PHILIPSBURG:--- In connection with TEMPO Turns 7, TEMPO organized a promotion with leading United States Cable operator, Cablevision, to promote St. Maarten in Win a Trip Sweepstakes that Cablevision has called its "best performing sweepstakes to date".
Cablevision is the largest cable provider in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which in turn is the largest market for visitors to St. Maarten. The sweepstakes provided a trip for a family of four to St. Maarten, with accommodations at the Sonesta Maho Resort and a series of tours designed to showcase St. Maarten courtesy of Aqua Mania Adventures. The Sweepstakes occurred from October 1st, 2012 to November 14th, 2012,
Over the course of the five-week promotion period, over 600 spots per week were aired, totalling 3,000 spots, with a value of over $2.5 million. With TEMPO's guidance, Cablevision prepared a 30-second commercial using footage originating with the St. Maarten's Ministry of Tourism which was run cross-channel on TEMPO and over 75 major networks in the New York Tristate Area, including: A&E, ABCFAM, AMC, ANPL, BET, BIO, BRVO, BTV, CART, CENTRIC, CHILL, CLOO, CMT, CNBC, CNN, COMD, DISC, Disc Science, DISXD, E!, ECL, ENN, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOXBUS, FSC, FCSA, FCSC, FCSP, FUEL, FUSE, FX, FXNC, G4, GAME, GOLF, HALL, HGTV, HIST, H2, HLN, HMC, HUB, IFC, Inv Disc, LIFE, LOGO, MIL, MLB, MSG, MSG Plus, MSNBC, MTV, MTV2, NBCS, NGC, NICK, News 12, News 12 T&W, OXY, DAM, SNY, SPDN, OWN, SPIKE, STYLE, SYFY, TBS, TLC, TNT, TRAV, TRU, TVFOOD, TVLAND, TWC, USA, VH-1, WE, WILD, YES.
This promotion was open to Cablevision's premium customers, Optimum Rewards Members, the more than one million subscribers who subscribe to "Triple Play" services (television, telephone, and internet).
As market research sources reveal, increased use of telecommunications and pay TV services correlates strongly with travel to the Caribbean. During this period, the Optimum Rewards page received 1.4 million visitors, of which 304,000 were unique. The proportion of unique entrants to unique site visitors (75%) demonstrates that it was interest in St. Maarten that was driving the 1.4 million visitors to www.optimumrewards.com.
Cablevision also communicated the promotion to its Optimum Rewards members through a weekly email blast, placed images advertising the Cablevision-TEMPO promotion on the Optimum Rewards home page, and issued a press release.
The promotion was an extraordinary success by all past measures: unique entries totaled 227,854 (a record for Optimum Rewards program sweepstakes), and unique households totaled 70,162 (second-best ever). A large number of visitors (162,355- best-ever) to the Optimum Rewards St. Maarten page clicked the "Detailed Page View" button, revealing a desire to know more about St. Maarten.
Through this promotion, proposed and organized by TEMPO, St. Maarten has connected with its #1 source market for tourists, the New York Tristate Area, in a major way. Given that tourists from the United States often consider multiple islands before booking a trip to the Caribbean, St. Maarten's prominence in their minds as a result of this promotion is sure to tip decision-making this season in favour of St. Maarten.
"Optimum Rewards is pleased to partner with TEMPO Networks to offer one of our members this unforgettable, all-inclusive get away. The winner is going to fall in love with the Caribbean on this luxurious vacation to St. Maarten," said Anila Nitekman, Cablevision Director of Loyalty Marketing.
"We are thrilled to partner with Optimum Rewards, the St. Maarten Ministry of Tourism and the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort to offer this extraordinary Caribbean experience to one of the most beautiful destinations in the Caribbean, the Friendly Island of St. Maarten," said Frederick A. Morton, Jr. Founder, Chairman & CEO, TEMPO Networks.
"The Ministry plans to partner with TEMPO on similar promotions in the future utilizing TEMPO's unique positioning to create innovative marketing and promotional strategies for the destination in its key source markets," Minister Hon. Romeo F. Pantophlet said.