• by Larissa Faw , December 3, 2018

The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism is relaunching a marketing campaign to encourage winter travelers to consider  St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas as destinations. The original flight was placed on hiatus due to the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

The "Real Nice" creative, developed with AOR  J. Walter Thompson Atlanta (JWT) and local Virgin Islands company FilmVI, provides an inside look at the Virgin Islands lifestyle.

Spots are in rotation across eight networks: CNN, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Fox News, Hallmark Channel, Investigation Discovery, TLC, and Travel Channel.

In addition to  $2 million allocated for TV ads, $500,000 will be allocated to digital advertising and social media. Another $350,000 is earmarked for a social media program to promote hotels and resorts accepting vacationers; and the remaining budget will be directed to cooperative marketing and print advertising.  

The marketing campaign is expected to deliver more than 150 million paid media impressions as well as increase traffic to VisitUSVI.com.

An influencer component will host a number of writers for upcoming events, including the upcoming agricultural expo Agrifest in February as well as a territory-wide volunteerism trip, "girls getaway" and social influencer trips throughout 2019. The VI Tourism Department believes that a similar influencer program last year resulted in almost $100 million in public relations value.