In Anguilla recently, was Marvet Britto, CEO of the Britto Agency, a Public Relations, Communications and Brand Architecture Firm with offices inNew York,Los AngelesandDubai.
Ms. Britto told The Anguillian that in February this year her firm was appointed as “the new agency of record for theislandofAnguilla”. She was asked how her work was being carried out. “I will be correlating and working with the North American Tourism Office inNew York Cityunder Marie Walker, as well as working with the local Tourist Board with Eustace Guishard and Candis Niles,” she said.
“I have been coming toAnguillafor over twenty years and I take a very systematic approach to building brands. I have always, from the moment I first came to Anguilla, identified that it wasn’t just anotherCaribbeanisland; that it was a special destination unlike any other island in the world. The reason I came to that conclusion is solely based on my interaction with the amazing, wonderful people ofAnguilla.
“It is the people ofAnguillathat differentiate this island from all the other islands under the sun. It is the pride, heritage, legacy and t he ingrained DNA of the local Anguillians that resonated with me from the moment that I came to this island.
“The way that we are positioning Anguilla is that we have already announced a campaign called “We areAnguilla” which is going to permeate throughout the world. What that means is that we are going to sell the people of Anguilla because that is what is going to makeAnguilladifferent:the rich history and the hearts of the Anguillians. When people come toAnguillafor vacation, they leave saying one thing. It’s the people ofAnguilla, their hearts, passion, service and love for the island. It is cemented in the heart of every person who comes to this island: It is that same love and passion we want to pierce the heart of every consumer around the world so that they would feel the same sense of pride and passion that the local Anguillians do.
“The way I am going to accomplish that campaign is to tell the story of every Anguillian, so we have been going around interviewing them and then we ended the interview on video with them saying their names and then say “We areAnguilla”. We are selling that footage to the rest of the world so that it knows it is not to confuse Anguilla with any other island because “We areAnguilla.”
Ms. Britto spoke about her visit toHeritageCollectionMuseum, where the Curator is Colville Petty, OBE. “When I got to the museum, I got an opportunity to really understand the blood line of Anguilla and where the pride permeates from…We need to be educated by the progressive mindset of the Anguillians, and hope that that would ignite a change in our mindset and have the same kind of ownership and rich spirit that the local Anguillians have.”
Ms. Britto gave high praise to theHeritageCollectionMuseum. “My feelings are that we need to really amplify theHeritageMuseumbecause that is what everyone loves when they meet an Anguillian. Everything that Mr. Petty talked about, and all the wisdom and knowledge he collected over the decades and chronicled the history ofAnguilla, has to be known and has to be told globally.
“Every tourist coming to Anguilla should want to retrace the footsteps of the Arawaks and of every other person who shares some sort of DNA with the origin ofAnguilla. So I think to understand the people and their pride, you have to understand whence they came. The journey, within theHeritageCollectionMuseumthat chronicles the island’s history from the revolution to the salt ponds, to the way the people cooked their food; every element, down to the fishing tools, every piece of Anguillian history, can be found at theHeritageMuseum. So I believe that your journey in Anguilla starts with visiting theHeritageMuseum. You will then understand every single person and every business you engage on this island.”
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, Haydn Hughes, was pleased to have Ms. MarvetBritto working forAnguilla. “She is the Public Relations Officer for a number of high-profile individuals in theUnited Statesand this is the only island she is representing,” he said. “I was introduced to her last year by Marie Walker, our North American and Canadian Rep, and together Marie Walker, Britto and I, and the rest of the tourism team, have been working to come up with the Literary Fest. I brought in some of the top quality journalists in North America from Newsweek and other publications toAnguillato let the world know what the island was about.
“We need more visibility of Anguilla and there are other things we have to work on like better access, direct flights fromNorth Americaand an improved runway. There is a lotAnguillahas to offer. As I said the museum is one of the things we will be featuring – as well as some of our local artistes, visual arts and athletes – and just a while ago Anguilla was featured on ‘Extra’, and these are some of the things we want to do to bring more visibility toAnguilla.”
Chairman of the Anguilla Tourist Board, Eustace Guishard, was also pleased to have the Britto Agency working forAnguilla. “We really need to positionAnguillaas the destination of choice,” he commented. “Anguilladoes not need to be riding on the coat tails of anymore hotels. Our success story has always been linked to hotels like Malliouhana, Cap Juluca, CuisinArt and Viceroy.Anguillaneeds to be developed as a destination.”
He said that, in addition to the Literary Fest, the Tourist Board was working on a regatta world cup in May next year and later a film festival. He thanked the Director of Tourism and staff, as well as the various associated agencies, for their excellent work.
