est. 2007

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“Barbados: Feel Free” Tourism Slogan Gets Support

Submitted by Peter Lawrence Thompson DLP Tourism spokesman Richard Sealy is mistaken. He leaked the report from the Hilary Beckles led committee to come up with a new tourism slogan in the hope of embarrassing the Government; however the committee has actually done an amazingly good job. See Link to Nation newspaper story – Sealy:…

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Submitted by Peter Lawrence Thompson

DLP Tourism spokesman Richard Sealy is mistaken. He leaked the report from the Hilary Beckles led committee to come up with a new tourism slogan in the hope of embarrassing the Government; however the committee has actually done an amazingly good job.

See Link to Nation newspaper story – Sealy: Slogan an embarrassment

I actually feel that I owe Professor Beckles and his committee an apology because I stated publicly that they were not up to the job, having little relevant expertise among the unwieldy membership of 18. Sorry Dr. Beckles.

They came up with three alternatives; “It’s A Bajan Thing”; “ Live Like A Bajan” and “Barbados: Feel Free”. This reminds me of the oldest consultants’ trick in the book: make three suggestions of which two are so obviously garbage that the client has no choice but to select the third.

The third suggestion, “Barbados: Feel Free” is a better tourism slogan than any we have ever had in the past. In fact, it is one of the best I have ever encountered globally. Let me explain.

A slogan needs to follow the the guidelines below and be:

  • Brief
  • Memorable
  • Allusive (because it needs to mean subtly different things to different segments of your audience)
  • An appeal to emotion (because buying decisions are all made with the emotions and then rationalised intellectually afterwards)
  • A call to action

If you doubt me just take a look at the most successful marketing slogans of our lifetime:

  • Nike – Just Do It.
  • Apple – Think Different.
  • Wendy’s – Where’s the Beef?
  • Coca-Cola – Open Happiness.

Each one follows the guidelines that I pointed out.

“Barbados: Feel Free” is better than any tourism slogan that we have ever had. “Feel Free” is an explicit invitation to drop by for a visit, and it is the sort of relaxed invitation you extend to social equals: to family or close friends. The feeling of freedom appeals to every psychographics and demographic because everyone invests it with what feels like freedom to them. It can appeal to locals as well as visitors because that feeling of freedom is aspirational for every human being.

282 responses to ““Barbados: Feel Free” Tourism Slogan Gets Support”

  1. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    I am still trying to work out how questioning decisions made by others in the centers of influence, can be described as being in search of a utopia. It’s a very specious response to serious attempts at trying to discover how we are led , be it by public or private individuals , associations and groups; political or otherwise, that we equip with a vast amount of power.
    I am yet to read any evidence , anywhere ,where those seeking change , were in search of any utopia.
    In many cases they were fighting for basic rights that if ignored , would have evolved into catastrophic results. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus, illustrates this point. She was not in search of any utopia and certainly knew there was discrimination being practiced elsewhere.
    It’s therefore important that those who continuously critique and ask questions are not intimidated by others who say there is no utopia.
    Quite frankly many people within their own existence believe that they are rather close to their personal utopia and they should not be condemned for such a feeling .
    I have a friend, who has worked his backside off in the cold harsh realities of a foreign land. Now close to retirement , he lists the simple pleasure of bathing early on mornings at his favorite beach , as his number one priority when he returns home. I don’t think he he will condone any scoundrel robbing a returning national: retiree or any citizen, but he will scarcely put that occurrence up front in making a decision whether to return home.
    He understands there is no utopia and he certainly is not looking for one but he will be very dismissive of those who seek to remind him of this known reality every single day.
    We all know there is no perfect place any where on the globe. We all know that there are problems every where. I think Rosa Parks knew that as well. She just wanted to sit wherever she pleased on a bus.
    Almost forgot that Blacks in our own country could not walk about Belleville and Strathclyde but we live and have businesses there now. One time we could not vote unless we had land. We vote now . Still no utopia but the struggle continues. Just like it does everywhere else.

  2. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I care very little for the B vs D exchanges. I am doubtful if the range of our political discourses can be expanded in anyway.

    What I deeply care for are the ordinary men and women who worked hard, made serious sacrifices, scraped and saved to hold on to a penny and are then cheated by thieves who exploit a flawed system.

    Knowing that someone has suffered a similar fate in China, France, UK, USA or anywhere else does not give me solace.

    Why must my standard be that of worst level of misery and poverty that exist elsewhere?

    Why must my table be bare whilst other suck on the bones of a fat chicken that was stolen from me?

    Why can’t I keep the fruit of my efforts? Why must I now work with a system that has no intention of making me whole again?

    Why must I be silent and support the sham story that all is well, there is a system working to help me.

    Hell no!

  3. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ TheOGazerts
    Personal choices are just that and we need to respect them. And that’s the problem. Simply because one person has found a comfort level somewhere , it does not mean others will. And vice versa.
    However, I learned a very long time ago that if you asked us about bad roads , we would ask you if you ever went to some other island and saw the roads. We never wanted to focus on the bad roads that were mashing up our car shocks.
    That kind of reasoning has always been a problem and unfortunately it presents a very safe haven for visionless politicians.
    Any problem is usually answered thus:
    We know we have problems but when we look at what’s happening in …………….
    If one preached Back power , they were told to go back to Africa. If you admired Castro , we would tell you to go and live in Cuba and line up for food. The same Cuba that sends us nurses now.
    If we questioned the distribution of wealth, we were told that the “ white people”ain’t do we anything.
    And we never address how we are going to solve our problems. We get away with it very single time.
    Peace.

  4. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Speaking of fraud because the living is hard at home and abroad ..
    Once upon a time in a magical utopian Queendom called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland an old priest went away to do some business work for his boss man up above in the sky so high, but he then he received communication notification information from somebody who contacted in his neighbourhood, that just the other day his manor had been sold to somebody else, when he returned forthwith back a yard at god speed, a jack living in his home told him to go forth and multiply and he is now the rightful owner and the king of his castle. Bobby Blue at the Babylon Station in uptown top ranking told him this was a civil matter mate and they could do sweet Far Kaall about it. This story was printed in a Fairy Tale Book called The Times this week.

    Have A Happier Morning With This 10 Minute Qigong Routine ☀️😊

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDqbj9p6maQ

  5. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    1/1
    The last comment.
    There are millions of hot stoves all over the world. The only stove that can burn me at this moment is the one in my home.

    I don’t care about the others.

  6. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    1/1
    The last comment.

    You are such an anal bitch..
    you remind me of ugly Hal..
    from Austin, Texas, USA…

  7. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    You need to check yourself! Most of us are not watching your marbles. We make our own.

    We are not all thieves in Barbados! The way you guys talk, it is as though we are ALL waiting to rob you.

    It is bloody awful the way you talk about us.

  8. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @555
    😀
    I think we did x/y before
    Not playing with you anymore
    😀

  9. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Old dude.
    Not much time to make marbles
    Not many more marbles to make
    In watching mode

  10. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Out comes the usual suspect with his usual response.

    I say again- I got tv and I got internet. Just this week I was watching a documentary with some people cominh down with a mysterious disease and being given no help by the wonderful Canadian systems.

    I have a Canadian cousin who was born in Canada, whose mother was born in Canada from Bajan immigrants . He plans to build his house next to mine and come here to live after his grandfather’s death. I gave him the list of woes that you people moan about wrt Barbados and asked him how come he is prepared to leave Canada behind.

    “Everything you have told me about happens here too,” he said. Had not for covid I would I seen him here about three times since.

    Another cousin has two brothers- in- law who were born in Canada but moved here as teenagers. Their brother who married my cousin did so and never left Barbados. The other two moved to Canada. One divorced his Canadian wife, moved back to Barbados and never left. The next brother is up in Canada longing to come back, both he and his Bajan wife. One of their adult children, also Canadian born wants to come with them.

    Now I remember what I always loved about them when we all were in youth group together.

    No bloody pretences like you lot!

    Murdaaaaaaaaah!

    I gone!

  11. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Back to the main topic
    Creating a slogan is a difficult task. I have been trying to come up with my own slogan.

    ‘Rocking and mocking’ is the gold standard and I have been unable to match it.

    Waking and watching
    Waiting and watching
    Help

  12. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I see the poetry
    There are a thousand stories in the naked city
    But only one story matters to me
    It not yours and thine
    It’s me and mine
    A one man show and not a party

    If I am hungry will you invite me to your table
    Or will I hear, “look for work, you young and able”
    You on your sofa watching your telly
    I on the street with a rumble in my belly

    Please, you cannot ease my trepidations
    As we may not share similar conditions
    Let us agree, it’s not between you and me
    Allow me to worry about my own security

  13. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I agree to disagree.
    This is personal for me.

  14. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    2/2

    All y’all Barbajans are so square and uptight and out of sight on this very site that David calls the Barbados Underground.

    The very 1st law that the Republic of Barbados must imminently pass on 1/12/2021 is to free up the herb so Bajans can free up their minds to feel free like the birds in trees.

    They can remove all of their bad energy and karma and start chilling like Bob Dylan puffing the Chalawah like a bonafide Rasta from Jamaica who is chanting and meditating like a Zen Buddhist in a Shaolin Temple to set an example to the next generation in this dispensation to nice up the nation on the radio station with no aggravation or boderation in any competition playing the sounds from the underground.

    This has to be ratified by the brand new President to mash up the Resident on 2/12/2021 which is why we call it a democracy with no hypocrisy.

    Look how long we’ve been waiting contemplating for this moment to arrive.

    Hippy Hooray Babylon Fall Down.

    MANTRA To Remove Negative Energy ( Buddhist mantra purifying karma )만트라 치유 카르마 -咒語治愈業力 Tinna Tinh

  15. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    Barbados …free eggplant with every wrinkle found

  16. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I always say I don’t need herb. I can get high all by myself. But maybe I’ll try a puff, just for kicks when it becomes legal. But it won’t become a habit. I buy a lottery ticket about once every decade for the thrill of watching the draw, so I do not gamble much, I drink just a wee bit more than I gamble and I sex not at all.

    Yet, as you said, I am guilty of being happy in Barbados.

    Not uptight at all. Got a natural high!

    That always gets me cussed but it will not stop me from saying it.

    You also said I am nice. Yes, but not TOO nice!

    Will go low if necessary.

    P.S. Soon I shall be finished mourning for Charlie Watts and my music playlist will take me even higher.

  17. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    That would be an unproductive search unless it is of you on your next visit. I’ll plant a few more for the giveaway.

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    One thing that I am certain of, is that you are sincere in the statements that were made.

    Being at different stages may be why we see things differently.

    I am at the stage where some building and spending have to be done in order to become established on the island. I would compare our situations to a hurdle race where you have a few (or no) hurdles ahead, but I am near the start and groaning as I see the hurdles approaching.

    I have some dear friends in Barbados, some that I would trust with life and money. I also know the saying “trust but verify”.

  19. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    🍆
    I like this guy Lawson.

  20. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    High Society
    You don’t need to wait until “they” pass laws to smoke up the Holy Herb as their laws are stupid and racial designed to keep black and hispanic people down and know their place in the human race.
    It makes them start to think they are equal to white people and it also makes white women want to have sex with them

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Nuhbody en locking me up fuh nuh weed when I have my natural high and I knew from birth that white people hype is nonsense. Being unequal to whites never entered my mind, just as it never entered my mind that I was unequal to a man.

    I was most surprised to discover that some people had other ideas!

    As for the sex thing – I could not care less.

  22. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Ok, because it is you, I will try to explain. A normal response would be some trepidation about ANY relocation after so many years. A normal response would be to investigate what you would be coming home to and weigh the risks.

    Here’s what isn’t normal – to see an article about a Bajan who returned and was defrauded of her pension and exclaim, ” We are prey!”

    Who is we? People who have worked overseas? Are you the only people who are thought to have money in Barbados?

    And the claim is that I cause the division. See how you have already divided us.

    We ALL have to keep an eye out for criminals no matter where we are. My aunt lived in New York. She was mugged. She woke up one morning to find a bullet hole next to her head. She was stalked by a maturbating looney on a train when she first arrived. I never thought, “We are prey!”

  23. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Heather…another useful piece of advice about website building….they NEVER FINISH ON TIME…they are ALWAYS a work in progress…it’s good to know these things…i been working for months and months…and it feels like i just started…

  24. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    couple of thoughts…I think everything should not be left up to the BTA for this tourist share fight every agency must realize that they have a dog in the fight ,a more thought provoking idea rather than a jingle may work better like
    Barbados …home of the first bit coin…pieces of eight. or
    You dont have to go all the way to Ireland to get some black bush…… Barbados liquor board.

  25. David Avatar
    David

    What has become of the slogan?

    HOW GREAT it would have been if Barbados had wooed the world at the recently held World Travel Market in London with a captivating slogan that would entice people to travel here.
    It has now been months that Barbadians have been waiting with bated breath to hear the new slogan since the other one was dumped, and rightfully so.
    I refuse to repeat it in this space. After all the public brouhaha about the slogan, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley pulled together a tourism reboot 18-member committee, led by Sir Hilary Beckles, tasked with coming up with a new slogan.
    Whither that committee? And whither the slogan?
    I have no doubt that Barbados would have put on a show in London to boast of the beauty of this destination and one deserving of being on any traveller’s bucket list. Still, a slogan capturing the essence of all this country has to offer would no doubt have been the icing on the cake. It is unfortunate that after so many months we still cannot come up with a slogan that will sell this country in overseas markets – unless we, the general public, are the ones in the dark.
    As we approach the winter season, which traditionally starts December 15 and is the most lucrative of all for our economy, we need to pull out all stops to get tourists back – those who have repeatedly made this their holiday spot over the years and first-timers.
    We need this if we are to survive.
    From all we are reading, and all that we already know, Barbados depends on its tourism industry to survive.
    Just last Friday we read that the collapse of the industry and its slow rebound have left Government with a near $1 billion financial problem.
    Professor Justin Robinson, a finance expert, said the rebound of the tourism sector was critical to reducing the current account deficit.
    With that news looming, I know the Minister of Tourism Senator Lisa Cummins and her team, as well as the tourism experts scattered around the globe carrying the Barbados flag, have their work cut out.
    Unfortunately for them, some of these obstacles are out of their control as Barbados has suffered the same fallout as other tourismdependent countries across the world. This is certainly not time to sit back and play dead. We need to be moving and shaking this up, all the while coming up with new and innovative ways to get people excited about Barbados.
    Now is the time to see attractive commercials that pull you into the Barbados experience, enticing would-be visitors to come and explore.
    I always remember – and to this day still – being excited every time I saw a Sandals advertisement. The ads were alluring, they pulled me in, they made me see myself vacationing at a Sandals hotel.
    This is the same thing
    I experienced over the years when I saw ads about Royal Caribbean cruises. They always seemed so alluring and inviting.
    That same energy is needed in our ads. We need to get as excited about our own country when we see it advertised in markets abroad and be proud to know that this is where we live.
    Perhaps that is why the hashtag #ILiveWhere YouVacation has become so popular on social media apps like Instagram.
    It’s time to kick-start tourism.

    Source: Nation

  26. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David, FEEL FREE to comment on this law that no normal human being could believe existed in Barbados.

    ” a man could not rape another man ”

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/11/10/ccj-decide-rape-issue/

  27. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    The matter you have highlighted is way above the pay grade of a lowly blogmaster.

  28. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The rape culture is alive and well and acceptable by the court……shameful.

  29. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Kitts is welcoming vaccinated travelers with a new Winter Escape Promotion, giving families the option to receive a free night or two nights when they stay at one of three participating resorts.

    St. Kitts is the larger island that comprises the nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Most notable historically as the birthplace of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, the island offers a rich history and is a burgeoning cruise and tourism destination, offering beautiful ocean views, tropical rainforests and, of course, beaches.

    Travelers can choose to hike around a dormant volcano, visit the Caribelle Batik factory and the UNESCO-designated Brimstone Hill Fortress Park to learn more about the island’s history and culture.

    The Winter Escape Promotion offers a fifth night free when vaccinated guests book four nights at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour or the St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino. Guests to these resorts will also receive free daily breakfast for two.

    When guests stay at the third resort, the Royal St. Kitts Marriott Hotel, they can stay seven nights but only pay for five. The resort offers suites with full kitchens.

    The offer is valid for bookings until December 15, 2021, for travel through April 30, 2022.

  30. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    Is that the slogan Angela…..were not st kitts, my kids fully vacinated are off to the dominican and cancun this month my buddy to barbados in the next few days . I am not so sure just yet about travel but things are opening up.

  31. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Feeling Free
    Free up the Herb
    Soon Come..

  32. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    LawsonNovember 11, 2021 7:53 AM

    Is that the slogan Angela…..were not st kitts, my kids fully vacinated are off to the dominican and cancun this month my buddy to barbados in the next few days . I am not so sure just yet about travel but things are opening up.

    Xxxxxxx

    A message with a slogan that commands and directs visitors to take a second look at St. Kitts
    What has Barbados govt offered a Big belly CEO as head of BTMI and one that gets plenty perks for showing up as yet to deliver
    Meanwhile St. Kitts rolls out plenty perks placed on a delicious platter enough to wet and salivate the appetites of visitors to come look and see
    Go figure

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