Tourism & Public Sector
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Cayman Islands
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Website, content, social, PSA
The Cayman Islands closed its borders harder than almost anyone — no cruise ships, no tourists, mandatory quarantine for the few with permission to come. When the business community asked ARSNL to help find the way back, we built the platform the conversation needed: a website, a content and social engine, and ultimately a vaccine PSA campaign run in partnership with the Cayman government. The islands reopened to tourismin September 2021 with 94% of residents vaccinated.
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Client
Cayman business community & Cayman Islands Government
Market
Cayman Islands residents & visitors
Scope
reopencayman.com, content, social, PSA campaign
Era
2020 – September 2021 reopening
The brief
Cayman is ARSNL’s Caribbean home away — long-running work for Thompson Resorts, Wyndham Reef Resort Grand Cayman, Cayman Visitor, and other hospitality organizations. When COVID shut everything down, the local business community asked us to help build a path forward.
The complication wasn’t public health alone. Many islanders had stopped wanting to reopen at all — zero local cases plus government subsidies made the closed-border posture feel safe and survivable. Any restart needed a public conversation first, not a campaign.
What we did
We built three things, in sequence, as the situation evolved.
- reopencayman.com. A website and content hub designed to generate public dialog about reopening safely — fact-based, plain-English, and Caymanian-first. #READY2REOPEN became the rally point. “Join us. Make the pledge.” was the ask.
- Content & social strategy. A steady cadence giving Caymanians access to fact-based information on virus mitigation protocols and how other destination economies were navigating reopening.
- Vaccine PSA campaign. As the path forward clarified, ARSNL partnered with the Cayman government on a digital PSA campaign encouraging islanders to get vaccinated. “Don’t Wait. Vaccinate.”
Selected work
Creative · PSA
Creative that earned 94%.
Public-health work that backed Cayman to 94% vaccination — the foundation for reopening.
Web · Destination
Site that reopens an island.
Tourism site and content that carried Cayman through reopening and back to demand.
Media · Arrivals
Media that lands in the airport.
Media aimed at the arrival decision, run across origin markets.
The outcome
94%
Of Cayman Islands residents vaccinated — one of the highest rates in the world.
Sept 2021
Cayman reopened to tourism, on the back of the public conversation the platform helped lead.
Public & private
A partnership model between the business community, government, and an agency that lives there.
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Why it worked
The first thing the islands needed wasn’t a message — it was somewhere to have the conversation. reopencayman.com gave the public a hub where the question could be argued out, with facts on the table and a name on the door. The PSA work came later, after the conversation had moved.
The outcome — one of the world’s highest vaccination rates and a tourism economy back online — belongs to Caymanians. The platform that helped them get there is the work we’re proudest of.
What's next
Then let's plan to get there.
