The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) has incorporated
local rising star, Rihanna, in its overseas advertising campaigns
in the USA market. According to BTA Vice President for the Americas,
Bill Silvermintz, Rihanna has been a dream to work with.
Rihanna has been taking the world by storm following her seemingly
overnight rise to stardom and has successfully brought several aspects
of her Barbadian life in her music videos. In addition she showcased
the island by use of Barbadian costumes and flags at her performance
at the MTV Awards pre-show in Miami last year.
What is very important is that she has not charged for her appearances
in these ads & only because she loves her country, said Silvermintz.
And she has gone way above and beyond t he call of duty, even with
her hectic schedule; she never complains.
She just represents her country so well. The advertisements
featured here show her posing on local beaches and hotels and are
being run in several established print magazines across the US.
These include Travel Agent, Luxury Travel Advisor,
Food + Wine, Conde Nast Traveler, Agent @ Home, Travel Savvy, Travel
Weekly, Food + Drink, Cheesecake Factory Menu ads, Miami Herald
and Nautical Quest Magazine.
Silvermintz explained the mo tivation behind using Rihanna: Rihanna s
presence in the advertisement campaign seemed to fit perfectly. The idea
was that she is a shooting star, not a super nova that would just burn
out, but a new galaxy. Furthermore she is Barbadian and it seemed logical
to use her image. She is our Bob Marley.
Silvermintz added that Rihanna has had broad appeal across the US, gaining
interviews on television shows such as Regis & Kelly, Ellen DeGeneres
and the Today Show. All of these TV shows have audien c es in 25 54 age
group, which coincide demographically with the BTA s target market in
the US.
Rihanna is also featured in a television ad, the foundation of which was
a sample from her music video to the hit song If It s Loving That You
Want . We c hos e that song based on the main line share my world stated
Silvermintz. We felt that the song did a great job at tying in the US
branding tagline of experience the authentic Caribbean inviting the public
to share in the authenticity of Barbados. We als o excerpted a part from
the video where she waves her finger in a beckoning kind of manner .
The television advertisements have been run so far on Boston on WHDH (NBC
Channel 7), WBZ (CBS Channel 6), New York on WNBC (Channel 4), WNYW (Fox
C han nel 5), WABC (Channel 6), Philadelphia on WPVI (ABC Channel 6) and
WTXF (Fox Channel 29), Miami on WSVN (Fox Channel 7), WTVJ (NBC Channel
6) and WFOR (CBS Channel 4).
Additionally the same TV ad featuring Rihanna was edited to feature more
golf f oota ge an d was aired on both ESPN and ABC network throughout
the PGA Accenture Match Play Golf Championship during the week of February
20th, 2006.
In July of 2005 Rihanna performed at her first Barbados event during the
Mercedes Benz Bridgehamp ton Polo ev ent. This coincided with the launch
of her first album. Def Jam President, Jay-Z, was also present.
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