As week two comes to an end marking the halfway mark of our experience here on Sint Maarten, I can confidently say that I will be walking away with experiences of a lifetime.
At the beginning of the week, we presented our client profiles on Vacation Sint Maarten. While I focused on their competition I researched and learned a lot about the neighboring islands Anguilla, St. Barth’s, and Saba. Whether you are looking for a deserted beach in Anguilla, a hike through the mountains of Saba, or experience the high-end life on St. Barth’s there's a little bit of everything when you travel to the Caribbean. This makes for a great selling point for tourist marketing especially since you can ferry to and from any of these islands.
This week a group of us decided to venture back to Philipsburg. We went to see Juggie, our friend we made week one, at “the smallest bar in the world”. I noticed that he had a bra chandelier week one but didn’t look at it too hard. This week I noticed an article hanging with them where it stated, “saving the juggies one bra at a time”. For each bra donated to his chandelier he donates five dollars for breast cancer awareness. Juggie started this campaign in 2014 and has donated over $2000 to the foundation. This hit really close to home for me since my mom is a breast cancer survivor.
My final project group and I have decided to make our target audience cruise ship goers that come to the island. I was able to interview a few people while we were in Philipsburg since a ship had just docked that morning. At first, I thought a lot of people would decide to look for excursions when they disembark from the cruise ship, but I found that is not the case. One of the couples I interviewed told me that they like to stay on the cheaper side and don't look for excursions; they just want to get off the boat and walk around. I think that would be something to investigate when strategizing ways to get more people to come to the island. Advertise the cheaper options that will intrigue publics such as these and even look into new activities that could be offered where the price is appealing.
My favorite excursion of the week was touring Topper's Rum Distillery. It was an amazing experience to see how they ferment, cook with their rum, bottle, and seal. During the tour the guide mentioned that every bottle that is distributed is bottled here at the distillery in Sint Maarten. I think that is an amazing way to build a more interpersonal connection between the buyer and the seller. It adds value to the product of the marketing mix through a more personalized marketing technique. It gives an outlet for meaningful content to be shared to the customer, which in return gains trust and influence.
We had the pleasure of meeting Topper himself and his friendly and inviting demeanor added so much to the experience and his brand altogether. I loved how he just hung around and walked about as if he were at his own home (which he pretty much is). He could be anywhere else enjoying himself on the island, but he chooses to be there. I think this shows the customers who make their way into the distillery that not only are you coming in to taste Topper's Rhum, but you're coming in to enjoy the atmosphere, have a meal, try rum infused gelato, etc.
I can't believe that we are already halfway through this learning experience, and I can't wait to see what more I will learn in our final weeks!
-Sierra Sohn
Comments