The ministry announced that Boston-based Arnold was selected after a competitive review of other undisclosed agencies. Arnold's Washington, D.C. office will lead the business.
Fallon, the Minnesota-based agency that designed the "Bahamavention" campaign - deemed by some as ineffective - was not among those firms invited to bid.
"Tourism is not only big business for us in The Bahamas, but it is also a currency that we use to export our brand and our culture," said Ministry of Tourism Director General Vernice Walkine in a statement announcing the decision.
"We are very pleased with the result of the competitive review and believe that we have found in Arnold a group of individuals who will work with us, respect us and collectively help The Bahamas deliver a message and image that resonates with potential travelers and gives them a compelling reason to experience the many Islands of The Bahamas."
The Bahamas spends an estimated $10 million to $15 million on advertisements each year.
Ministry of Tourism Senior Director of Communications Nalini Bethel elaborated on the competitive bidding process, explaining that the ministry had sent out RFPs (request for proposals) to ad agencies with tourism experience inviting them to bid for The Bahamas’ business.
The team of 15 people forming the "selection committee" – an agglomeration of public and private sector expertise – whittled the bids down to five finalists, who then gave face-to-face presentations.
Another round of whittling led to a second presentation by the two finalists, and it was here that Arnold really stood out, Mrs. Bethel said.
"The five short-listed agencies were all very, very strong contenders, but what differentiated Arnold from the others – one of the things – was their travel experience. They had a very wide-ranging travel experience," she explained.
"They are the agency of record for Choice Hotels, they are the agency of record for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and they’ve had long-standing accounts – 28 years, 30 years – with like McDonalds. So they had a reputation for delivery of business."
While the travel experience was key, Mrs. Bethel said there was something else that caught the eye of the selection committee.
"The other criterion that they really stood out on was the online marketing criteria. The world is booking travel more and more online, and we need to be right there on the edge, so that The Bahamas can also be booked proficiently online," she said. "That’s basically one of the main standout criterion."
"They had a digital guy on their team who is one of ten chief digital officers in the United States. We thought the talent that he brought to the table would be one that The Bahamas could definitely use."
After confirming that Fallon was not invited to bid, Mrs. Bethel said it would be absolutely wrong to characterize that as a rejection of the company and its "Bahamavention" campaign.
"A fresh new look for The Bahamas is what we were looking for, which often entails changing your agency," she said.
"If you looked at Bahamavention as a campaign in and of itself, you have to look at the objectives that we wanted to achieve with that campaign, and when somebody calls it a failure they don’t even know what the objective was."
She said the campaign pulled The Bahamas out of the background noise, and insisted that people are still using the word Bahamavention to mean take a break.
- Austin DWI - New York DWI