New St. Maarten Campaign Emphasizes the “Maagic”

St. Maarten is focusing on the variety of experiences that vacationers enjoy with a new branding campaign that captures the “feeling of the experience” that visitors elicit during their stay on the island. When announcing the new branding campaign for the destination at an event held in New York City last night, St. Maarten Commissioner of Tourism Frans Richardson explained that the concept behind the branding can be summed up with one statement: “It’s all in our name.”


Working with the spelling of “St. Maarten,” the just-launched campaign will capture audiences across North America with positive adjectives purposefully misspelled with “capital double ‘A’s” followed immediately by the words “St. Maarten.”

The campaign identity, created by advertising agency Tambourine, will be visible in all logos, videos, print and outdoor advertising, specialty marketing items, brochures and stationery as well as an image gallery that features all new photography from an extensive on-island photo shoot recently completed by Tambourine.Adjectives will constantly be changing depending on the focus of specific ads.  For instance, when promoting St. Maarten as a wedding and honeymoon destination, an ad may read: “PAASSIONATE ST. MAARTEN.”  When conveying St. Maarten as an active vacation playground, an audience could see: “PLAAYFUL ST. MAARTEN.”

A just-launched public relations campaign to promote winter specials for vacationers is using “SENSAATIONAL ST. MAARTEN” to capture the extraordinary deals that are now available.
Other words designed for the campaign include: MAAGICAL, GLAAMOROUS, CHAARMING, and ENCHAANTING.

The branding campaign is part of an overall new marketing strategy being launched under the direction of Frans Richardson, the new Commissioner of Tourism, which coincides with the hiring of KTCpr, headed up by long-time Caribbean marketing and public relations specialist Richard S. Kahn. The new branding will encompass advertising, public relations, marketing and sales as well as a new website.