Like our parents waiting for the Captain Midnight decoder ring, we have been checking the box for weeks waiting for our Soggy Dollar Painkiller membership kit. It just arrived! We are truly special people now. We have a special “Club Member” card that gets us 10% off at the Soggy Dollar store, a Soggy Dollar bumper sticker, some literature reminding us that we’re Soggy Dollar members, a Soggy Dollar Lance Armstrong-like wrist band that says Soggy Dollar Bar on it, some more stuff that says Soggy Dollar all over it, and… get this…free use of the tanning facilities! It says so. Right there in the brochure. We are truly Soggy. Jealous? Well, okay. Here.
The tourism folks’ marketing campaign this year is very slick. Credit goes to NY ad firm M Booth & Associates, whose clients range from Ben & Jerry’s to American Express to MGM Mirage. Here’s another piece of the marketing package, aimed mostly at travel agents and planners, and tradeshows.
This is Jade Anderson narrating a scrapbook from her recent travels through the VI’s. It’s long, but it’s fun to watch, plus you get to listen to Jade’s sexy voice. And since you’re here, that means you’re not all that busy right now anyway.
Here’s a brand new music video the USVI tourism office is releasing to promote the islands featuring the hot Jade Anderson as part of this year’s new marketing push. Enjoy Jade’s video, “Meant to Be” today. Her scrapbook tomorrow! (Did we mention she’s hot?)
Ever wonder where USVI tourists come from? Beverly knows where to spend the time marketing. See her answers, below.. (And tomorrow, check out the incredibly beautiful Jade Anderson!)
Why are we so Tourism Commission happy all of the sudden? A couple of reasons the biggest one being we went to a party and had lots of free rum punch.
But also because we learned lots and really never gave much thought to what kind of marketing these islands, all of them in the whole chain, must have to do. It’s a pretty competitive world out there in corporate and travel industry America, and elsewhere in the traveling world.
When WAPA is going broke and former senators are going to jail and the Constitutional Convention only attracts four people it is kind of hard for us to think that anything really works - other than blenders and outboards - in the USVI.
We’re impressed with the tourism commission. It’s got its act together. And we just wanted to tell its story.
Plus we’re about to spend the next couple of weeks running around the island for you after six dreadful, tie-wearing, weeks away and this stuff helped fire us up.
How do you keep the USVI on the minds of travel agents and reporters who are bombarded with glossy, slick marketing campaigns on a daily basis? Hire a talented ad firm and make yours just as slick.
And then find a charismatic front person to be the one who delivers the message.
That would be USVI Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty and we’d guess she spends more time on the road promoting the U.S. Virgin Islands than she does getting to enjoy them.
If you own a t-shirt store or a restaurant or a villa or boat rental business, this is the person who is ultimately responsible for bringing you new customers. And we think she’s doing a great job.
We caught up with her at a USVI reception for the press and travel industry folks at the swanky Park at Fourteenth in Washington, just three blocks from the White House, and we learned a lot about this year’s marketing campaign. We’ll share some of it with you this week…and post some of our conversation with Beverly too.
We’re guessing Jen isn’t interested in selling her Wrangler anyway. No vanity plate, but it’s Virgin Islands slapped all over the rest of it. She wants a vanity plate though, and says she wants it to say “PIRETTE.”
Jen Coffman lives in Clear Lake, Iowa which is a long way from St. John. How far? Getting your mail in Cruz Bay in January looks nothing like this.
This sign is now tacked on to the old Pickle’s building in Coral Bay. The Lilly’s Market folks are advertising “Coming Soon! Gourmet Market .”
We’d ask Lilly’s owner about it, but he is out of the country having a baby. (Actually his wife is having the baby.)
We do know this much from multiple layers of third party confirmation (two phone calls)…the Lilly’s Market at Cocoloba is not closing, so the Lilly’s empire appears to be expanding. As soon as dad is back, we’ll try to find out what’s up.
Can that possibly be? St. John Brewers is three years old. Short notice, but there’s a birthday party tonight. (Details above.)
Ginger Beer and Root Beer have been their latest creations, and now they’ve brewed up an energy drink. They call it Green Flash.
“We thought the name sounded like quickness, or alertness, which is what an energy drink does,” says Kevin. “It is also a nod to that mysterious green flash when the sun sets into the ocean and emits the famous green flash.”
The quickness and alertness comes from a healthy dose of caffeine and vitamin B.
Want to get really fired up? Have them serve you a “FlashBomb.” (Green Flash and Jagermeister.)
To the outside observer, this may not look like much, but to those of you who’ve strolled through the little park by the tourism office in Cruz Bay, you’ll notice a big improvement. Fresh paint, new gravel, a few plants. Looks very nice.
And on the tourism building white board, underneath the schedule of events, are the words “Ask For Your Free Festival Poster Inside.” So there you go. Hurry, while supplies last.
Here is On-StJohn.com reader Bud Shuler’s current plate, posing next to his first generation SJ USVI plate.
“One time we were driving along the interstate on our way to lunch in South Haven, a car passed us honking their horn and waving. When they went by we saw their US Virgin Islands plate on the back, and three or four grinning faces in the rear window,” he writes.
Those who contributed to yesterday’s post mostly just posted text versions of their plates. There were some great ones.
Here’s a proposal. GO TAKE PICTURES OF THEM. Email them to us (info@bluetangproductions.com) and we’ll make a some sort of image of them all you can download as desktop wallpaper.
After this, soliciting USVI plates. There are some great ones. Here’s one of our favorites.
On-StJohn.com reader Joe Jackson sends this picture of his weekend vehicle at the Jersey Shore. Joe says this was his second choice. His first choice, “Cruz Bay,” was taken. Somewhere in New Jersey there’s a car or truck running around with plates that say Cruz Bay. If you spot it, tell the driver that’s supposed to be Joe’s.
Got a vanity plate inspired by St. John? We’d love to get a look at it.
