Dear Agency Partner,
Well, the work never stops at Big Five. Our advisor partners have always been amazing at honeymoons. And they know that one size never fits all. They know honeymoons are a grand beginning for couples. Especially in 2020, a honeymoon planned for 2021 seems like an exciting new beginning.
Enter the name of our newest collection, New Beginnings, extraordinary honeymoon adventures that take you from Uruguay to Zambia and from Colombia to New Zealand. Countries are re-opening, inquiries are slowly returning, and that long delayed honeymoon is now ready to be planned, using ideas so far outside the box that we ended up saying, what box!
The collection allows couples to explore by vehicle, boat, bicycle, or foot as well as participate in extraordinary experiences from scuba diving in Africa’s Lake Malawi, to horseback riding along private trails on the coast of Uruguay, to snorkeling with starfish and seahorses in the dazzling marine world off the coast of Mozambique. A menu of activities encompasses hot-air ballooning, walking safaris, paragliding over a canyon, repelling down a waterfall and world-class rafting. Couples enjoy romantic dinners in stunning settings such as an unforgettable moonlit dinner in the middle of the forest in Uruguay, and the candle-lit atmosphere of Sindabezi Island in Zambia.
This week’s video introduces you to one of our Faces of Five, Cami from Uruguay. Her warm, welcoming smile is the ideal beginning to any new beginning (see what I did there?).
In some ways, the New Beginnings represents the New Moon!
Dear Agency Partners
When we started Faces of Five back in March, the goal was to introduce our advisors and their guests to the personalities on ground who helped deliver the amazing experiences you enjoy on a Big Five journey. We were delighted when it was such a success.
Well, now the world is beginning to open and, as much as we might want to, we simply can’t jump on planes and fly to each opening country. So how do we set the proper expectations for our advisors so that you, in turn, can set them for your travelers with the goal to see what these emerging cities look like now?
Enter Faces of Five Stage II. Many of you have been tuning into Big Five TV on Thursdays at 2pm EST for our normal programming. Big Five TV will now also broadcast on Tuesdays at 2pm EST, in a show called Live On Location in different cities. Our favorite country hosts and personalities will do live walks through towns from Cartagena, to Cairo, to Cape Town, showing you what the city looks like post lockdown. Learn which of your favorite hotels and restaurants are open or opening soon. Go along and walk through a few of them with our team to see how the hygiene protocols are working.
Big Five TV programming features a live chat function so advisors who are watching can ask questions live, and, if possible, the programming evolves to accommodate the request. For example, if our host is nearing a hotel you love or a favorite site and about to walk in the opposite direction, advisors can ask the host on ground to change direction to visit that hotel or site.
Our first broadcast was from Cartagena, Colombia this past week. As some of you know, Colombia is preparing to announce their opening date and procedures, which we were fortunate to have gotten a sneak peek at the document in Spanish. So our broadcast was timely. We walked through the Sofitel Santa Clara, through Bastion, inquired about Casa San Agustin, and even showed everyone where the best gelato in town is. On top of this, we passed restaurants as they prepared to open and got to talk to the owners live. We will continue to go back to destinations as openings progress, so stay tuned.
The next broadcast of Big Five TV Live On Location will be in Peru next Tuesday, September 22 at 2pm EST. Tune in at www.twitch.tv/bigfivetv. This is where live tv meets live chat. The results are, well you think of the best adjective.
Dear Agency Partner,
Remember the hand over to news correspondents on location? The world is opening up and while we all are itching to fly to each destination now – it simply isn’t possible.
While webinars are helpful and educational, how do you know what is worth sharing with travelers and, more importantly, how do you share the information? Well, this and a subconscious dream about being a network news correspondent must have driven the creation of Big Five TV that we spoke about last week. So what will be on our new channel?
Starting this Saturday and on a regular streaming schedule beginning with Tuesdays, Big Five TV will feature guides on location, walking around cities, sharing how they are re-emerging in a post-Covid world. This is in addition to the Thursday stream featuring Big Five team members alternately teaching yoga and cooking.
This Saturday, September 12, Big Five TV takes us live to Cartagena, Colombia where our friend Vicky walks us through historic city to show us what it has been doing to prepare for tourism’s return. The borders may possibly open in a few weeks. Beginning at 2:00 pm EST, Vicky will take you to her favorite places to reveal the city she knows.
On Tuesday September 15 at 11 am EST, Big Five TV goes live with our friend Jalila in Marrakech, which announced their borders opening over the weekend. She shows how Morocco is preparing for tourism to come back, and takes us to parts of the medina where she does her own shopping, and may suggest a few special spots that are waiting for you.
We are excited about this new platform and have on the docket Peru, Egypt, Tanzania and much more. And since we go live, anything can happen! Our trusty producer, Courtney, is there to oversee it all because everyone knows live productions can have the occasional embarrassing moment. The unexpected is what adds to the excitement of Big Five TV.
More content and more Faces of Five are being added to Big Five TV in the coming weeks and months. Tune in at www.twitch.tv/bigfivetv.
For Lynda.
In that latest evolution of Faces of Five, Big Five is launching the tv station, Big Five TV. No it’s not on cable or satellite. Big Five TV launches on the well-known gaming platform, Twitch TV.
Don’t worry I, too, said what the %*&$ is that when I first heard about Twitch. I asked what gaming has to do with TV. As our producer, Courtney, schooled me on the possibilities, you know what went through my mind? Left Field.
For the last 15 years, Big Five has proudly been an early adopter in many ways – remote product that is ahead of the curve, sustainability before it was a popular buzz term, unorthodox blog content, building media hubs on digital mediums such as Axus in ways perhaps not originally intended, and now, streaming tv, going way out in left field instead of on the conventional playing field.
As we emerge from Covid slowly, we are not heading to a new normal as I have mentioned before. Rather, we are accelerating our evolution to a purposeful travel world, a space Big Five has been operating in for almost two decades.
Now we are preparing to move forward again, this time launching Big Five TV, a variety show streaming on Twitch every Thursday at 2pm. Our premier stream was our very own Tatiana Johnston, who many of you work with, showcasing her passion by leading a yoga class. In addition to being a Big Five destination specialist, Tatiana is an MBA and linguistics college professor, fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.
The next episode airing this Thursday is with the famous Gisela Polo, who many of you also know. In addition to her role as a Big Five destination specialist and Latin America product manager, Gisela has a Masters in tourism marketing with a background in hospitality. She is the daughter of a former UN diplomat. Gisela will be teaching us how to make her favorite Huancaina sauce.
Going forward, Big Five TV will bring together entertainment with gaming such as Tabletop Simulator as well as live in-destination guide experiences and virtual reality meets sustainable initiatives.
Tune in to Big Five TV Thursdays at 2pm EST.
