Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
o Over the past year, the island of Jamaica has seen an uptick in celebrity visits and pop culture highlights. Included in the pop culture highlights is the 25th anniversary of the cult classic film, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” famously shot in Jamaica. Top celebrities including Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, and Whoopi Goldberg were cast as lead roles in the film. Set principally in Jamaica, “Stella” chronicles the journey of a professional American woman and a younger Jamaican man. A month after the film’s release in 1998, Jamaica saw a 22% jump in visitors from the northeastern part of the U.S. alone. The goal was to match the milestone 25th anniversary of the film with a top tier national consumer/travel publication to highlight the island’s premium assets – the pristine beaches, the island sounds in the form of the film’s soundtrack – setting a clear message to consumers that Jamaica is the best place to abandon work stress, plant yourself in paradise, and maybe even find romance. This would also play to an exact trend seen in the media over the past year – “Film-Cations” – to use pop culture to drive travelers to vacation in places where their favorite movies were filmed. Another goal was to work closely with the hotel property, Round Hill Hotel & Villas, where the film was shot, to give the journalist a firsthand experience that mirrored the female lead character’s experience 25 years later. In turn, this would allow the property itself to be highlighted along with upgrades they have made to the property since the film was released in 1998. The goal for publication was to have a national feature published during the month of August, which would be the month and year to date of the film’s anniversary that would again drive increased traveler interest in visiting Jamaica.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
o We were able to achieve all our marketing goals for this project through pitching and communication efforts. Firstly, we were able to secure a travel journalist with a confirmed assignment for a top national travel publication, Conde Nast Traveler. Conde Nast Traveler’s digital site reaches an audience of over 4.6 million U.S. and international readers that focus on luxury travel, culinary travel, culture seekers and more. With these pillars in mind, Conde Nast Traveler was the perfect target for this project. We were then able to secure accommodation at Round Hill Hotel & Villas by working closely with the property team. The goal of the accommodation was to place the journalist in a villa like the one that the female lead character, Stella, stayed in throughout the film. This goal was met as well. The Jamaica Tourist Board was then able to plan and execute a wellness themed itinerary which included activities both on and off the hotel property to complete the story angle. The goal of publication date was also met as the story published in August of 2023 – month and year to date of the 25th anniversary of the film’s release. Once published, the 963-word feature article included personal anecdotes from the writer along with property highlights, making connections between the property/island and other celebrities that have frequented in the past including Ralph Lauren and references to Jackie Kennedy. Along with property details, the writer highlighted the off-property activities she experienced in Montego Bay to drive potential travelers to island experiences. The feature also included quotes from Round Hill’s managing director. As a result of the article publication, Jamaica’s tourism website saw an uptick in organic search traffic, indicating meeting the goal of increased interest in visiting the destination, and bookings for Round Hill also increased.
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
Following the publishing of the Conde Nast Traveler feature, bookings at Round Hill have increased, creating an incremental increase in revenue for the property and ultimately for the Jamaican economy through the government’s hotel sales tax. Further, the cost to host the writer was under $5,000.00, and the equivalent advertising value of the piece can be estimated at $26,000.00, creating an over $20,000 return on investment and generating increased interest from potential travelers in visiting Jamaica.
Entry Title
How Stella Got Her Groove Back 25 Years Later
Division
Public Relations/Communications - Feature Placement Online or Print Consumer Media
Category
Public Relations/Communications