Sandals Resorts on Thursday revealed that a multimillion-dollar ad campaign will launch later this month with the tagline "Made of Caribbean."
Developed with Chicago-based ad agency Leo Burnett, the campaign is designed to showcase the company's deep Caribbean roots while taking on preconceptions consumers might have about the Sandals and Beaches brands.
For example, people might think Sandals is only about honeymoons and weddings when the brand has more to offer, said Sandals Resorts executive chairman Adam Stewart.
"We do a lot of weddings and we do a lot of honeymoons, but we're way more than that," Stewart told Travel Weekly. "They represent, in the scheme of things, a smaller percentage of who we are."
The campaign also challenges a stereotype that the all-inclusive experience walls off guests from the outside world. Stewart said Sandals "loves for our customers to go off-property and explore the mountains, the rivers, the offshore islands, the street food, the craft vendors and the villages, and really connect with the true Caribbean."
The "Made of Caribbean" campaign will feature television, digital, print, social and out-of-home advertising, including a high-profile placement in Manhattan's Times Square on New Year's Eve.
The initiative will debut with two launch spots. One is called "Three Things" and focuses on redefining perceptions of the adults-only Sandals brand, and another is called "Memories" and highlights the family-focused Beaches brand and the lasting impact of family vacations.
Stewart said that travel advisors have long been crucial to the company's success, and that Sandals will bring them on an "educational journey" with the brand's new digital content.
"The new material coming out should drive more demand to them than they've ever seen before," Stewart said.
Stewart expects an 'amazing' 2025
While Caribbean tourism in 2024 fell short of 2023 levels, Stewart said Sandals remained "top of the pack."
"Caribbean travel was affected by a multitude of things in 2024," Stewart explained, citing the recent U.S. election as the region's biggest impact. "The U.S. is the largest source market to the Caribbean, and whenever there's an election, people tend to kind of slow down a bit and stay close to home."
He also pointed to 2024's heighted demand for European travel, with the Paris Olympics serving as "a vacuum for tourism dollars." An active hurricane season also was a factor.
In better and more recent news, Stewart said November was Sandals' best month for bookings in the company's history.
"Now that the election is behind us, the stock market has rallied. There's a relationship between leisure and travel purchases and the stock market," said Stewart. "I think 2025 is shaping up to be an amazing year."
Sandals' brand repositioning coincides with significant expansion, with the Beaches Exuma in the Bahamas and the Beaches Runaway Bay in Jamaica currently under development.
Stewart said the company plans to make an announcement about a new project in the upcoming weeks, and that over the next three years, Sandals will continue renovating resorts due for a refresh.
Sandals currently has a total of 17 resorts in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados, the Bahamas, Antigua, Grenada, Curacao and St. Vincent, while Beaches has two in Jamaica and one in Turks & Caicos.
"For existing resorts, we're going through them bit by bit, bringing them up to the level of the Sandals Saint Vincent," said Stewart. The St. Vincent resort is the brand's latest, opening in March 2024.
"And for the next new resorts that we're developing, of which there are several on the table, we're taking what we did at Sandals Dunn's River and Sandals Saint Vincent, and we'll be leveling up again. We are doing anything but resting on our laurels."