Fox Kalomaski

Ask anyone to list five tropical island holiday experiences and it's likely they'll choose something like Barbados, the Seychelles, the Malidives, Bermuda and the Caribbean.

The Bahamas, with 700 islands and cays nestling at the top of the caribbean, rarely gets a mention. This is due largely to confusion and a lack of awareness of the destination among consumers and the UK tourism industry.

The Bahamas Tourist Office in the UK has set itself the task of putting the islands on the map by revealing the individual characteristics of Nassau/Paradise Island, Grand Bahama Island and the Out Islands, through the stories of the real people and adventures that can be discovered in there.

The creative challenge was to express the great number of stories the Bahamas has to tell in a single concept, while getting away from conventional beach-and-sea images. Our solution was to find and reveal a range of real Bahamian characters, each of whom features in different advertisement that personalises and dramatises the story of a different island.

So we embarked on unearthing the first of these stories and it wasn't a hard task. In fact, it's difficult to visit the Bahamas without meeting many larger-than-life personalities and being inspired by the colour, sounds, smells, tastes and visual feasts that make the Bahamas unique.

We uncovered dozens of stories, made many friends and learnt that each Bahamian island offers something truly unique.

It was easy to hop around the islands using either Grand Bahama Island or Nassau/Paradise Island as a base and every story we were told by a local began with a huge smile so we couldn't help but love the people and the places we visited

Back in London, the team started to plan a 10-day shoot in the islands to bring the stories and the characters to life. The campaign breaks this month, launching with a new consumer website and updated training information for the travel trade at bahamacademy.co.uk.

The stories will unfold in the form of a poster campaign across the UK at railway stations and on London underground, supported by national press advertising, specialist consumer press and trade press activities, radio promotions and online marketing.

Bahamas Tourist Office director UK, Europe and Asia Karen Seymour said: "The diversity of appeal that our islands possess is almost beyond imagination. Once the stories are out there we believe that UK consumers will want to know more about holidaying in the Bahamas and we're here to help the trade learn, understand and sell more in the time ahead."

Gary Jacobs,

chief executive

Fox Kalomaski

Excerpt from Travel Weekly

Consumer price perception is real – in the eyes of the consumer – but is not necessarily borne out at the point of sale. In retail, the temptation today is for premium brands to compete with discount stores .Such an urge to descend into an unseemly gutter brawl is damaging to the premium brand value and based on the assumption that you have to pander to consumer perceptions. The need is to communicate a VFM/quality/service message revealing that discount stores do not actually give better value.  Consumers are misled (or mislead themselves) into getting what they pay for at discount stores.

And just because there’s a recession doesn’t mean that shopping has to be a bad experience – shoppers will always appreciate good service. So, savings are exaggerated and not worth the culture shock of poor surroundings and service. To abandon the principles that created a great brand is to abandon the future of the brand. But in the travel trade, by contrast, with a different sales structure, it’s the opposite story. Many want to fly on an economy airline but no-one wants to fly on cheap airline that can go bust and leave you stranded. Or use a bucket-shop holiday package firm with the same result. Travellers want the reassurance of strong travel brands or brands that have recognised protection from the likes of ATOL. Also, travel agents are the front-line retail protectors of consumers from such mishaps – these high street specialists are much more unlikely to go the discount route for fear of the immediate dangers to their customers.

The essential difference here is that in travel, consumers stick with brands they trust, while in retail, consumers are tempted to abandon brands they trust. At the same time, premium retailers themselves contemplate ditching the very characteristics that generate trust. And, of course, travel consumers have got much more to lose if they book a £1,000 holiday through a cheap operator as opposed to switching from a tin of Heinz beans to a discount store own brand. So, a new marketing strategy is required for premium retail brands to capitalise on what makes them respected: value + quality + service = trust.  The need is to change consumer perceptions of value, because it’s a long, slow climb back from the gutter.

The Bahamas is launching a campaign to encourage tourists to continue visiting the luxury destination despite the looming recession.

The ads, which break this weekend, aim to give the islands "a character and personality" to get the destination on people's agenda for their next holiday. The campaign is aimed at ABC1s and pre- and post-family consumers across the UK.

The campaign, which will run across press and outdoor, will show local people telling their stories about the islands. The campaign has the strapline "In the island of the Bahamas, every story starts with a smile".

A spokesman for the Bahamas Tourist Board says: "For the first time, the ads will break its conventional beach-and-sea images and feature real paople who can take holidaymakers diving, golfing and snorkeling."

The ads will break in the national press, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Observer. An outdoor campaign will run on London Underground and network rail stations, and there will be ads in travel magazines, on travel websites and radio.

In 2007, the Bahamas received about 45,000 UK holidaymakers. This campaign aims to maintain this number as it fears that consumers will opt for cheaper holiday destinations in the economic downturn.

The campaign is developed by The Bahamas Tourist Board's creative agency Fox Kalomaski.

Excerpt taken from Marketing Week.

Fox Kalomaski, the destination marketing company for travel, retail and leisure has produced a campaign that has won a prestigious OZcar award for Austravel, Australia’s Travel Company of The Year 2008.

Austravel scooped 4 awards at Tourism Australia’s ‘OZcars’, including ‘Best Regional Campaign’ with Fox Kalomaski’s creative work in radio, press, metro and shop posters for Etihad Airways which flies from Manchester to down under.

Fox Kalomaski Director, Nicola White, comments, “For Austravel to be awarded these accolades as a result of our work, and to achieve the Ultimate OZcar of Australia Travel Company of The Year is a tremendous compliment to our team.”

Austravel’s Marketing Manager Laura Southwell adds, “I am delighted with the consistency of the delivery of strong creativity and understanding of our market demonstrated by Fox Kalomaski.”

Every year, Tourism Australia celebrates the excellence and achievements of the tourism industry in selling and marketing of Australia through its OZcars awards

FOX KALOMASKI LAUNCHES TV-LED CAMPAIGNS FOR 2 TOP REGIONAL CENTRES

£5 MILLION + NATIONAL ANNUAL EQUIVALENT SPEND

Fox Kalomaski, the destination marketing company for retail, travel and leisure, launches TV-led campaigns this week for two top regional shopping and leisure centres, reaching millions of affluent consumers.

The centres are Princesshay, which was launched last year and has transformed the city of

Exeter, and thecentre:mk, Milton Keynes, the leading attraction of its kind in the north Home Counties and south Midlands.

see the Princesshay TV commercial

see thecentre:mk TV commercial

The TV campaigns are supported by press advertising, direct marketing and online communications targeting ABC1 consumers within both of the two cities and throughout the wide hinterland of these prosperous regions.

Stephen Fox, Managing Director of Fox Kalomaski explains, “Both centres offer by far the best shopping and leisure experience in their regions. With a daily diet of negative economic news, the need is to persuade the target markets outside the core catchment areas that the journey to each centre is justified.”

TV advertising will appear on Anglia West for thecentre:mk, media buying is by AMS and above-the-line expenditure is the national annual equivalent of £2.5 million. Princesshay's annual national equivalent on West Country TV of £2.6M is through Mediaedge.