Can’t outspend your Caribbean rivals? Then create your own Caribbean.

Way over there on the horizon, in the Caribbean Sea of Sameness, at the far edge of all those beautiful islands sharing the same sea, sun and sand, there it was. Barbados. The farthest Caribbean island from the United States. Underdeveloped, tough to fly to, with no big attractions like theme parks, hotel and restaurant chains, or casinos. Our insight was to turn all those negatives into positives, as a way to separate Barbados from its higher-spending competitors. Our research found a psychographic of 5 million travelers looking for authentic experiences. Affluent people who actually saw traditional attractions as a distraction. Which meant our authenticity itself—our endless unspoiled beaches, our vibrant British-African culture, our unique high-end dining—could become the attraction.

We redefined Barbados not as just another Caribbean island, but as the capital of The Authentic Caribbean. The top island in a category of one. The way the Caribbean used to be. We featured its beauty and authenticity in television, radio, print, online and on their website. We even made an authentic promise in a sea of ad clichés, daring to tell potential visitors that Barbados was a little harder to get to, but a lot harder to leave. And in a time when the rest of the Caribbean was flat or down, visitation from North America increased over 5%.