The Bonaire Tourism Corporation says a viral moment during the Super Bowl halftime show has helped place the island in the global spotlight through a strategic marketing campaign.

According to the tourism body, the campaign began after a performance by Bad Bunny featured performers carrying flags from countries across the Americas and Caribbean. The Bonaire flag was prominently displayed during the broadcast, which was viewed by millions worldwide.

Officials said that within 24 hours of the performance, the organisation moved quickly to capitalise on the exposure by releasing a shareable promotional video highlighting the island. The video attracted more than 500,000 views in its first day, marking the start of what the organisation described as a momentum marketing strategy aimed at amplifying Bonaire’s global visibility.

The campaign expanded with a second video encouraging viewers to help identify the man seen carrying the Bonaire flag during the halftime show. Tourism officials said the initiative turned viewers into active participants, generating 2.7 million views within 24 hours through organic online engagement.

The effort eventually led to the identification of Emmanuel, whose appearance during the performance drew widespread attention. A third video later revealed he had been located and invited to visit the Caribbean island, continuing the campaign through storytelling centred on his first visit and experiences exploring the destination’s culture, people and attractions.

The tourism body said the campaign has already produced measurable results, with its social media platforms gaining more than 11,000 new followers in just two days. Officials noted the initiative was driven entirely by earned media and estimated that achieving similar exposure through traditional advertising could have cost between $120,000 and $500,000.

Chief Executive Officer Elesiër Angel said the campaign demonstrated the impact of combining real-time marketing with community engagement and authentic storytelling.

“By combining momentum marketing, community-powered engagement, and authentic storytelling, this moment showed what is possible when Bonaire comes together. What started as a viral moment became something much bigger: a shared expression of pride that introduced our island to people around the world who had never heard of Bonaire before. We are grateful to our community for embracing and sharing this moment with us, because together we turned global attention into a genuine connection with our island,” Angel said.