Tourism shells out $35k on Mariah Carey
The Tourism Board is aggressively moving to be more than a line in a song in Mariah Carey's next album, shelling out $35,000 for a feature in her album's unprecedented product placement booklet. It's a magazine/ album business model creating waves as the pop-star gears up to release the much-anticipated "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" in stores this month.
Tourism's plug will be one of many, with several other products also moving to reel in the hundreds of thousands of fans expected to paw over the never-before-done album booklet. It's the kind of buzz the Ministry is hoping will result in an increase in visitor arrivals - and maybe even second-home sales.
"What we're basically doing is inserting into the album cover talks about Eleuthera being her favorite place for vacation," said Nalini Bethel, head of External PR. "We're doing a trip giveaway. She has so much appeal, such a huge fan base and we are attempting to get her fan base to register to win so we can capture that data for re-marketing purposes."
Bethel, in an earlier interview, said the economic downturn in the U.S. has affected travel to this destination and that it will take a lot of advertising and creativity to get Americans to part with their money in such tough economic times.
The album's booklet has already stirred interest in the industry, with talk of many other artists looking to follow suit based on the success of Carey's foray into the "unventured" arena. It is being touted as a possible savior to slumping album sales in the download era. The returns on Tourism's investment will best be noted by the number of Carey-singing fans dancing through the airport's doors this fall and winter. (Nassau Guardian)
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