The Islands of the Bahamas
In 2009, The Bahamas was looking to boost tourism in the off-season by getting a younger demographic buzzing about the islands. Since we'd recently helped Obama win the election with what The Huffington Post described as, "The best viral campaign of all time," The Bahamas thought we'd be a good fit. We set to work on what would turn out to be an award winning campaign that included tactics such as viral marketing, social networking, flash mobs, online PR, and email campaigns. Which is exactly what happened. Our viral videos collected over 100,000 hits in the first week, and our campaign garnered over four million impressions by the time the sweepstakes winners were announced in the fall of 2009, Most importantly, tourism was up 6.5% in 2009's off-season.
And in 2010 we ran it back with a second iteration called Bahama Fridays: Lose the Suit, which featured a series of hidden camera viral videos that brought the fun vibe of The Bahamas into the drab workday of everyday office life. Like the original, we used a variety of tactics to reach our audience, but this time we were able to build on a preexisting fan base. The results exceeded the previous year's campaign, garnering increased site traffic, higher view counts, and more sweepstakes entrants.
It is better in The Bahamas. Especially on Fridays.
*2009 HSMAI Platinum Award - Viral Web Marketing Campaign
*2010 Bronze Anvil - Word of Mouth Viral Marketing Campaign
