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The destination and the publication remained the same, but visuals, words and call-to-actions all changed dramatically in that time.
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- The first ever Bermuda ad appeared in The New Yorker in 1926.
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- This Bermuda ad appeared in the magazine in 1933.
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- This ad, which appeared in 1947, highlights honeymoon activities and includes a letter from a newlywed to her friend vowing to return every year.
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- In 1958, the ad’s main call to action was, “Tell a travel agent,” or to write its tourism board’s office in Chicago.
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- This Bermuda ad appeared in The New Yorker in 1962.
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- This ad from 1970 keeps with Bermuda’s primary messaging, which touches on the warm weather, golf, and boating activities.
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- In 1983, Bermuda goes all in on family marketing with several photos and quotes from the featured family.
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- This ad, which appeared in 1993, was the first to suggest readers call 1-800-Bermuda instead of writing their office in Chicago.
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- By 2012, Bermuda drops all mentions of travel agents, addresses and phone numbers. It simply lists its website gotobermuda.com.
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- The most current Bermuda ad appeared this month in The New Yorker.
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- Its primary messages of clean air, outdoor activities, and proximity to New York have remained the same for the past 90 years.
Bermuda recently dug into its archives and pulled out 90 years of tourism marketing.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority is one of the advertisers that signed up for The New Yorker’s 90th celebration with a two-page spread in the new magazine. It also shared one of its New Yorker ads from each decade, starting in 1928, with Skift for a look at the evolution of print advertising.
The ads transition from text-heavy pages that suggest readers visit their travel agent or write a letter to the island’s tourism office in Chicago to large images with a simple website underneath.
The country’s messaging has remained relatively the same throughout the years with a focus on its blue skies, sea and land sports, and close proximity to New York City.
It’s expressed this through different campaign themes including “Let yourself go” and “Feel the love.”
In 2012, the Bermuda Department of Tourism hoped to expand its visitor base with a $4.8 million campaign that promoted the cultural and culinary attractions of the destination. The campaign’s theme “So much more” was hoped to reinvigorate the island’s tourism economy.
The next year it was announced that the government-run Department of Tourism would be replaced by an independent tourism authority, a result of the island’s 2012 Tourism Plan.
The new organization the Bermuda Tourism Authority was live by January 2014. The organization is a few months past its one-year mark and it’s strategizing ways to make Bermuda relevant to a new generation of travelers. In addition to The New Yorker ads, it’s also rolling out social media campaigns and looking at on-the-ground development.
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Photo credit: The latest Bermuda Tourism ad to appear in The New Yorker. Courtesy of The New Yorker