A few minutes ago the new and improved curacao.com went live. Contrary to popular belief here in Curacao we did NOT design this website. The new curacao.com is completely the work of the TIG Global Destination Marketing team. DGF has been involved with the content and defining the ways of advertising on the site, but that’s about it for our work.
Note: if you still see the old website, don’t fret. It takes a while for the ISPs around the world to update their caches. This should not take more than 24 hours.
The first thing you notice when you see the new website is that it’s big and bold. The colors are vibrant, the font is large and the buttons are big. The new design captures not only part of the spirit of the island, but it also speaks to what people expect of a Caribbean island. No classical symphonies and sipping grappa in a garden here; this is salsa and cocktails on the beach.
Besides a great design and tons of content, the new website also has some interesting features. With the booking widget tourists can instantly book their trip through Travelocity, with the Vacation Matcher they can get hints about what to do on Curacao, with the discussion boards they can give each other tips and the list goes on.
Yesterday the people of Curacao voted on ratification of the autonomy deal Curacao’s government made with Holland. In a very tight race the “SI” option won, allowing the restructuring process of the Netherlands Antilles to move forward.
The choice was limited; “SI” or “NO”, but the last few weeks the referendum was about the only thing people could talk about. We followed the discussions and campaigns in the newspapers, on tv and radio and -of course- online.
This referendum was the first major political event on Curacao that saw the battle being waged on the internet alongside the traditional channels. So, what happened online? Read the rest of this entry »
The other day we came across a video on YouTube about how Sears - apparently - sucks. The video is some guy ranting in his kitchen about Sears’ customer service. It’s done in a very simple way (it looks like he put his camera on the counter top) and nothing much is going on in it. Just 1 guy raving about his dishwasher….
The reason I’ve placed it here is the amount of views and comments this video has gotten. At the time of writing this video was viewed 32,847 times and got 263 comments. Even worse (for Sears that is); when you search on YouTube for Sears it’s in the 8th place (in 5th if you search for Sears dishwasher). And if you search for a Sears dishwasher in Google there are 3 results on the first page with complaints about Sears.
I don’t know Sears intimately but my impression of the company right now is not a very good one…
This week Washington is the scene of HSMAI’s Leadership Conference. At this conference chapter leaders from around the world come together to meet each other, discuss common issues and invite renowned industry leaders to share visions and best practices on key hospitality issues.
At last night’s “Best of the Best Awards” Gala HSMAI Curacao’s Director Steven Damiana and President- Elect Rosann Jansen were awarded with the best Small Chapter in the categories of Websites, Communications & Customer Interaction Program.
We are very proud of the HSMAI Curacao Chapter for this superb achievement and we’re doubly proud because DGF built the website and our own Bo Loefstok-Schillemans is VP of Communications at HSMAI Curacao.
Just like in the rest of the world Twitter has grown exponentionally on Curacao. Over the last 2 months dozens (hundreds?) of people here have opened a Twitter account and are happily micro-blogging/twittering away.
One of the latest additions to Twitter on Curacao is the local radio station Dolfijn FM. They inaugurated their account today under the moniker @dolfijnfm and appear to be very enthusiastic about it. They even put a widget with their updates on their website the same day.
This afternoon we suffered an invasion at our office. They weren’t little green men or the police but something much more sinister; the Kooyman Gifts & Garden Wedding Fair Invitation Team!
The reason they invaded our, already pretty chaotic, office was to deliver VIP invitations to their Wedding Fair opening on April 3rd. To get some promotion going for this fair they put two beautiful people in a wedding dress and tuxedo, hired a big Lexus and went to the media and their contacts.
This is a really good example of creating some good buzz on a local level. Sure, you can only reach so many people in a day this way but these people all tell their friends, blog/twitter about it, put it on FaceBook, etcetera. The word-of-mouth factor is not to be underestimated when you do something original like this.
Update: the Curacao Treasure Hunt campaign is finished. Once all winners have been contacted a list of winners will be posted on curacao.com here: Treasure Hunt Finalists. The list will appear in the week of June 15, 2009.
Coming monday Curacao’s largest marketing campaign in the US to date will be kicked off. The campaign is called the Curacao Treasure Hunt and participants have a chance of winning a trip for two to Curacao every day as well as the buried treasure of $500,000. That’s half-a-million bucks!
The idea of this campaign is to raise awareness of Curacao in the US market. The lack of awareness and name recognition has been a problem for Curacao in the US for a long time. Since being aware of a destination is the first step in booking a trip this has held back visits from the US in the past. With this new campaign the Curacao Tourist Board aims to not only increase the amount of US visitors in the short run but also in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week, we entered the world of research…
We were taken through rooms full of bottles with crazy things in it, bones of giant whales used as chairs, stuffed animals as decorations and last but not least, a very distinct species of the homo sapiens: researchers!
Luckily we met the nice kind; they welcomed us and showed us all the necessary, interesting and wonderful work they do.
I’m talking about the people of Carmabi.
Carmabi is a foundation that researches, protects and maintains a lot of nature areas and reserves at Curacao. They also educate children, which is very, very important to preserve nature on this island and preserving nature is very, very, very important for tourism. Who wants to visit a dry, desert like island shattered with trash?
Through my former job, at an eco-tour-company, I really saw how important it is to maintain our island. I also learned how beautiful our island is. We have many natural treasures no amusement park can beat.
At Dragonfly Media, all of us are member of the HSMAI (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association) Curacao Chapter.
The Chapter organizes various events throughout the year, for its members.
For the event on March 26, the topic is: ‘The Tenacity of Tourism: How to Thrive on Turbulence’
Dr. Ryan Peterson, Dean of Hospitality & Tourism Management Studies at the University of Aruba, will be guest speaker for the Curacao Chapter, and will talk about global economic turmoil (incl. recession) and competitive turbulence, how this impacts (island-based) tourism economies and destinations, why the Caribbean should get its ‘tourism act’ together, what the strategic capabilities and essential competencies are of thriving in competitive turbulence, and what tactics enterprises and executives can (and should) consider adopting.
This event will be held from 5:30 - 6:30 PM at the Flamboyant Center at Breezes.
Tickets are available at the CHATA office, Kaya Junior Salas 1, phone 465 1005, or van be reserved by mail: info@hsmaicuracao.org.
HSMAI members pay Naf 50,00
NON- Members pay Naf 75,00
HSMAI student member pay Naf 25,00
ALL other students pay Naf 35,00 Read the rest of this entry »
As an internet marketing agency, we search the web on a daily basis, looking for information that could help our clients and us, to gain more exposure on the web. One of the sources we frequently visit is the website for Hotel Marketing. This website provides tons of information about online marketing for the hospitality.
The times are tough, although Curacao is still a very popular vacation destination for various markets (Royal Dutch Airlines KLM is adding 30% capacity to their flights to Curacao!), we need to stay alert.
We highly appreciate this article posted by Hotelmarketing.com on February 20th, ‘Top 12 Revenue Management Initiatives for 2009!’, the 4th initiative reads:
Treat your third party Internet partners as an extension of your revenue team. Strategic relationships with your third party Internet partners are important, now more than ever. In bad times, as in good, treat your third party partners as an extension of your revenue team. Good market managers have their fingers on the pulse of the overall market and can provide great insight into broader trends that you may not see.
Share need periods, discuss production targets and how you can work together to achieve agreed upon goals.
when those targets are met and have open discussions when there is a shortfall.
Re-evaluate your distressed/last minute channel strategy based on feedback from your market manager and the needs of your hotel.
Research if there are any sites that can drive business into your market with which you do not currently work.
