The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) will renew its promotional contract with Barbadian superstar Rihanna after it comes to an end in June.
However, chairman of the BTA Adrian Elcock said there was likely to be a change in the structure of the new deal to reflect plans contained in the strategic focus as it related to the restructuring of the agency.
The first three-year partnership between the Grammy Award-winning Barbadian superstar and the BTA began with a concert as part of her LOUD tour on August 5, 2011. As an ambassador for Barbados under the contract, she was expected to exclusively promote Barbados as a destination through advertising campaigns, promotional appearances and via her social media presence.
Yesterday, Elcock expressed satisfaction with the results, telling the Weekend Nation that the exercise had made the BTA’s marketing of Barbados “more vibrant on the digital platform”.
“We have been very successful in positioning ourselves,” he said.
Speaking during a radio interview on the matter earlier in the day he said: “I don’t think it will be renewed under the same terms as it would have been in the first initiative where we would have had major costs associated with initiatives that we explored with her.”
He explained that first contract was “a foundation contract where we were trying new things and approaching it in a different way. Now we have a better understanding of how things have worked and things that may not have been effective, we could be more targeted and more focused in our approach . . .”.
The BTA chairman also suggested Rihanna had indicated her willingness to continue to work for Barbados “with or without a contract” and he said: “I think it would be a mistake not to be in an arrangement with her at this time.” (GC)
