Puerto Rico Sunshine: A colour magnet for tourists

As the world starts to come to terms with the yo-yoing Covid pandemic, many countries have already started to kick-off innovative tourism campaigns to invite back overseas visitors and to revive their ravaged economies.

Discover Puerto Rico, the island nation's Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), announced last month that it had partnered with the Pantone Color Institute to create a first of its kind colour inspired by the hue of Puerto Rican sunlight. Puerto Rico Sunshine, a colour created by Pantone, has been developed based on the findings of Puerto Rican physicist and Professor at the University of Puerto Rico Hector J Jimenez, PhD, who calculated the colour of sunbeams using various existing models of the solar radiation and the atmosphere at different moments throughout the day in several locations throughout the Island.  The entire effort is directed at attracting tourists from the United States. Those looking to incorporate a dose of tropical warmth into their lives will be able to purchase the limited edition Puerto Rico Sunshine paint, an eco-friendly water-based paint that uses sustainable ingredients, from South Carolina-based ECOS Paints.

The colour Puerto Rico Sunshine is a deep orange, encapsulating the optimism and passion of the islanders. Puerto Rico Sunshine is, in fact, described to be “an exuberant and exotic vibrant red-orange hue” with warmth, excitement, and zeal for spontaneous adventure. The shade not only exudes the tropical climate of its native country, but also brings to mind characteristics the community is known for. Pantone’s colour specialists detail their creation with the description — animated in style with an enticing allure, glowing sun-kissed Puerto Rico Sunshine … celebrates the warm and welcoming spirit and the joyful disposition of this splendorous natural paradise. Now, that is certainly high praise.  

The entire colour and paint project is aimed at reminding tourists that the island’s tropical charm is just a short plane ride away. As for those who can’t travel yet, they can still use the colour to warm their home interiors and offices — with the paint constantly reminding potential tourists of the promises the island offers. The campaign entails also a sweepstakes that will treat one participant and a companion to an all-expenses-paid vacation at Puerto Rico, which includes JetBlue round-trip tickets and a stay at the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve. Small enticements yes, but nice baits nevertheless.

Meanwhile, last fall, the Icelandic tourist office launched what it called “the world’s first human search engine” — a cheeky promotional campaign that invited visitors to ask a real-life, honest-to-goodness person in Iceland any travel questions they may have about the country. Instead of “Googling” their question, for instance, the tourist office suggested why not #AskGudmundur, one of the most common first names in Iceland, claimed by more than 4,000 men and women out of a national population of 329,100. Throughout the campaign, tourists were able to direct their travel-related questions to seven specialists who shared the first name Gudmundur and lived in one of seven regions of the country. Questions about the weather, dining and local activities could be asked via social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube with the hashtag #AskGudmundur.

Iceland, in fact, has a long standing tradition of personalising their tourism campaigns. In 2011, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson famously issued an open invitation to visitors for a pancake breakfast at the presidential residence as part of a tourism campaign that encouraged locals to likewise open up their own homes and offer an authentic local travel experience to tourists. Expectedly, the campaign was a super-hit.

So cheeky and fun is Iceland’s tourism board that it released a satirical ad mocking Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and Meta last November. In the video, Iceland’s tourism authorities introduced Mr Zuckerberg’s Icelandic alter-ego, Zack Mossbergsson, played by Icelandic actor and writer Jorundur Ragnarsson. Mr Ragnarsson donned a long sleeve black T-shirt similar to the one Mr Zuckerberg wore while rebranding his flagship Facebook and imitated the chief executive’s speaking style. The video “Inspired by Iceland,” invited people to be part of the “Icelandverse,” a new initiative with “enhanced actual reality, without silly-looking headsets.” Not surprisingly, this too was a smash hit on the internet.

As the third Covid wave appears to abate, it may be the right time to start thinking about welcoming foreign tourists back to India. The moot question, however, is whether showcasing forts, temples and palaces or highlighting sun-soaked beaches and snow-clad mountains in an Incredible India ad is good enough any longer to entice the global tourist.

A married couple from Sweden, who had never visited Ireland before, wore custom-made tech to track their physiological responses on their trip around the country. Heart monitors were linked to head cams and the data from the heart rate monitors was used to determine what footage would feature in the advertising. What resulted was the much applauded Fill Your Heart with Ireland campaign.

The writer is managing director of Rediffusion