November festival
to promote Big Island

American Express Publishing
will play a key role in the $1.6 million
promotion of the 5-day event

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

A new five-day Big Island festival, set for early November among the resorts of the Kona-Kohala area, is aimed at promoting the island as a whole and it won't hurt that many participants of major conventions of travel agents and travel writers will be in the area at the time, say the organizers, the Big Island Group.

A key to the promotion is a broad 2002 marketing partnership with American Express Publishing to promote the destination and the festival.

"Individually, Big Island resorts are known for their epicurean events," said Robin Graf, general manager of the Outrigger Waikoloa Beach Hotel & Resort and president of the group. Now, he said, BIG has "set its sights on an annual festival, produced on a grand scale, that brands the entire island."

BIG, an advertising consortium that includes the Big Island Visitors Bureau, the County of Hawaii, and members representing hotels, resorts, airlines, golf courses, activities and attractions, is producing special events on the island for the Oct. 30-Nov. 3 "Hawaii's Big Island Festival."

American Express will kick in with advertising campaigns in magazines such as Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Departures and T&L Golf, Graf said. American Express will also do some direct mail, including promotions to its Platinum Card holders, and there will be newspaper inserts in key West Coast markets.

The combined campaigns have a total value of $1.6 million and are estimated to reach 6.8 million people, BIG said.

The target for this year's first festival is 2,002 visitors, the organizers said, with a future target of up to 7,000 people coming to the island to attend the festival.

There will be a wide selection of food and wine seminars and tastings each day and a number of other activities including Hawaiian cultural events and spa visits.

The festival soon will have its own Web site to keep potential visitors informed on the details as they develop, Big Island Group said.

The Society of American Travel Writers and the American Society of Travel Agents will be holding conventions in Hawaii at the time and attendees are expected to make pre- and post-convention trips to the Big Island, creating additional future publicity for the island, Graf said.