. The profit went to the New York firm.
What happened to the Proverb partnership? Didn’t that agency win awards for their Bermuda campaign? Has any other agency achieved this level of recognition for Bermuda in recent years? Why was there a need to replace Proverb?
https://www.gotobermuda.com/bta/press-release/bermuda-tourism-authority-wins-three-platinum-viddy-awards-lost-yet-found
Probably looking for more awards to put on the walls.
Meanwhile it is reported that Jamaica has a problem handling the number of visitors at MoBay airport. They received 1.18 million visitors between Jan and March this year, an increase of 94% over 2022. What did the BTA achieve?
The BTA cannot fix our past anytime soon.
Bermuda priced itself out of the ordinary tourist market in the 1980s. Then we had “business tourism”, but the PLP Government drove that away just before the 2008 recession. Then came the 2008 recession.
The BTA appears to be doing the best it can within the constraints imposed upon it by the PLP Government
I guess one needs to redefine “the best it can.” Thanks to Hazel Clark, BTA only seems to be successful at sports tourism. My pet peeve is how BTA calculates Return on Investment (ROI) for a campaign. BTA does not factor in employee time and expense in the calculation. Every campaign is a project and BTA does not do project accounting. All time and expense must be allocated against all work performed from basic daily administrative tasks to campaigns.
Not even going to get into the intangible return/value mystery from social media and events.
I have always found BTA winning awards a mystery. There seems to be a missing component to award criteria – like actually producing positive tourism number results.
How about an award for winning an award for showing the least positive results?
I never hear about Cuba winning tourism awards but 1+ million Canadians a year love going there.
The BTA / Burt prioritised the scandalous TA Form for 2022. That was much more important than reviving Tourism post-pandemic. 2022 should have been a boom year for us; instead it was another failure. But the TA software company made $millions, of course.