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NATIONAL COVERAGE
PRINT. TV. RADIO . DIGITAL
SERVICES
PR & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
MEDIA RELATIONS
COMMUNITY & STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
THE PROJECT
In what was intended to be a magnanimous gesture following the landslide election that swept the FNM into office following 25 years of PLP rule, Prime Minister Hubert A Ingraham granted unlimited $600 exemption on personal imported goods.
The intent was temporary but it became so popular that withdrawing it would have wrought bitter backlash. The problem was that the local economy was hit so hard that lay-offs were happening and businesses were going under.
OUR ROLE
A group of wholesalers and retailers hired DPA to persuade government to
repeal the customs duty exemption the population had fallen in love with.
THE METHOD
Determined not to create a nightmarish public relations problem for government, we had to demonstrate that the hidden cost of buying abroad was killing the Bahamian people. If revenues decreased, services would decline. Jobs would vanish. We ran ads showing Bahamian dollars flying on airplanes, two little girls unattended in a school playground while police in Broward County thanked The Bahamian people for their raises.
We showed losses in images that tugged at your heart and you could not deny. It was the only time we ever created and distributed bumper stickers:
SHOP AT HOME, THE JOB YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN.