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Editorial page
BERMUDA SPORTS
BRANDING OF BERMUDA PT. 1
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As a tourism destination there are many ways to market and promote your country to attract visitors to your country. There is print, radio, television, and multi-media marketing strategies via social media. There is also something called ‘Sports Tourism,’ which can be looked at in two different ways. The people of a country can market and promote their country through cultural, musical, and sporting activities or Government can choose to use their country as a host for international sporting events.
Either way, these are all marketing strategies, and I am of the opinion a government that believes in, support and builds an infrastructure to market its country through its people, offers people the opportunity to be proud of themselves and it is much more cost effective.
Bermuda, for reasons that only the Government can speak to, has always chosen to market the country by using the country as a host for international events. Over the years, we have hosted the PGA Grand Slam, XL Tennis, The Rugby Classic, and the America’s Cup (Sailing) and many other events. We spent $77 million on the America’s Cup to host it for six weeks and believe that the expense is justified because the TV coverage and exposure was worth the monies spent.
If you compare this marketing strategy to, let us say Jamaica, who invest in developing an infrastructure for their athletics and music industries, the monies spent compared to the return on the investment is ‘apples to pork chop’ and the enduring effect just continues over and over. Firstly, Jamaica has several sports programs within the school system to uncover the talent within the country, like’ the annual inter-school athletic event ‘Champs’ that scouts and develops Jamaica’s future Olympic athletes. This is the infrastructure in which Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Yohan Blake, Brianna Williams, and hundreds more have come through. They are not making an appearance for their country in the Olympics, they are setting world records, bringing home gold, silver, and bronze medals, and attracting tourist to Jamaica where they get to see and enjoy the hometown of these great athletes.
Usain Bolt ran in three Olympics before retiring and his status is that of a Global Icon. Tourists and Jamaicans alike still ‘flock’ to Jamaica to see the humble beginnings of Usain Bolt, the house he grew up in, and the community that nurtured him. Tourists capture the moments in photographs, one of the highlights of a visitors’ trip to Jamaica is that there are huge photographs of Usain and other athletes on the walls of the arrival corridors in both of Jamaica’s airports and most visitors take the opportunity to capture themselves with Usain/Shelly/Elaine in ‘selfie’ mode. The purchase of memorabilia depicting Jamaica’s International Athletes and Top Musicians is ‘a must’ on most visitors’ departure from Jamaica.
Jamaica’s athletic program does more for everyone in the country, from the athlete, the tour bus operator right down to the man-in-the street, everybody benefits. If you look at Bermuda’s appearance in the 2021 Olympics with Dara Alizadeh, who is now an Olympic Sculler, I do not want to be rude or disrespectful, but I am yet to find one person who knows anything about him in Bermuda, so who will be coming here to take pictures and buy a T-shirt of an athlete that the people who he represented do not know.
I would like to close with a quote from His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, a leader who also built the infrastructure for investing in the people of his country.
The greatest natural resource of a country is its people, whenever mention is made of the country, it is the people who are referred to as the country.
Is Bermuda its people or is it the destination? Is it time to rethink how we market our country and attempt to adapt a tried, tested, and proven marketing approach?
Ras Mykkal October 2021
