Fresh from inking two US marketing contracts, together valued at $12.3 million, the Department of Tourism is seeking to hire a public relations firm to develop a strategy for the UK and European tourist markets.
The tender, which has been posted to government’s procurement portal Bonfire, seeks “critical services for Public Relations in UK and Europe for a period of five years” for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.
The contract would run from 1 Sept. 2024 to 31 Aug. 2029, with the scope of work being reviewed and confirmed annually between the DoT and the winning agency.
DoT stands by US contracts
The Cayman Compass has reached out to the department for comment on this new contract and is awaiting a response.
On Thursday, the DoT issued a statement standing behind its contracts with Grey and Praytell, saying it looks forward to showing the public the “results of the approved annual advertising investments”.
It said that, with its budget allocation remaining the same, it has continually sought ways to maximise funds and modernise the way it does business.
“We were able to find cost efficiencies by taking expiring contracts with USA, UK and Canadian creative agencies and replacing them with one creative agency, to achieve one global retainer fee instead of three,” it said.
The DoT said its most recent contracts were the result of a robust procurement process governed by the law.
“The cost of the contracts publicized is representative of the total value of the contracts over a five-year period and should not be misconstrued as a one-time or one year investment,” it added.
The new global creative agency, which was awarded to Grey at the cost of $9.5 million will be tasked, it said, with creating one brand campaign “that will resonate with visitors across all our source markets including Latin America”.
“In addition to creating the brand campaign [both] agencies are also responsible for managing our presence over thousands of advertising placement channels and producing all advertising mechanicals needed to fulfill our advertising plan globally,” the DoT statement said.
Controversial sponsorships
The DoT’s UK and Europe pursuits came under fire last year, when Adrian White, Cayman tourism’s marketing director for the UK and Europe, left that post, months after a Compass investigation revealed his role in a suspect sponsorships arrangement.
Records obtained by the Compass under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the department had paid out more than half-a-million dollars in taxpayer funds as sponsorships to UK-based sports teams, in an apparent effort to boost visitors from Europe.
Old Cranleighan Hockey Club, one of the teams sponsored, was a recreational field hockey team, with no fan base, linked to White.
Department of Tourism officials said they were unaware of the links between White and the club, which had been receiving $10,000 a year from government for the three years covered by the FOI response, until the Compass investigation, which was published last February.
There was no indication from the DoT of any disciplinary action taken as a result of the issues flagged by that investigation.
Building Cayman’s luxury brand
The request for proposals is the latest move from the Department of Tourism to enlist the support of international agencies to expand Cayman’s reach as a “global luxury brand”.
On 14 June, the DoT announced contracts with US creative agencies Grey and Praytell to develop Cayman’s brand as a luxury vacation destination.
Grey was awarded a $9.5 million contract to be the DoT’s global creative agency of record, while Praytell inked a $2.8 million deal to serve as its US public relations and influencer agency.
The value of the latest public relations contract being sought has not been disclosed, as it is still open for tender.
According to the request for proposals documents, the firm will be required to “research and develop the most appropriate needs to move the Cayman Islands to a leader in the travel and tourism industry, with comprehensive methodology aligned with Cayman Islands business objectives”.
Scope of work
The firm, the RFP said, must offer a European perspective for developing and executing a global public relations strategy to create “successful consumer and trade communications and consumer PR campaigns that would be used across all channels of the European marketing communications mix”, according to direction from the DoT.
The firm will also assist in increasing destination visitation as well as awareness in general and “assert Cayman’s position as a leading luxury international tourist destination”.
The scope of activities contained in the document include media relations, travel trade and consumer publicity, crisis management, dealing with social media influencers, and meetings with journalists.
The public relations firm will provide copywriting and editing services, including researching and drafting up to four speeches per year on behalf of the Department of Tourism spokesperson, as well as writing press releases and providing assessment reports of coverage on the Cayman Islands.
The firm will also handle the department’s social media in the UK and Europe, which includes developing and implementing a strategy for the Europe Visit Cayman Islands Facebook page and monitoring posts and comments.
The request for proposals document also notes that agencies already working for a tourism stakeholder within the Cayman Islands or for a direct competitor of Cayman will not be considered.
National airlines and major accommodation chains closely associated with other countries in the Caribbean, and Central and South America, will be treated as competitors.
The deadline for submissions is 3 July, with agency interviews planned for the week of 22 July.