NEW YORK – Almost 5,000 New York area television viewers have flooded WPIX-TV with contest entries, trying to win a trip to Bermuda.
The Bermuda Department of Tourism (BDOT) launched a promotional partnership with PIX11 Morning News April 20th. As of April 26th, 4,617 entries had been received.
“The promotion is creating good buzz for Bermuda Tourism in our number one catchment area,” said Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, Minister of Tourism and Transport. “Having Bermuda’s scenic beauty play out in moving pictures and sound, during a non-commercial segment, is a winning marketing strategy. Our team in New York has done well to secure this outstanding placement.”
No BDOT advertising money was used to secure the giveaway partnership with WPIX. The trip giveaways were made possible with the help of private sector partners at JetBlue and the Bermuda Hotel Association. Meantime, BDOT paid for the travel of a WPIX crew to visit Bermuda to capture footage and interviews being used in the promotion.
Since the start of the promotion one week ago, on air mentions of Bermuda during the PIX11 Morning News and station commercials have resulted in an estimated audience of 1.17 million viewers and an estimated media value of $10,000.
The underway promotion will also run in May, July and November. Each Friday in those months one lucky PIX11 Morning News viewer will win a trip to Bermuda.
“This is a great partnership for us,” said Billy Griffith, Bermuda’s Director of Tourism. “WPIX is rewarding their viewers with the chance of a fantastic trip to Bermuda and our tourism product is getting outstanding exposure in the New York market. We are very pleased with this arrangement.”
Only regional morning news programming was suitable for this kind of trip giveaway, according to Tourism officials. ABC, CBS and NBC all interrupt their regional morning programming in New York to air national morning shows – namely, Good Morning America, The Early Show and The Today Show.
“Partnering with one of those national programs defeats our purpose of reaching a pure New York audience,” Mr. Griffith explained. “WPIX was an obvious choice. They are local all morning long and show a strong commitment to the New York area. Customers who want local New York news are also the people we want to attract to Bermuda. It’s a perfect match.”
