At every airport, hotel and international event in our country, visitors are greeted with images and videos of the most recent communication campaign that identifies the island. Cuba única was selected by the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) during the FitCuba 2022 International Tourism Fair as the nation's new identity brand for travelers.
The Spanish communications agency Disset, with more than 25 years of experience, is the author of the campaign, whose main novelty is that it places Cubans, their hospitality and personality as one of the main attractions offered by Cuba to tourists. Granma newspapers spoke with Antoni Pons Ribas, general director of the agency, during his most recent visit to Havana.
-Disset has had offices in Cuba since 2018, the agency's first outside Spain. Why did you settle on the island?
-We were interested in expanding outside Spain, especially after the financial crisis the country experienced in 2008-2010. In August 2015 we came to Havana and saw that there were possibilities to work. Here there are many international tourism companies that are our clients: Sol Meliá, Iberostar, Barceló, Air Europa. We feel very comfortable here and we believe that we can contribute our experience in communication and marketing in the sector.
-How did the idea of Cuba única come up?
-The MINTUR made the international call for proposals in which it detailed, broadly speaking, what it wanted to highlight in the new campaign. We work a lot in destination promotion, for example, with the Balearic Islands, a territory with a little more than one million inhabitants that receives 16 million tourists a year. When we analyzed Cuba, we looked for the differential value. We looked at the surrounding competitors, say the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Riviera Maya; there are many options for vacationing in the Caribbean.
"Cuba has very good beaches, good hotel facilities, culture, gastronomy, heritage; but all this is similar in other nearby places. What makes Cuba different is its people, no tourist leaves here without a Cuban friend. That was the main idea on which we bet and for which MINTUR selected us".
With Cuba única, every Cuban becomes an ambassador of the brand, since its idiosyncrasy and friendliness are the main elements that make travelers come back. The campaign is mainly designed for social networks, a prevailing trend in the last decade in the marketing in the last decade, which has seen its maximum flourishing after the pandemic.
The images and videos are adapted to fit in Instagram, Youtube, Facebook or Tik Tok, and to be used in traditional media, as demonstrated during its presentations in France, Spain, China, Germany, Argentina and Canada. The hashtag #CubaÚnica is also designed to facilitate the organic growth of the campaign in the networks, and can be used by any user to share their experiences on the most diverse aspects of the country, beyond the official images designed by Disset.
"The reception of the campaign has been spectacular. The first test was here, with the marketing specialists of the companies that usually deal with the international tourism market, and from the beginning it was very well received. The same has happened when we have accompanied MINTUR to the different fairs. The ministry is making a phenomenal deployment, having a presence in places we couldn't even imagine."
In the near future, Disset plans to make the Havana headquarters the key to its expansion in the region. Cuba única is the company's largest project in our country at the moment, but not the only one. The campaign has the value of vindicating the identity of Cubans, incorruptible no matter how much tourism enters the island, and shows that we are much more than sun and beaches.
Translated by ESTI
