When You Wish Upon a Star

There’s been some diplomatic tension in the Caribbean in the last few weeks—not only among the political establishment but with some of our brand ambassadors, as well.

[Miss~Lisa/flickr]

In Jamaica, telecommunications company LIME just pulled the plug on a hot new reality show, on its new mobile TV channel Peppa, that featured dancehall star Vybz Kartel. Kartel was last week charged with murder following the discovery of a dead body at his house. He has had a history of run-ins with the law; a few days after the murder charge, he was once again before the courts charged with marijuana possession.

Rihanna has also had a troubling couple of weeks of bad publicity (is there really such a thing in the entertainment world?) of a different stripe. First, there was the unfortunate choice of what to wear to church in Brazil. Then a case of over-exposure in Northern Ireland. Most recently, in her interview appearing in the latest British Vogue, Rihanna professed her affinity for the “c-word” and declared that her fellow Barbadians use the sexual expletive in conversation as they would breathe air. This past June, Rihanna signed an exclusive multi-year contract with the government to promote Barbados tourism; she was previously proclaimed a cultural ambassador-at-large for the country.

[via JamaicaObserver.com]

The potential headaches involved in managing one’s brand ambassador may be a relatively new challenge for Caribbean companies but is not a novel one for the marketing profession. This past March, for instance, the American insurance company Aflac decided to part ways with comedian Gilbert Gottfried—the voice of the Aflac duck mascot in its famous TV commercials—after he posted online jokes about the Japanese tsunami. And, of course, Tiger Woods became the instant-classic case study of how personal failings led to the unwinding of his lucrative endorsement contracts with GM, Accenture, Gillette, Tag Heuer and AT&T.



Businesses have sought out the patronage and endorsement of the rich and famous for centuries, going back at least to the origins of the royal warrant. Today, brands recruit celebrity spokespersons and ambassadors— most often from the worlds of music, screen and sport— for the prestige, media attention, fan base and increased sales that they can bring. It’s important that the stars align: that the anointed one’s own personal brand be compatible with the values and aspirations of the business brand. The objective is, ultimately, that the minds, hearts and wallets of many new customers will be drawn into a profitable orbit by the gravitational pull of the new star; while, hopefully, the appeal of both brands is enhanced by the relationship.

In return for the financial reward, the brand ambassador is expected to represent, to endorse and promote the brand—to use or wear its product, star in its commercials or media, appear at its corporate events, tweet about it, or by any other means that the company’s marketing team can dream up and get written into a contract.

A brand, however, does not dictate how an ambassador lives their life and cannot be responsible for everything that they say or do. It therefore has to be prepared to take protective action if its representative unwisely begins to “do foolishness”. The brand will want to avoid contagion by association; protect its reputation with customers and the marketplace; and evaluate the value it is receiving for its endorsement investment. If necessary, contractual escape clauses will have to be invoked. It is most likely that Gilbert Gottfried was swiftly let go by Aflac not so much because his tsunami jokes were in questionable taste but because a huge chunk of the company’s business is generated in Japan; you do not make light of your own customers’ misfortune.

As marketers, we hitch our wagons to a shooting star and hope for a great ride. But stars do sometimes fall from the sky. And very occasionally, they blow up and self-destruct completely. A supernova is extremely bright and attracts a lot of attention but you don’t want to be standing next to one when it happens (cue footage from the Tiger Woods Story).

LIME made the right decision—and the only decision that it could—to place its relationship with Vybz Kartel on pause until his significant legal troubles have been closed out. In the case of Rihanna, perhaps someone in the Barbados Tourism Authority needs to temporarily recall the ambassador, have a quiet word and remind her that the objective of the relationship is actually to enhance Barbados’ appeal and thus to avoid saying things that will embarrass or damage the brand.

In announcing her endorsement contract in June, Rihanna was quoted as saying: “Barbados is a place like no other and one of the reasons for this is the spirit and national pride of our people.” It’s hard to reconcile fostering national pride with declaring to the world that Barbados is a place whose people love to accost each other in the most obscene way. (Whether or not there is any truth in what was said is not the issue here. The brand ambassador’s role is to portray her product in its best light, not its worst.)

In political diplomacy, a country’s representative is given the formal title of Ambassador Extraordinary. That sums up the expectation in brand diplomacy, as well: counting that the celebrity’s exceptional ability to command the spotlight and influence the taste of the consuming public will help the product to shine so much brighter.

[Rolex.com]

And by the nature of their position—their own visibility, the privilege of being associated with their sponsor, the financial investment involved—the ambassador is justly held to an extra-ordinary standard of performance. The brand ambassador is a role model--for their brand, even if for nothing else. And the job begins the moment they sign the endorsement contract and take the first cheque.

And happily, it seems that, even when brand stars fade or fall, redemption is still possible. Rolex has just embraced Tiger Woods as its newest brand ambassador, paying tribute to his “exceptional stature” in the sport of golf and expressing commitment to him for the long haul. Tiger’s star is ascendant once again. He has only to watch out for the flying hot-dogs as he gains altitude.

Crossing Oceans, Connecting Peoples: Caribbean Marketing Mix, Sept 24

The Caribbean has been the crossroads of world history for 500 years. In this roundup of last week’s marketing news from around the region, we see Caribbean people and brands continuing to make connections around the globe. Our stories link Trinidad to Jamaica to Ghana to England to Barbados to Panama. Follow along.

Brand Bravo. Trinidadian cricketer Dwayne Bravo is seizing the future and shaping what happens next for him after West Indies cricket. Taking his cue from sport celebrities in other parts of the world, he’s about to monetize his appeal beyond the cricket field and develop “Brand Bravo”. He has just released a music video collaboration with Jamaican dancehall artist Beenie Man (and featuring Guyana’s Timeka Mashall), called “Beenie Man & Bravo”. Soon to follow will be his official website and the Dwayne Bravo Cricket Star Search.

[via caribpr.com]

Bravo has certainly been versatile on the cricket pitch, as both a batsman and medium-fast bowler.  He also has been blessed, in my view, with real charisma and star power even from his professional debut. He always exudes a joy and passion on the field, regardless of the team’s fortunes, with a smile nearly as wide as the cricket sightscreen. Recent injuries seem to have sidelined his West Indies team career but he’s bounced back to find favour in the IPL and other Twenty20 leagues elsewhere.

I’d love to—and expect to—see those values of versatility, resilience and passion demonstrated in whatever Brand Bravo ultimately becomes. After watching the music video for “Beenie Man & Bravo”, I predict that Dwayne will most likely focus his brand building efforts in non-musical directions in the future. Anyway, we sincerely wish you tons of success, DB.

[via SFLCN.com]

Jamaica Links. Jamaica is now helping to maintain the connection between the country of Ghana and the Ghanaian expatriate community in Great Britain.

JN Money Services, the remittance arm of the Jamaica National Building Society, has launched a new Ghana Money Transfer brand in the UK, in partnership with the Merchant Bank of Ghana.

Remittances from its Diaspora population remain an important source of foreign currency inflows into Ghana and this service targets the 90,000 Ghanaians living in Britain. National football star and English Premier League striker, Asamoah Gyan, has come on board as the brand ambassador.

JN Money Services has been operating in the UK for over 25 years is said to be the second largest remitter of funds to Jamaica, with branch offices and agents in 12 major cities across England.

[via ChelseaFC.com]

Sporting Barbados. Barbados has just signed a three-year promotional deal with the English football club Chelsea. 

The partnership will give the Barbados brand valuable exposure to Chelsea’s fans in the UK as well as in North America and the Caribbean. There is also a social component to the deal as Chelsea FC and the Barbados Tourism Authority plan to work together on various community projects in the two countries, including coaching programmes.

ECB

Barbados tourism planners have been keeping busy on the field: this football deal follows on from Barbados’ name sponsorship of the national T20 club cricket tournament in England this past summer. The Barbados Cockspur Rum Club Twenty20 competition brought exposure to 750 clubs across England and Wales. Ealing Cricket Club won the competition final on September 19 (beating Chester-Le-Street) and the match was broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Barbados Tourism Authority says that its promotional theme for 2012 will be The Year of Sport: From Grass Roots to World Class, as it plans to leverage Barbados’ impressive reputation for hosting world-class sporting events. So, stay tuned.

Barbados Telecoms. TeleBarbados, a voice and data telecommunications services provider, has launched a premium voice & internet service package for residential users, branded “VIP 4G Broadband”. Bandwidth up to 10 Mbps is available, with unlimited local and long-distance calls to the USA, United Kingdom and Canada.

Panama Silver Men. We couldn’t end this post without mentioning another cross-Caribbean connection—one that also goes across history. Barbadian filmmaker Alison Saunders is preparing to make a documentary telling the story of the thousands of Bajans and other West Indians who migrated to Panama at the beginning of the 20^th century to help construct the Panama Canal.

Panama Fever: A Caribbean Journey is currently in fund-raising and pre-production. It was one of the regional projects selected for participation in the CaribbeanTales incubator held at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Nearly 60,000 “silver men” are thought to have traveled from Barbados to Panama to help build the Canal. Their motivation was economic and the flow of remittances to families back at home helped to stave off poverty and enable a measure of social advancement for tens of thousands of Barbadians.

Alison Saunders made her debut as a feature film writer and director in 2007 with Hit for Six!, a Caribbean drama about, of course, cricket.

Caribbean Marketing Mix, September 17

Here’s our own roundup and commentary on what’s been happening in marketing in the Caribbean so far during the month of September.

BEER OF BARBADOS. Banks (Barbados) Breweries kicked off celebrations of its 50th anniversary on September 6 with a one-day, island-wide promotion on its flagship product, Banks Beer.

Bajans were able to get a cold one for just 50 cents, said to be the same price that a Banks retailed for when the brewery started operations in 1961. Special vouchers were distributed in that day’s newspapers and consumers soaked up the nostalgia at bars and rumshops well into the night—no doubt generating lots of goodwill for the brand.

Banks Breweries has since begun a series of full-page newspaper advertorials that celebrate the company’s achievements as well as its social contribution in areas such as sport, culture and barroom décor, i.e. its calendar girls. (No doubt the company leveraged all of the extra news- papers it helped to sell during the one-day special to help pay for the press.) 

We join with them in saying, “Cheers to 50 years” and look forward to what the rest of this anniversary year will bring.

HEALTHY CARIBBEAN. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition received half a million text messages of support from across the region during its “Get the Message” media campaign to raise awareness for action to combat chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD). The Coalition aimed to mobilize wide social support in preparation for the region’s participation at the United Nations Summit on CNCD’s to be held during the week of September 19 in New York.

JAMAICA TOURISM. Jamaica plans to mount an “aggressive” marketing campaign in China to boost travel between the two countries. So said Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, while he attended the China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Co-operation Forum held last week in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

LIAT CABIN ADVERTISING. LIAT the Caribbean airline has introduced cabin advertising aboard its aircraft. The airline is partnering with Global Onboard Partners, based in Atlanta, to offer clients—such as Dominica’s tourism agency—advertising space on its seat backs. See our earlier post here.

NETFLIX COMES TO THE CARIBBEAN. Netflix launched its internet movie streaming service in Latin America and the Caribbean on September 5. Beginning in Brazil, the company says that it rolled out service to 43 countries and territories during the first week of September. The monthly subscription is US $7.99 (same price as in the domestic U.S.) with a “try before you buy” offer for the first month.

Netflix’s service in the US is reported to already account for nearly one-quarter of the traffic over the internet there during peak times. Will demand here in the English-speaking Caribbean proceed to choke the bandwidth of the region’s telcos (who have their own internet TV services in the works)? How will it impact patronage of local cinemas and DVD sale and rental businesses—both legal and bootleg? And will everything we watch be dubbed into Spanish?

Let the show begin and we’ll find out. (You can read this piece by Michele Marius for more details and analysis.)

REDjet TO JAMAICA. The new low-cost airline REDjet initiated flights between Trinidad and Guyana and announced that it will begin flying to Jamaica from November. Meanwhile, competition continues to translate into better deals for travelers, with both LIAT and Caribbean Airlines continuing to promote their own low fares and discount specials.

RED STRIPE. Beer is hot (only in a figurative sense, thankfully) right now at both ends of the Caribbean. Red Stripe, the iconic Jamaican brand, is shaking things up at home with a new advertising campaign devised by Prism Communications. It’s built around the character RED, a Jamaican brown bear who just loves drinking Red Stripe.

You’re probably smiling at the thought already, and that’s the point. The campaign is meant to be different, funny—have you ever seen a bear bogle to dancehall music?—and it seems to be attracting attention: the Facebook page already has more than 12,000 fans and the series of commercials on YouTube has been viewed thousands of times. RED the bear has his own Twitter account.

Red Stripe is attempting to appeal to a younger demographic and is thus making social media the interactive centerpiece of this campaign. It’s interesting that both they and Banks Breweries in Barbados have each clearly tried to create an appealing and engaging Facebook presence for their brand but have not reflected their new campaigns on their main brand websites. This is a trend that we’ll probably see more of as businesses opt to put fewer resources into maintaining “static” presences on the web.

Here’s my own favourite RED commercial so far but go on and take a look at the whole series:

SCOTIABANK AERO. Scotiabank introduced its AERO Platinum MasterCard credit cards in Barbados, Jamaica, Belize and Turks & Caicos, and Platinum VISA Card in Trinidad & Tobago.The card comes with a new travel rewards programme, AERO* Rewards. Cardholders can earn points that may be redeemed for not only air miles—on any airline—but also towards hotel stays, car rentals, cruises and more.