Magazine/ Direct Marketing

Client: Holiday Diver, Inc. d/b/a World Watersports, Divers Direct

About: This piece represents one of my favorite projects in my seven year tenure at Holiday Diver. I created this travel magazine to send along with our printed catalog. It had several fantastic effects. The first was that when polybagged to our catalog, it added value and kept people from just tossing the catalog. The second was that it promoted the Cayman Islands in a way that would increase travel bookings for us and tourism for the Islands. The third effect was that every picture featured gear we sell. It presented the gear in exciting scenarios and helped answer the question "Why do I need this thing?" in a customer's mind. The last effect, and the one I love the most, was that it reinforced the branding of the company. We didn't want to just be a SCUBA shop, we wanted to be the place our customers turned to when they searched for a tropical adventure.

» Download Entire Catalog (PDF - 6MB)

Sample Copy:
WATTLE and daub houses still stand on busy roads in the Caymans. This construction style consists of wood framed houses with a woven latticeof wood and leaves (the wattle) covered bya plaster like material (the daub) to create
solid walls. Though it was not invented in the Caymans, it is very representative of not only their houses, but of their culture as well. The development of the Cayman Islands was very much a weaving and solidifying process that established the Islands as we know them today.

Most Caymanians agree that few things shaped their Islands more than the sea turtles that lived in Cayman’s waters. In fact, when Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands in 1503, his log makes specific note of all the Tortugas (Spanish for turtles) in the surrounding waters. Turtles became the Islands’ primary commercial asset and, despite current international restrictions on their trade, remain a major commercial industry.

Because of the Islands’ proximity to major shipping channels and their natural wealthof food and water, they became a popular stopping off point for merchant ships and even pirates. It wasn’t until the early 1700’s, though, that British settlers and their slaves from Jamaica started inhabiting Grand Cayman. A survey conducted in 1802 showed that 545 of the Islands’ 933inhabitants were slaves. Many Caymanians today trace their routes back to the slaves brought by the British.

With the rise of shipping and international trade in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Caymanians saw their economy boom. When many of the world’s wealthiest individuals began placing money in Caymanian banks, where it could sit tax free, the Caymans received a boost of capital that allowed them to develop the modern infrastructure that they have today. Still, between mansions of the rich and the famous, stand small but sturdy wattle and daub houses that remind passers by of the rich, successful history of these Islands.