GlobalHue's Weird Bermuda Ad Expenditures

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  1

  Bermuda Lizard

  04/07/09 | Report as spam

  RE: GlobalHue's Weird Bermuda Ad Expenditures

  Bermuda Tourism has been so badly managed for the past 25 years. It is a political trophy for the reigning party in power. Bermuda has lost over 50 hotels, and has virtually no entertainment on the island. The nightclubs are non existent.
  For years I have called for the privatization of Bermuda Tourism. Then and only then can we come up with a VISION and PLAN for Bermuda Tourism. Politics, a stroppy labor union and racial troubles have hurt too. The current Premier of Bermuda is vindictive and divisive and really needs to resign for the sake of our country. There are many rumors of "PAY to PLAY" and other strange "Consultancy Arrangements" that also smell of possible corruption.
  
  As a former graduate of the Cornell Hotel School I am shocked and horrified at how badly Bermuda Tourism has been managed. A local activist says it all here: http://www.tonybrannon.com/activist.html
  
  One day, and I hope I live to see it, we will see Bermuda return to the golden days of Tourism we once enjoyed in the 1960's and 1970's but it will never happen under the present regime.
  Bermuda Lizard !

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  2

  GHue

  04/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: GlobalHue's Weird Bermuda Ad Expenditures

  
  Mr. Edwards:
  
  This letter is in response to the April 7, 2009, BNet article regarding GlobalHue?s media planning and buying for our client, Bermuda Department of Tourism. We appreciate that you linked to the total expenditure list. Unfortunately, the article itself only focused on specific expenditures found to be ?weird? or essentially those directly targeting African Americans as opposed to the general market. The article completely overlooked the vast majority of expenditures targeted toward other consumer segments. We wonder if these were deemed ?weird? because there is a belief that they would be ineffective in delivering an effective growth in tourism volume and spending in Bermuda. Or perhaps you consider that these ethnic targets lack the interest or ability to travel to Bermuda. Or maybe there is the notion that because Cathy Hughes is a Howard Alumna on the board of TV One and that targeting African Americans may not actually have any basis in legitimate marketing.
  
  The fact is that during the time that GlobalHue worked with Bermuda Tourism in 2006, on-island expenditure increased by $48.9 million (14.3%) in the first year, and another $53.8 million (13.8%) in 2007. The on-island spend in 2007 was over $100 million greater per year than it was in 2005. Clients hire agencies to help them deliver results and grow revenues. GlobalHue has achieved that for Bermuda Tourism.
  
  In regard to the specific media expenditures highlighted in the article, below is some context:
  
  ? Expenditures on Gospel Music Channel and the Baptist Voice represented only 2.2% of the overall media budget.
  
  ? Expenditures on minority-targeted media TV One and Latina magazine represented only 7.5% of the overall media budget.
  
  ? Just $44,983 was spent in bridal magazines. Total magazine expenditures were 29.5% of the overall media budget. It is overlooked that 30.6% of the magazine budget was spent on affluent-targeted categories: 26.4% on the Travel category and 8.8% on the Meeting and Convention category, all general market focused and critical to tourism traffic.
  
  ? Only $308,270 was spent on Time Warner in Manhattan, and only $357,531 was spent in the New York Times. The New York Market received 31% of the total media spend. If you look closely at the expenditure, Time Warner Manhattan represents 21.2% of our total cable expenditures, although their subscriber base of 694,300 people only represent 9.4% of the 7,366,950 people that we were able to target with our advertising in this market. The New York Times represented 52.6% of our overall newspaper spend. A full analysis of these expenditures show that both of these media outlets received a large portion of the budgets devoted to those media outlets.
  
  Lastly, BNet readers deserve to know the actual specifics, and we urge you to correct the incorrect facts found in this article. Don Coleman did not attend Howard University with Premier Brown; he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The article uses this misstatement of fact from an unnamed ?Bermuda Source? to frame the entire argument that media dollars should not have been spent on the Big Apple Classic. The article also inaccurately states that the ads never ran for the Big Apple Classic, although the link to a Mid Ocean News article clearly states that the ads did, in fact, run during this program in 2007.
  
  We write this response in the hopes that, moving forward, BNet will present a more unbiased, impartial and better researched representation of the specifics in this matter. We ask that you print a retraction that clarifies the false assertions presented, as we are prepared to continue defending our rights in this matter.
  
  GlobalHue

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  3

  BNET's Jim Edwards

  04/20/09 | Report as spam

  RE: GlobalHue's Weird Bermuda Ad Expenditures

  @GHue: Apologies for the error regarding Coleman's alma mater. I have corrected the item and added a note in it drawing readers' attention to your comments.
  
  I flagged certain expenditures as "weird" not, as you assert, because they were directed at minorities but because of their disproportionate levels of expenditure.
  
  Bermuda's target market is, presumably, people who are most likely to take a trip to Bermuda. Globalhue spent $44,983 on bridal magazines, where the honeymoon market is, but $200,000 on the Gospel Music Channel. It spent $520,000 on TV One, a minority interest channel, but only $357,531 in The New York Times, which has a massive upscale audience.
  
  I remain baffled as to why GMC was worth more money to GH than the NYT.
  
  Jim Edwards