Jamaica hires firm to rebrand image

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The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica, widely regarded as one of the world’s most upstart countries compared to its size and relatively small population, will spend millions on a campaign to rebrand its image away from a tourism destination offering visitors a chance to enjoy sun, sand and the sea.

Worried that the image of a nation of just under 3 million is now beginning to be known for undesirable things, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the plan to hire an international firm to help with a rebranding exercise to promote the island more for its cultural and other gifts, including the ease of doing business.

“Jamaica is known for some other ‘Ss’ — other than sun, sea, and sand as well,” Holness told a tourism sector event in the past week. “We want Jamaica to be known for safety and security. We want Jamaica to be known for sustainability and seamlessness. We want Jamaica to be known for service and satisfaction, and we always want Jamaica to be sexy.”

He argued that the country has the raw materials to rebrand, but chose to engage an international firm to help ensure that a plethora of developments, cultural happenings, and the spectacular growth of the tourism sector had to be recognized.

“The government realizes that we have to be very clear about the message surrounding Jamaica, and so, we have hired an international consulting firm to help us with our nation branding, because we recognize that what is being said about Jamaica and what is known about Jamaica may be dated, and may not always be accurate,” Holness said. “I want to point this out to you today: that Jamaica is being very proactive and very strategic, and instrumental in ensuring that the brand Jamaica remains a powerful and strong brand in the market, because after all, that is what brings the visitors here and that’s the foundation of our tourism product,” he declared.

It is not clear if the PM, whose governing Labor Party (JLP) is trailing the main opposition party in the polls before general elections next year, is worried about the island’s association with marijuana cultivation and as one of the weed-smoking capitals of the word. “Jamaica has always been a global beacon of cultural influence and natural beauty, yet the breadth of our brand potential remains underutilized,” he said. “Through this initiative, we aim to develop a cohesive nation brand that reflects our strengths and achievements, and will allow us to unlock new opportunities for growth and development.”

The move to try to sell a new Jamaican brand to the world comes as the island is set to play host to a record number of visitors this year, bringing in more than $5 billion in revenues. Sector Minister Ed Bartlett said that 2024 is likely to close out with about 4.5 million tourists. He said that number “would be the highest in our history,” as will be the revenue the country will earn from the lifeline sector.

“Since COVID, the recovery has been so strong, but not complete until this year, 2024, when the world will see 1.5 billion visitors traversing the world and (spend) US$4 trillion. In 2019, 1.4 billion people traveled across the Earth for touristic purposes, and spent US$3 trillion; and then COVID came and all of that was eviscerated, and we went to zero, zero, zero everywhere, almost. And Jamaica, because of you, the tourists and visitors, will make new records, too — small increments, but it is important over last year,” he said.

Staying on message, Holness noted that time has taken its toll on the Jamaican brand that most people know, and that it is time for a change because images and stereotypes about negative aspects he did not name have “started to mean things that could be detrimental to us … We say we have this large creative industry, but we haven’t really managed to monetize it, and we need to be able to properly identify and define it. We are going through this process of rectifying, restructuring, redefining who we are as Jamaicans and what it means to be Jamaican. There are some things that have crept into the meaning of the brand that we really need to find a way to get out of the consciousness of people when they hear about Jamaica. Crime and violence is obviously one of them,” he said — the country averages about 1,300 murders per year.

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