Local ad agency RB&K Advertising has won a contract to convince the world's finance movers and shakers that Bermuda means business.

The ad campaign abroad will target CEOs, chief financial officers, brokers, captive and risk managers and investment bankers through top-shelf magazines like Forbes and Portfolio International and the Financial Times newspaper.

RB&K are set to develop a clear and recognisable branding message for the Island which will be used to promote different parts of the international business sector as well as the jurisdiction as a whole.

The agency beat local and overseas competitors in the race to produce and coordinate the campaign -- a joint effort by the Bermuda International Business Association and the Insurance Advisory Committee's marketing branch.

But the exact cost of the project is being kept under wraps.

It is the first time the two organisations have teamed up on such a campaign to support their overseas marketing efforts.

The print advertising campaign will target Bermuda's core markets for insurance and financial services, the US and the UK.

It will extol Bermuda's overall benefits as a jurisdiction and also pitch more tactically aggressive messages about the advantages of the Island's insurance market.

BIBA executive director Pat Phillip-Bassett said the campaign had two basic objectives.

"They are to promote the overall image of Bermuda as a premier international business centre, and to promote the attributes and benefits of the insurance market.

"We also wish to achieve a more cohesive and consistent presentation of Bermuda across all the advertising.'' Insurance Advisory Committee marketing committee chairman Roger Gillett said the project would heighten the Island's global profile.

"The idea is that the range of advertisements will reinforce each other, thereby creating a stronger Bermuda presence in the targeted publications. We also achieve greater economies of scale by having these campaigns produced jointly.'' Since the insurance market continues to lead Bermuda's offering as a business centre it was selected as the first sector to be featured with individual ads within the campaign.

Bermuda Insurance Institute director of information services David Fox said the project would publicise "intellectual and financial capital together with the regulatory system'' behind the Island's insurance explosion.

He said this was just the first step in a multi-tiered project.

Down the road it is planned other international business sectors, such as the telecommunications industry, or cutting edge products will be featured.

For now their strengths will be highlighted within the overall Bermuda messages.

Requests for proposals for the new campaign were sent to both local and overseas advertising agencies but RB&K came out on top after the review process.

Both Ms Phillip-Bassett and Mr. Gillett said they were pleased to be working with a local agency "especially having the convenience of their services and expertise here on the Island''.

Other publications lined up to feature the ads include International Money Marketing, Offshore Financial Review, Business Insurance, Reinsurance, National Underwriter and International Money Marketing.