CIDOT Taps Harmelin Media to Lead US Media Planning & Buying Services

Cayman Islands 31 January 2025
Process the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT) announces the appointment of Harmelin Media (Harmelin) to be its Agency of Record for U.S. media planning and buying services.

Following a competitive multi-stage procurement process the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT) announces the appointment of Harmelin Media (Harmelin) to be its Agency of Record for U.S. media planning and buying services. CIDOT has retained a media planning and buying services agency in the U.S. for over 20 years. In this role Harmelin will be responsible for providing overall strategic guidance, data driven insight and analysis with both business to business and direct to consumer advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms including digital, print, broadcast and streaming.

Philadelphia-based Harmelin is one of the largest independent media service firms in the United States and has a track record of delivering consistent sales growth for major brands including Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection brands, which the agency helped launch, Ford, US Cellular, QVC and Total Wine & More.

“In an ever-changing U.S. media landscape, it is critical that the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism have a U.S. media planning and buying agency that understands not only where our potential visitors are consuming media, but also how to reach them at every step of the decision making process to ensure that the Cayman Islands remains a premier destination for the United States traveller,” said Rosa Harris, Director of Tourism for CIDOT. “Harmelin’s expertise in understanding the U.S. consumer will be crucial as CIDOT looks to refine its advertising mix to effectively target U.S. travellers amongst an increasingly competitive travel marketplace.”

Director Harris further provided background on the evaluation process by stating “Harmelin’s proprietary Harmonee data analysis platform is sophisticated and built to provide market consumer intelligence to transform CIDOT’s future media strategy based on its business objectives. The Harmonee platform set Harmelin media as the top bidder due to the firm’s large investment in technology solutions and impressively offering an in-house team lead by their Chief of Technology and amplified with a Director of Digital Services on the day-to-day team. The Harmelin bid and positioning with a technology and data driven solutions approach to media buying and placement gave Harmelin a significant competitive advantage in the procurement project. These agency capabilities will allow the destination to refine the strategic planning process to deepen the Cayman Islands annual USA media strategy. Ultimately the goal is to deploy an innovative media plan to deliver incremental growth and untap areas of like audiences to continue to increase new visitors to the Cayman Islands.”

Harmelin’s president, Mary Meder, expressed great enthusiasm for the opportunity to work with the Cayman Islands. “Through this search process, Harmelin has fallen in love with the Cayman Islands, and it is our true honor to work together with the CIDOT team to increase visitation to this dynamic destination. The Harmonee tools we’ve built are perfect to address CIDOT’s need to ensure every dollar is expertly invested to maximize the number of visitors to the islands and their length of stay. Specifically, our Helix analytics platform will merge CIDOT’s customs and arrival data with publicly available travel sources to hyper-target the right communities, across the right media channels, with the right frequency. We have a long history of driving visitation growth for tourism destinations, and we’re excited to put that experience to work for CIDOT. We take very seriously the responsibility to grow tourism that CIDOT is entrusting us with, and we look forward to a long and productive partnership.”

 
ABOUT THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

Located 480 miles south of Miami in the vibrant tranquility of western Caribbean, this trio of tiny islands is a premier destination for discriminating travelers, divers, honeymooners and families. World-renowned for its idyllic beaches and recognised as a sophisticated, diverse and memorable tourist destination, the Cayman Islands offers spectacular recreational opportunities along with warm, impeccable service. From large-group trips and business-focused getaways to ultra-luxurious escapes and multi-generational family vacations, the Cayman Islands provides every element needed to keep guests coming back for more. With an abundance of world-class dining options, a host of adventure activities - including snorkeling, diving, jet skiing, caving, and nature trails - and a variety of meeting spaces for groups large and small, the Cayman Islands is well-poised to host any type of traveler or special occasion. To learn more about the Cayman Islands, please go to visitcaymanislands.com or call your local travel agent.

ABOUT HARMELIN MEDIA

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Harmelin has for over 42 years specialized in the strategic media and data-informed solutions that help our clients navigate a rapidly changing media landscape across performance and brand-focused channels. The firm has grown to more than $800 million in billings and nearly 300 employees with a diverse client roster including Fortune 500 companies, making Harmelin one of the largest independent media service firms in the United States. We are a WBENC certified business, a Google Premier Partner, Meta Badged Partner and proud members of the ANA and IAB. For more information, visit harmelin.com, or connect with us on LinkedIn or Facebook.

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