After more than three months of competition and thousands of votes cast via Facebook, Tommy Bahama is excited to announce that Jack Terry from Key West, FL is the first-ever Tommy Bahama Rumologistâ’ž¢. What began as a nationwide search, soon narrowed down to a Top 20 then Top 10, and finally a group of five very worthy finalists from across the country vying for the coveted new title. The finalists in the competition all submitted an additional video making their final plea for the title, and then Tommy Bahama let the voting public determine the eventual winner. “This was an incredibly exciting experience for us, as well as very rewarding to see the voting public get involved and excited along the way,” explains Rob Goldberg, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Restaurants for Tommy Bahama. “We embarked on this journey with the hope that we would truly find an individual which embodied everything we wanted in our Rumologist, and with Jack Terry, we found him:and we thank all the contestants for their interest and enthusiasm. Each of the finalists was amazing, so we knew we would come out a winner no matter who was chosen.”
Now that Jack Terry has become the Tommy Bahama Rumologist, he will begin to experience the unique lifestyle and adventure that can only come from the company with the motto: Make Life One Long Weekend. “We plan on having our Rumologist share his love, passion and knowledge about rum with not only our team, but the public at large,” adds Goldberg. “We will get to work immediately creating new rum-inspired cocktails, culinary pairings and hosting events at our locations across the country with Jack as the host.” First up on the Rumologist itinerary will be a trip to Las Vegas the end of October where the Rumologist will take part in a Tommy Bahama Las Vegas rum & cigar event. Additionally, with the holidays quickly approaching, the Rumologist will begin working with the Tommy Bahama culinary team to help create distinctive holiday cocktails and rum pairing menus to be featured at its 13 restaurant locations (New York City flagship restaurant set to open in fall 2012). Also on tap will be the launch of the Tommy Bahama Rumologist Blog ” a place where rum-lovers can follow Jack’s adventures and travels, as well as learn about rum, information on Tommy Bahama cocktails and news and information on upcoming events and rum happenings.
“Tommy Bahama says that life is one long weekend and that’s how I live my life,” says Jack Terry, the new Tommy Bahama Rumologist. “I’m just trying to promote that type of lifestyle and I’m lucky enough to live it. This is something I’ve been training for my entire life. Anyone can study rum, but it’s the joy of living the carefree lifestyle that makes me different; that’s my lifeline – it’s what I’ve been doing, and now I can create a whole new generation of rum drinkers. It’s amazing to think I can influence others as the new Tommy Bahama Rumologist.”
Since launching the Rumologist search, over 13,000 new people are now following Tommy Bahama on Facebook. “We are so excited to have so many new people following us on Facebook,” notes Goldberg. “It is critical to keep growing our audience and engaging our guests with exciting news, events and lifestyle options. This search for the Rumologist has shown us how important it is to engage our fans. We hope to use this experience as a spring-board for many exciting new distinctive and unique social media initiatives.”
