His tourist agency or the biggest star?

Puerto Rican Rapper Bad Bunny is one of the greatest stars of the music world. After becoming the most frequently sent artist Three years in a row – the first and only artist he has ever done – he I sold out all 49 dates From his 2024 American route, imposed on USD 211 million.

At the beginning of this year, after Bad Bunny He co -organized “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and announced 21-show residence in Puerto RicoThe recently elected mayor of San Juan, Miguel Romero, joked that the artist had He did a better job, promoting Puerto Rico than the official marketing organization on the island.

This agency, Discover Puerto RicoIt was founded in 2017 to sell the island to both tourists and investors. Founded during the administration of the governor Ricardo Rosselló, it was part of a wider effort to professionalize the Puerto Rico brand and emphasized the importance of tourism for the island’s economy.

As a scholar Puerto Rican Policy And put branding – and the native Puerto Rican – I think this case study raises engaging questions about public policy: who comes to the Puerto Rico brand? Why does it matter if the place has a brand? And if political leaders are dissatisfied with the agency whose only goal is to promote the island, what will happen next?

It’s not just a place – it’s a brand

Historically, branded campaigns were conducted by governments trying to attract tourism and investments. One of the most iconic examples was The “I love new york” campaignHe was launched in 1977 as cooperation between Up-to-date York and private partners. Similar public-private models have become more common in the next decades.

Puerto Rico has seen various branding activities for years. Early Boosterism Efforts performed in the first half of the 20th century, in 1970. Tourist Puerto Rico was created to promote the island as a tourist place. In the 1990s, many municipalities in Puerto Rico began to take another place branding strategies.

During the deepening tax crisis Puerto Rico in 2010, Branding efforts remained a double -sided priority. But the two dominant political-root-terrorist parties popular Democtico and the pro-state partido Nuevo Progressist-Kaver from them changed the island every time the novel administration took office, increasing the concerns about cohesion. The last substantial initiative run by the government before they discover that Puerto Rico was the “Isla Estrella” campaign, which included Sponsorship agreement with the Spanish football team Sevilla FC.

The era “Discover Puerto Rico”

In 2017, Discover Puerto Rico took control of the brand’s efforts on the island. However, its performance was polarized, and critics indicate Significant mistakes. For example, early advertising in your “Live Boricua“Campaign caused slack For the presentation of a family that did not look like most Puerto Rican.

In addition to marketing errors, Discover Puerto Rico tries to move the Puerto Rico landscape. In fact, he was questioned from the very beginning and remains like the recently elected governor Jennifer González Evaluates your future. It remains unclear to what extent the performance and economic development will serve as the main criteria for assessing its success and to what extent the party’s policy will affect the decision -making process.

Only a day before the mayor of Romero noticed his attention about Bad Bunny, discover the general director of Puerto Rico, Brad Dean, resigned, Playing a similar role in St. Louis. Dean argued that during his term Discover Puerto Rico led A significant increase in tourist and tourist expenditure. Although these numbers reported by these numbers do not concern a critical problem-long-term political controversy around Puerto Rico branding.

Pop culture has weight

At the same time, the future of Discover Puerto Rico remains uncertain, the island has gained an incomparable international attention thanks to popular music.

Reggaeten, a city genre that was created in Puerto Rico in the 90s, gathered a huge global base of fans, stretching outside Puerto Rico and Latin America to the rest of the world. In 2017, Video Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi for the world hit “Slowlyhe turned around PearlBarrio working class in Aged San Juan, in a magnet for tourists from around the world.

Recently, in January 2025, Bad Bunny released his latest album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”, which enters into established genres of music in Puerto Rico, such as BombIN full AND Jíbara’s music which are usually not related to reggaetón. This Chart on No. 1. Bad Bunny also announced that the exclusive series of concerts from Puerto Rico, with some dates reserved for residents and other open to fans around the world.

The success of artists from Puerto Ricoetón raises an crucial question: Why were these organic cultural movements so effective-maybe even more than the official agency dealing with marketing places-in promoting Puerto Rico as a brand?

I think the answer probably consists in authenticity. In contrast to the initiatives conducted by the government, the global cancellation of reggaeton results from the cultural resonance and the emotional relationship with the audience around the world, regardless of politics.

At this critical moment of the island’s tourist agency, maybe discover that Puerto Rico should change as “discover the place of birth of reggaetan”.