Kingston, Jamaica – If you’re a creative, Toucan Jamaica is a great place to work. The company is fueled from the ground up by bright young minds, and puts focus on training and developing its staff so that they feel secure in their work and perform at the highest standards.
From Chief Dishwasher/Managing Director Douglas Ames to our corporate bloggers and freelance staff, team members are all about working hard and playing hard to come up with the best creative solutions for our clients. This is why Devon Hunter, Toucan’s new General Manager in Jamaica, fits right in.
“I am one of those persons who functions best when I’m interested in something,” said Hunter, speaking from Toucan’s office on Annette Crescent, Kingston, Jamaica. “And advertising and marketing are things that have always interested me. I believe that advertising chronicles your society. It’s trying to capture the essence of its community and subcultures. It is more than just an ad; it’s a piece of history, really.”
A masters graduate from the University of the West Indies’ Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), Hunter has had a wide range of communication experience, once hosting his own radio show on technology and current affairs and working all over the Caribbean as Group Sponsorship Executive for Digicel’s and the West Indies Cricket Board-sponsored Caribbean Cup tournaments. His career path has been exciting so far, but the cherry on the cake is this new move to Toucan’s specialty: online advertising and branding. As Hunter put it, Internet technologies are the key to making Caribbean businesses stand out and hold their own in a global market.
“If the Caribbean is to be successful, we have to use technology in a way that makes up for the disadvantage we have geographically. Internet social media is a tool to expand your operations from a small place,” he explained. “Digital advertising can help change the wealth of the country and the region and this is a mechanism to ultimately do that.”
And Toucan really impressed him as a company that is pioneering this new industry in emerging markets like the Caribbean.
Hunter has hit the ground running in Jamaica, engaging in discussions and making presentations to major private sector and government agencies even before he began his official training in Trinidad. A major fruit of Hunter’s labour and aggressive approach was securing Trade Winds Citrus Ltd, Jamaica’s largest natural juice manufacturer as a client.
His leadership style has clicked with the full service Kingston team of account executives and creatives. And if the Toucan offices were in competition, Hunter said, his goal is for Jamaica to be on top.
“I’m very competitive in everything I do, so we’ve been moving very aggressively toward that,” he laughed.
Hunter is particularly focused on working with MSME’s (micro, small and medium enterprises) who see where internet advertising, marketing and online client engagement could boost their bottom line, but don’t have the big budgets of multinational corporations. Toucan has a commitment to help drive revenues, efficiencies and service delivery for all their clients, no matter their size, across both the private and public sectors through a groundbreaking Pay for Performance model. Clients only pay Toucan when the company has achieved agreed upon milestones.
“This ensures that clients always get value,” Hunter explained.
The work/life balance is always a struggle for vibrant, young professionals. And as much as Hunter’s experience, work ethic and drive is a great fit for the company, Toucan’s care and commitment toward what its employees value impressed the GM when he applied for the job.
“During my second interview, I was asked what motivates me. What really motivates me is my family: making my parents proud. One member of the interview panel said that it was a great answer; it was a value that he shared and if there was a company that I was afraid to give that answer to, it was probably not a company that I should be working at. And that made me want the job more than anything else,” Hunter mused.
“Toucan is the exciting next chapter of my life.”
About Toucan
Toucan Jamaica is an Interactive advertising agency offering advice on Internet Advertising & Marketing, Online Consumer Engagement, Web Design & Publishing, Search Engine Optimization and overall campaign management to businesses in emerging markets.