DoT signs $26M deal with US advertising agency

| 04/02/2025 | 53 Comments
Cayman Islands Director of Tourism Rosa Harris, Cayman News Service
Tourism Director Rosa Harris

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT) has signed a more than $26.2 million contract with Harmelin Media to take care of its US media planning and buying services for the next five years. According to a release from the CIDOT, the Philadelphia-based agency will be responsible for providing “overall strategic guidance, data-driven insight and analysis with both business to business and direct to consumer advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms including digital, print, broadcast and streaming”.

CIDOT officials described Harmelin Media as one of the largest independent media service companies in the United States, with a track record of delivering consistent sales growth for major brands. According to the release, the company was appointed after a competitive tender that went through the procurement office.

“In an ever-changing US media landscape, it is critical that the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism have a US media planning and buying agency that understands not only where our potential visitors are consuming media, but also how to reach them at every step of the decision-making process to ensure that the Cayman Islands remains a premier destination for the United States traveller,” said Tourism Director Rosa Harris.

“Harmelin’s expertise in understanding the US consumer will be crucial as CIDOT looks to refine its advertising mix to effectively target US travellers amongst an increasingly competitive travel marketplace.”

Harris said that Harmelin’s proprietary Harmonee data analysis platform is sophisticated and built to provide market consumer intelligence.

“The Harmonee platform set Harmelin media as the top bidder due to the firm’s large investment in technology solutions and impressively offering an in-house team led by their chief of technology and amplified with a director of digital services on the day-to-day team,” she stated.

“The Harmelin bid and positioning with a technology and data-driven solutions approach to media buying and placement gave Harmelin a significant competitive advantage in the procurement project.” She added that the ultimate goal is to deploy an innovative media plan to deliver incremental growth and untapped new audiences to continue to increase visitors to the Cayman Islands.

Harmelin’s president, Mary Meder, said Harmelin has fallen in love with the Cayman Islands. “The Harmonee tools we’ve built are perfect to address CIDOT’s need to ensure every dollar is expertly invested to maximize the number of visitors to the islands and their length of stay,” she said.

“Specifically, our Helix analytics platform will merge CIDOT’s customs and arrival data with publicly available travel sources to hyper-target the right communities across the right media channels with the right frequency.

“We have a long history of driving visitation growth for tourism destinations, and we’re excited to put that experience to work for CIDOT. We take very seriously the responsibility to grow tourism that CIDOT is entrusting us with, and we look forward to a long and productive partnership,” Meder added.

The contract award comes in the wake of concerns raised by the offshore sector that despite the huge disparity between tourism’s contribution to the economy and the far greater funds that the financial services sector generates for the economy and government coffers, as well as the number of local people it employs in higher paid jobs, the government has shortchanged the sector when it comes to promotion and marketing.

Speaking at the recent Chamber of Commerce Economic Forum, Cayman Finance CEO Steve McIntosh said the industry body had made strides in raising the profile of the financial services sector, but it needed more support.

“The challenge is not having fear to speak the truth. We must avoid the trap of failing to support our own financial industry,” he said as he called for increased investment. “Without these investments, we cannot sustain, let alone grow, our success,” McIntosh warned.


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Category: Business

Comments (53)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    It baffles me sometimes how articles are written out of context and nothing is ever given the full picture or background. This sometimes lead to a misunderstanding of the true story. In comparison to other jurisdictions the is nothing in cost, especially over a multi year period. The amount in question is part of an annual budget for other places.
    How would the public suggest marketing the Cayman Islands which leads to contributions in their industry and the many lives it impacts

  2. Anonymous says:

    Weeks before an Election, why are we GIVING Tens of Millions
    $$$ to
    Overseas Tourism Contracts,
    Pirates Week Drone Show overruns,
    Vanity Parks and Shakey Brac School Foundations??!
    Surely every cent of our public money must be accounted for.
    Did Biden grant them all
    Immunity from Prosecution also?

    10
  3. Anonymous says:

    Why didn’t we use this $26M to payoff Dart for the Mt Trashmore dump collapse?

  4. Anonymous says:

    Flights are full, hotels are full, attractions are overcrowded. 💡let’s spend $26 million on marketing 💡

    16
  5. Anonymous says:

    That’s enough for a couple of decent players for Portsmouth FC.

  6. Anonymous says:

    I smell a rat! People of George town I hope you remember Kenneth Bryan spent $6 million on a park which could have provided many homes for caymanians, he crafted up the failed Barbados/Cayman Airways destination, the failed bus transportation, supported the indgeo divers fiasco, promoted his wife’s business as a government official, purchased the cayman reef resort property and nothing done for caymanians to use and $26 million with a usa based company…..enough is enough, this man and juju not protecting caymanians.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Anyone else notice all the wordy statements she has made actually say nothing at all to justify it?

    16
  8. Anonymous says:

    “Specifically, our Helix analytics platform will merge CIDOT’s customs and arrival data with publicly available travel sources to hyper-target the right communities across the right media channels with the right frequency.”

    Read that carefully. That tells you everything you need to know about the word soup propaganda which has been sold to CIDOT. Well, at least Harmelin Media has a shiny website. $26M buys a lot of bling.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    If only the finance industry could get a similar level of support

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  10. Anonymous says:

    I’ve always supported Rosa, but this is absolutely ridiculous! There is no way to justify the spend. She should resign and take Kenneth Bryan with her!

    40
  11. Anonymous says:

    How much do we spend on airlift markets that aren’t carrying Americans? Going all-in on America right now is a bit nuts. Tariffed Americans threatening to steal sovereign land to build “Rivieras”, will likely want to stay home for a generation. You can almost hear the European vacations canceling.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    couple of obvious questions:
    how much was last deal?
    what do other similar sized juristictions spend?

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    • Anonymous says:

      There have been many boondoggles in recent times, from Sponge Bob, to free ice cream giveaways, to Game of Thrones lizard nightmare ads with <500 views…the DoT is a bad idea machine.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    i’ve got a bad feeling about this…..

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  14. Anonymous says:

    What does CIDOT do then if all of the marketing is outsourced? Isnt the whole point of CIDOT to market Cayman?

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    • Anonymous says:

      They can’t even pick up the phone to call the airline reps to clarify the atlas name of the jurisdiction, or explain the customs immigration process/paperwork, duty limits, drug, gun and ammo prohibition, and/or advise existence of multimillion dollar machine readable passport kiosks. What do we pay them to do all day, everyday, full time for years? What is that work?

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      • Anonymous says:

        “ The Captain is preparing to land in The Grand Cayman Islands”.
        You would think that DOT could have educated just the flight crews of the correct name we go by , but no , this announcement has been going on for 40 years that I know of . Beyond cringeworthy …

  15. Anonymous says:

    Current airlift is at capacity, most hotels and condos are sold out through busy season, what is the purpose of this ad spend?

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  16. The Rogues’ Gallery of the Cayman Islands says:

    In the light of that the customs and border patrol data will be shared with the advertising agency, it isn’t a big stretch of the imagination to see the following appear in the future:

    CAYMAN CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION
    🚨 Rogue Identification and Declaration Form 🚨

    (To be completed in triplicate. Use only blue ink. No erasures allowed.)

    Are you the Adeptus Ridiculous? (Circle one)

    ☐ Yes
    ☐ No
    ☐ Define “Ridiculous”

    Are you the Secretary to the Ambassador of Absurdistan?

    ☐ Yes
    ☐ No
    ☐ I plead the Fifth

    Does your gaze melt absurdity on sight?

    ☐ Yes, and it scorches logic into existence
    ☐ No, but I dabble in sarcasm
    ☐ Only when aimed at press conferences

    Does your capacity for satire, humor, colorful imagery, and jokes melt brains of lesser life forms (including but not exclusive to donkeys, iguanas, toaster ovens, kitchen appliances, and politicians at 33 Fort Street)?

    ☐ Yes
    ☐ No
    ☐ I plead the Fifth

    Do you have Eureka moments?

    ☐ Yes
    ☐ No
    ☐ Daily—sometimes before breakfast!

    Who designed this questionnaire?

    ☐ The Donkey
    ☐ The Greatest Spaghetti Monster of Pastafarianism
    ☐ The Ordo Xenos
    ☐ Grogg The Ork
    ☐ The Ministry of Silly Walks
    ☐ The Secretary to the Ambassador of Absurdistan
    ☐ Cayman’s Pet Shop of Dead Parrots

    INSTRUCTIONS:

    • Submit original form at the customs desk.

    • Keep duplicate copy in your passport at all times. (Do NOT laminate!)

    • Present triplicate form when exiting the island, unless confiscated for security purposes, eaten by the donkey, or ‘archived’ in the Department of Incompetence at 33 Fort Street.

    🚨 Failure to comply will result in the confiscation of all wit, humor, and ability to identify satire in public discourse. 🚨

    FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

    CBP Officer Notes:

    🔍 Detected Excessive Sarcasm:
    ☐ Yes
    ☐ No

    🧠 Subject Shows Symptoms of Critical Thinking:
    ☐ Immediate Detainment
    ☐ Close Surveillance

    📜 Final Decision:
    ☐ Approved for Entry
    ☐ Denied for Excessive Ridicule

    PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF TRAVELER (Please check all that apply.)

    Head Section:
    ☐ Normal
    ☐ Bald
    ☐ Green

    Torso:
    ☐ Normal
    ☐ Green
    ☐ Multiple Prosthetic Limbs

    Legs:
    ☐ Normal
    ☐ Green
    ☐ Multiple Prosthetic Limbs

    Feet:
    ☐ Normal
    ☐ Green
    ☐ Multiple Prosthetic Limbs

    (Failure to declare additional limbs may result in immediate detention for further inspection by the Department of Unnatural Appendages.)

    📢 Certified Absurd by the Ministry of Silly Walks & Bureau of Misguided Affairs

    Disclaimer: While the characters depicted are purely fictional, the level of this present bureaucratic overreach happening right now is unprecedented and unfortunately very real ! We can only hope that the above only serves satire and offers a smile to the reader !

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  17. Anonymous says:

    So we the tax payers are spending 26 million to advertise for the rich hotel owners while or people know want

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  18. Anonymous says:

    Isn’t DOT a MARKETING AGENCY?!? So they’ve hired someone to do their jobs for them! Can’t make it up!

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  19. Anonymous says:

    ANOTHER ONE WOW. SHOWS A SHEER INCOMPETENCE OF THE DEPARTMENT AND MINISTRY.

    3rd company in as many years

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Seems like a reasonable waste of money. SMH

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  21. Anonymous says:

    So how much custom Cayman branded swag is included in this contract? A new 5 year unlimited wardrobe of drapery and accessories for JuJu and Rosa certainly can’t cost that much, can it. But I guess a million yards of cloth and several hundred cow hides can be costly.

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  22. Anonymous says:

    More waste .. at least they are consistent.

    30
    • Anonymous says:

      It’s Rosa…she can’t be fired for some reason. The ACC should really be looking into these wild contracts.

      17
  23. Anonymous says:

    Love to see the business case for this. If not mistaken it is a requirement under the procurement law. Time for an FOI.

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    1
  24. Anonymous says:

    Was there really no Caymanian owned marketing agency that could have handled at least part of this contract? Honest question..if the DoT is outsourcing such a major project to a U.S. firm, then what exactly are the employees of the DoT paid to do?

    Meanwhile, parents are worried about their children’s education and future job security. Yet, the CI Gov somehow has the budget to send millions overseas instead of investing in our own people. No sah! How much longer will we accept this kind of spending from our public purse without demanding answers???

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    • Anonymous says:

      For 25 million you could fund an entire god damn marketing business for a decade or so. Jesus. What sort of investment fund is this and what equity is Rosa buying or accumulating in said business? Follow the money.

  25. Anonymous says:

    There’s a money tree behind the GOAB. I heard it was maturing just before the last elections but with all the shaking since, it’s drying up.

    22
  26. Anonymous says:

    With SMB destroyed, the horrendous traffic and the dump forever growing, spending $26M in advertisement is going to finish the Cayman Islands for good

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  27. Anonymous says:

    WTAF? The government spends 25 million a year on DOT to make 40m in arrival tax (at least 30% of which is business travel), and then gives CAL a subsidy of $25m supposedly to support tourism.

    I make that a $22m net loss.

    There are about 2,500 Caymanians in tourism, so they’re each getting a subsidy of about $9,000.

    Thinking about it, if the industry contracted by 50%, wouldn’t those Caymanians still keep their jobs? We’d just lose a few thousand permit holders.

    I don’t get it.

    47
    • Anonymous says:

      Your numbers are off.

      You forgot the other CI$15m “equity investment” in CAL (subsidy by another name) and $10m subsidy for the turtle farm.

      Oh, and there is also some money for tourism buried in the $10m Sister Island budget separately, call it $4m.

      There are quite a few other smaller amounts for tourism dotted around the annual plan.

      Back of the envelope I’d estimate it to be a $60m net loss.

      20
    • Anonymous says:

      Isn’t some of that air arrival tax residents? We pay airport taxes too.

  28. Anonymous says:

    USD or KYD? $26mln is an insane amount of money, what are the deliverables for that investment? How much must we spend to get the airlines to figure out what our destination is called, and how to say it? What does Rosa do? Does she have a phone?

    36
  29. Anonymous says:

    Marketing in 2025 doesn’t cost 26 million.

    56
  30. Anonymous says:

    So, how come Rosa is getting more press coverage than the Minister?

    Clearly the Minister approved this. Minister Bryan picture should be shown instead of Rosa

    20
    9
    • Anonymous says:

      I could happily not see either thank you.

      34
    • Anonymous says:

      Bryan trying hard to make up with GTC people for the 4 years he neglected them and traveled all over the globe.. That’s why my family and I and lots more will be supporting Carmen Mcfield in the upcoming election.

      34
  31. Ruud says:

    5 Years is a long time, I hope there are provisions in the contract to terminate it before the end of the 5 years.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Without penalties

      12
    • Anonymous says:

      I thought no large contracts are supposed to be signed 6 months before an election which is why JuJu had to rush through the signing for the CB school we don’t need.

  32. Anonymous says:

    Are they insane???????

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