Saipanda or No Saipanda

There’s a little discussion about Saipan’s unofficial mascot going on over at Lil Hammerhead’s blog. It stems from the latest Variety article in which Congressman Reyes is calling for MVA to release the royalty numbers from sales of Saipanda merchandise as well as the elimination of this mythical creature altogether. Saipanda is part panda, part rhinoceros and was introduced in 1999 as the brainchild of a Tokyo advertising company contracted by MVA. It is said to symbolize the male Japanese traveler who is a repeat visitor and is crazy about Saipan.

(Saipanda at DFS store)

As you might imagine many people take issue with this being the CNMI’s calling card. They point to the fact that tourists might mistakenly think they are going to see panda bears when they visit the islands and that the creature has no significance to the local culture, flora or fauna. The congressman’s latest attempt to nix the creature is not the first by concerned lawmakers. Senators Pangelinan and Crisostimo raised the same concerns last year in this article from the variety.

Over the past eight years Saipanda has appeared in all shapes and sizes including a larger than life mascot that shows up for photo ops and big events such as inaugural flights and international trade shows. It is featured during the “Happy Children in Paradise” program every summer where travelers are met at the airport by the large cuddly creature and children receive Saipanda merchandise including backpacks and water bottles. The large DFS store in Garapan has a huge, towering replica situated in the middle of the souvenir section of the mall and thousands if not millions of people have had their picture taken standing next to it. Not to mention the many purchases of everything from T-shirts to key chains and chocolates bearing its likeness.

MVA also receives revenue from the sale of these tourist items and presumably uses that money to better promote the islands travel industry. How effective has it been? That’s a tough question and probably one that has not been thoroughly answered. In 2007 the variety reported:

“Only 32.2 percent of 1000 Japanese travelers surveyed were aware of the existence of the Saipanda campaign promoting the CNMI in Japan”.

I’m not sure I would suggest that 1/3 of the population being aware of Saipanda should be considered as “only” since that seems to be a pretty good market share to me. Could there be a better mascot, perhaps or even likely yes but at the moment this is what we have.

Anyway, the real question becomes a matter of importance and priority. With all the things MVA does or does not do and their pretty hefty budget of taxpayers dollars is this really the most pressing of issues. I mean if Saipanda actually makes money for the local economy and increases awareness of our destination in our primary market shouldn’t we turn our efforts to areas that really need to be addressed?

The development of a new mascot and branding the destination will take a lot of money and it is a crapshoot at best. While not trivial, development of a recognizable brand should take a back seat to that of efforts focused on ensuring everyone who visits our islands leaves with a memorable, positive experience and images of warm, friendly hospitality. If, for the moment, a souvenir bearing our mythical creature can conjure up a desire in Japanese families to return to our island paradise than so be it.

So, the parting question for today is, if you could be the head of MVA for a day, a month, a year, what would your priority be to improve tourism for Saipan, Tinian and Rota?

Trivia Question: Did you know that in 2001 MVA paid 7,000 for a new costume for Saipanda!

A Weekend of Books and Kids

On Friday afternoons, between 3:00 and 4:30PM, DEQ conducts a story hour for kids at Joeten-Kiyu Public Library. It is organized by the "soon to graduate" intern Somona as she sees groups from around the community educate kids on the importance of environmental protection.
This past Friday it was time for Marianas Dive. I had a small group of enthusiastic kids who were sharp in answering questions and knew quite a bit about the creatures we talked about. Two even won DVD's with their quick answers to tough questions!
I did a combination thing. We watched clips from The Underwater World of Saipan in order to help illustrate some of the marine behaviours we talked about as we read Annie Crawley' s book, "Ocean Life From A to Z". It's a great book and it has it's own DVD included!
After all was said and done I tried to instill some pride in the kids with regard to what our waters have and how our diving is really world class. Above I share with them a recently published article about Saipan diving in Sport Diver Magazine. February 2008, we made it into the top 100!
Click on the photo to enlarge. It's a good little snap shot of what we have to offer here and for them to see their home in a major publication was pretty cool for them too. They then wanted to watch more of the spotted eagle rays that are pictured in the story so we watched more of the Ice Cream dive!

Next Up on Saturday was the Rotary Club of Saipan's 3rd annual Parade of Books. I was the official photographer although there were no shortage of parents and cameras!
With Saipanda and Hard Rock dog guy taking the lead the participating schools first took a couple of laps around the Gym before preparing to preform their skits.

The crowd was large and appreciative of all the efforts, from the costumes to the actual choreography and performances.
The judging was apparently so tough they had to ask Mike Sablan to resign his post as public auditor just so he would not have any conflicts of interest as head score keeper. It looks like Mike has landed on his feet after leaving OPA!
There were a few classics performed like snow white and ....
a not so classic one by the kids from Tinian. They came all the way over and managed 3rd prize with a funny little story about a king who would not get out of the tub!In the end it was San Vicente Elementary and their performance of Frankenstein that raised the roof and allowed some very enthusiastic kids to take home first prize - 700 bucks and a big trophy too! A special thanks to NWA for a generous donation to make the event possible!

Congratulations to everyone who participated and to the Rotary for instilling the sense of importance for reading not only for the kids but for the parents too!