BERMUDA: The PR industry has finally found its way to the longtime insurance and tourism mecca of Bermuda.
BERMUDA: The PR industry has finally found its way to the longtime
insurance and tourism mecca of Bermuda.
Linda Smith Wilson, former deputy director of communications for ACE,
addressed what had become a sizeable void in the island’s communications
market by opening the doors of Linda Smith Associates earlier this
month.
The firm is the country’s first.
While Bermuda businesses had been supported by advertising agencies
touting PR capabilities and large international firms (such as Doremus)
servicing island clients from their New York and London offices, the
diminutive country has never had a shop solely dedicated to PR.
’There is certainly an unexploited niche here,’ said Wilson, who left
ACE one year after joining the corporation from Bermuda Electric Light
Company.
Smith’s business model is to handle island-based projects for the
insurance industry and subcontract as an on-site consultant for
international agencies. She also sees PR opportunities in the tourism
and meeting-planner arenas.
Once known predominantly as a vacation destination, Bermuda became home
to several off-shore financial services organizations in the 1980s and
early ’90s. Local companies such as ACE offer highly specialized
products - such as war insurance - to other countries, as well as
insurance to other insurers.
Due to the high-risk nature of these businesses, Bermuda has become one
of the preferred meeting destinations for groups requiring an advanced
degree of security. Consequently, the island’s corporate denizens have
developed a uniquely symbiotic relationship with the tourism industry.
