Social media sensation IShowSpeed tours the Caribbean

Caribbean tourist destinations might just have found a new way of marketing their products globally. Instead of spending millions on glossy magazines, billboards, and on American television networks like NBC and CBS, all they have to do now, it appears, is to switch to investing in social media influencers and products.

In the past two weeks, IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old Black American social media sensation visited 15 Caribbean delegations from The Bahamas and Jamaica in the north to The Dominican Republic in the center to Trinidad in the south. He did not travel with Hollywood-type crews.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr., every tourism authority, regional government, media house, and social media community in all 15 countries turned out in numbers to welcome, facilitate and support the live-streaming efforts of Speed on his acclaimed YouTube channel because they now recognize his importance and the changing international marketing and media landscape.

I Show Speed has nearly 53 million followers and can do more to promote a product, a destination, or a personality than any government regardless of how flushed they might be with cash and other resources.

In the Dominican Republic, for example, his live streaming broadcast of tourism destinations attracted a staggering two million live followers, making it one of the biggest for such an event on the channel.

Officials say that Google searches and inquiries from potential tourists from around the world surged exponentially even as the stream was on and for hours after. The same is true of all 15 islands he had set foot on. Officials say they are now more inclined to use influencers rather than pricey advertising agencies to reach audiences in Europe and North America.

On his last stop in Jamaica, the live stream in the capital, Kingston, attracted nearly three million views and nearly 200,000 live followers, while also generating nearly 700,000 live chatting sessions and 35,000 new subscribers. Such is his impact, officials say.

And in St. Lucia, Louis Lewis, the Chief Executive of the Tourism Association, basically referred to Speed’s brief presence on the island as a blessing.

“It is for us now to build on that visibility and continue to market Saint Lucia,” he told reporters. “The event in itself was very important. It gave us visibility in places that we could not ordinarily reach, and the returns on investment were one of the highest that we have had in a while,” Lewis stated.

The return on the island’s investment on Speed was calculated at 77-1, meaning that the product garnered 77 times more in world viewership than from normal spending on marketing.

 “You would have seen reflections of our culture, our history, our culinary experiences, our heritage, all being featured, and of course, the entertainment. For the execution of that event, we also exhibited the warmth and hospitality of Saint Lucians, their adventure and their kindness and the camaraderie that we display as a people,” Lewis noted.

Meanwhile, Colin James, Antigua’s tourism boss, says officials must now recognize the changing landscape of sales and marketing as the internet world has taken over.

“When you saw him in that helicopter looking on and saying this (the island) doesn’t look real, it’s so beautiful, you can’t pay for that type of advertising,” local media quoted him as saying.

Kishore Shallow, St. Vincent’s tourism minister, shrugged off rumors about excessive spending to have Speed broadcast from the federation with the Grenadine islands.

“I won’t give details,” Shallow said. “It’s no secret, but it didn’t cost US$100,000. In the end, it cost us less than (US$40,000) which, I mean, is great value for money.”

James Gregg, a Jamaican Vlogger broadcasting on Carib 21, is elated at the 15-nation tour that started on April 25. He says this is clearly the new way to go.

“We are getting historic numbers,” Gregg said. “The numbers that are coming out of the Caribbean are just huge. The numbers are crazy. This is a big deal for the Caribbean in terms of numbers. Speed, at age 21, was able to create generational wealth. This man is a multi-millionaire at 21 years old. This is a big, massive win for the Caribbean. Everybody wins. Don’t be surprised if you see a big travel boom for the next winter travel season.  The tour of Africa did not break a record of two million people on a live stream. The Dominican Republic broke that record.”

Speed had kicked off his tour in Trinidad and suggests he might well return for Carnival next February. “I’m enjoying Trinidad. Trinidad has been amazing. I’m having a fun time here. The people lit. The music lit. The food lit. Everybody here is lit. I’m enjoying it” local media reported.

The whirlwind tour took him to Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and the US Virgin Islands.