Media campaign celebrates Dominica’s 40th independence anniversary in 40 days

Dominica’s historic strengths and trailblazing initiatives will be the highlight of an intensive 40-day, social media campaign celebrating the country’s 40th independence anniversary.

The campaign, 40-in-40, began on September 25, exactly 40 days before Dominica’s 40th independence anniversary.

It is spearheaded by Anichi Development – developers of Anichi Resort & Spa, is supported by the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) – the country’s foremost entity on tourism marketing.

It seeks to elicit civic pride in Dominicans while emphasizing the island’s tourism and investment potential in the 40 days leading up to the island’s 40th independence. It specifically sheds light on the country’s historic achievements and explores its newly defined position as a new green economy. The campaign intends to populate social media with positive, uplifting references to Dominica – each week paying specific reference to central themes, including places and architecture, trade, people, history, cuisine, and CBI.

“Our goal is to present a well-balanced picture to the world of the capabilities and successes that have emerged from Dominica historically, while at the same time demonstrate the steps being taken to restructure our economy to meet the challenges of our changing environment,” said Nisha Mc Intyre, marketing manager of Anichi Development. “We aren’t interested in sugar coating our short comings. It is instead intended to show how we overcome adversity and use such instances as stimulants for our continued growth.”

Instagram and Facebook will be the central social media platforms used for the 40-in-40 campaign. Each day, Anichi Development will post on its pages a minimum of three posts, influenced in part by the guidance of Dr. Lennox Honychurch, Dominica’s esteemed historian. The posts will follow the presiding theme for the week and reference the campaign’s hashtag #40in40Dominica. To encourage participation from Dominicans, the company will launch two competitions.

Sunday Funday, its Instagram competition, encourages individuals to post images every Sunday showing the fun things possible in Dominica. The images must tag @Anichidevelopment and include the competition’s hashtags – #Sundayfunday and #40in40Dominica. The competition runs from September 29 to October 21.

A Moment in Time, the other of the two competitions, occurs during the campaign’s history week and encourages individuals to post memorable moments in time of places or people in Dominica. Participants must tag @Anichidevelopment in their posts and encourage friends to like the post from the company’s Facebook page. Both competitions conclude on October 21. Winners of both competitions will be picked based on the level of engagement of their posts and be awarded season passes to the World Creole Music Festival – prizes offered in part by DDA.

Colin Piper, DDAs CEO, recognises the opportunity the campaign presents for changing the dialogue about Dominica online, but believes the initiative will require complete buy-in from Dominicans, in helping the campaign positively position the country in digital media.

“Campaigns like this allow us to view the full picture of Dominica’s prowess over time and remind us just how integral hardships are on the journey to success,” Piper said. “We are hopeful that the collection of positive images demonstrating the country’s achievements throughout time and its ambitious initiatives for its future, will stimulate a level of patriotism and civic pride befitting of a 40-year celebration.”

The campaign will officially start on September 25, exactly 40 days before Dominica’s 40th independence anniversary.

Dominicans are encouraged to join in the campaign by posting images in keeping with the celebrated themes. Full details of the campaign can be found on Anichi Development’s website at https://www.anichidevelopment.com/40-in-40/