February 26, 2009
In this issue:

Get Ready for Spring Marketing
An Update and Changes in Media Relations
Canadian Tourism Commission to Enter Indian Market Aggressively
Chinese Marketing Tool
Who is Andrea Schmidt?
Boomers: The Middle Frontier
US Travel Industry Introduces New Standards for Business Meetings, Events and Incentive Travel

Get Ready for Spring Marketing

The Vancouver, Coast & Mountains’ office has been abuzz with activity these past few weeks. We've been taking steps to ensure a spring and summer season full of eager visitors, waiting to explore our communities and tourism products. As a result, we are thrilled to let you know that our co-operative marketing campaigns for the next three months are up and ready for our partners to take advantage of, and the rest will be following shortly. To see a complete list of great deals (including a terrific Up! Westjet package and new Seattle campaign), just click here.

Also, the sales for the 2010 Travel Experience Guide will be starting in a few short weeks. Mark your calendars for the end of March to ensure you get your space early.

If you have any questions about upcoming programs, past projects or just want to chat about marketing ideas, please contact Andrea Schmidt (andrea@vcmbc.com) at 604-484-5366 or Liesbeth Dijkhuizen (liesbeth@vcmbc.com) at 604-638-6931.

An Update and Changes in Media Relations

Earlier this month, Lisa Clement and Jennifer Rhyne attended the 2009 Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) conference in Richmond, held at the River Rock Casino. It was a great success.  The four-day event brought writers and industry members together from as far away as Wales, for an opportunity to network, discuss story ideas, learn new media tactics, and share knowledge.  Some of the conference highlights include: the many cultural tours of Richmond (ask Jennifer and Lisa anything about the Highway to Heaven!) skating at the Olympic Oval, a Dine-Around Vancouver, and Paul Gillin’s informative session on blogging.

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains also hosted groups of journalists on a pre and post TMAC press trip. The Fraser Valley: Field to Table pre press trip allowed the writers to discover the rich, fertile Fraser Valley by visiting a variety of Circle Farm Tour stops, with some sightseeing breaks, a boat tour, and plenty of photo opportunities thrown in.

The Sunshine Coast Romance and Soft Adventure post press trip was blessed with a few days of warm and sunny weather— the perfect way to explore the North Shore and the coast’s most romantic getaways and restaurants – all amorously themed of course!

Here is what a few of the TMAC writers had to say about their trip experience:

“Tracycakes offers the best cupcakes and butter pecan tarts I’ve ever tasted.”

“The visit to Farm House Natural Cheeses stands out in my mind as a real highlight.”

“Thank you for the incredibly well-organized and interesting field to table press trip! It was a real eye-opener, and now I have a much better grip on Vancouver’s backyard.”

“Thank you for organizing the post TMAC [trip] to the Sunshine Coast. I enjoyed it very much – visiting old places, seeing ones, and getting a host of ideas for stories.”

Journalists  may soon start to notice an absence in their inbox each month. Beginning April 1, VCM’s Story Starters (our media newsletter) will integrate with Tourism BC’s Fresh Stories, which feature stories from each region. So, what does this mean for you? Not too much change! We are still collecting and writing your stories to distribute to the media – but we definitely need to hear about them. Please feel free to submit new spring and summer some stories ideas to us the same way you did before by following this link. Also, if you are wondering if any publications have featured your organization or product lately, email Lisa Clement, lisa@vcmbc.com,  for a personal media update.

Canadian Tourism Commission to Enter Indian Market Aggressively

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), Canada's national tourism marketing organization, will enter the Indian market to promote the destination. To enter the Indian market with a successful strategy to attract tourists to Canada, CTC is awaiting the final report of the 'Indian Consumers Research for Tourism', which will give CTC an insight into the Indian market, its diverse nature and also become a base for strategies to be adopted in the coming months. This research is being conducted for the Indian market specifically and will be ready in two week’s time. “The research is first the leg of our journey which will be a strong base to enter into the Indian market to promote Canada as a tourist destination. The first part of the research was conducted in 2007 and it will now undergo some alterations due to changes in consumer demand from India. Canada sees a lot of potential for tourism from the Indian market,” informed Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, Canada.

Canada will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and also the G8 Summit 2010, which will certainly generate awareness about Canada and its offerings to end consumers.

Source: www.travelbizmonitor.com

Chinese Marketing Tool

Do you want to attract more Chinese to visit your country? Here is an opportunity we have come across and thought we would share with you.

Wisers Information Limited is a powerful media monitoring system company from Hong Kong, created by CUHK in 1998. They contain 900 content sources, which cover most of the major newspapers, magazines, websites, TV and radios of Greater China Region. It is a reliable source of information to learn the latest National Conditions of Greater China.

Wisers is able to offer two different opportunities to our partners:

1. Wise Search
This is a keyword search engine which allows you to type in either English or Chinese words in news searching – suitable for ad hoc topic research.

2. Wise Enterprise
This tailor made platform will monitor the news that you want, e.g. tourism. There are translation services (Chinese to English) provided.

For more information, please contact Shirley Fung at shirleyfung@wisers.com.

Who is Andrea Schmidt?

You may be asking yourself “who is this new name appearing in my inbox from Vancouver, Coast & Mountains?” Do not worry – we are happy to clear up the confusion! Andrea Schmidt joined Vancouver, Coast & Mountains this month as a Regional Marketing Specialist. In her position, she will focus on cooperative marketing project planning and implementation for the region and its community partners. 

Does her name sound familiar? Andrea came to us most recently from Rocky Mountaineer, where she started as a practicum student in 2006 and worked her way up to Marketing Specialist, focusing on the areas of international brochure distribution, trade marketing, special offers, and print/online media campaigns. Her portfolio even includes the production of two television commercials.
  
In addition to over 3 years in the tourism industry, she has also completed the Tourism Marketing Management Program at BCIT and takes ongoing career development courses in Marketing to stay up to date with the latest industry trends.   

Don’t worry folks, she isn’t ALL business. Andrea has a couple of quirks that we just have to share, in order for you to properly welcome our newcomer. Here are a couple of fast facts about Andrea:

• She has never eaten a McDonald’s Big Mac or Cheeseburger – ever!
• She loves Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter
• She is a total neat freak (she cleans the house twice per week) – you should see her office!
• She has never been stung by a bee
• She is absolutely terrified of killer whales

Finally, in her down time with family and friends, Andrea enjoys exploring the trails around Port Moody where she lives, and weekend getaways to her family home in Osoyoos during the summer.   

Andrea is excited to be a part of the Vancouver, Coast and Mountains team, and can be reached at andrea@vcmbc.com or 604-484-5366.

Boomers: The Middle Frontier

A new boomer marketing era is here, and it's disrupting our conception of what it means to talk to the "me" generation. That's because today's boomers aren't defined by generation.

We've historically assumed that identity is formed in youth, so we think that if you understand the youth experience, you understand the adult. That's not true anymore. Today's boomers are dramatically more affected by today's events than by past events. What happened at Woodstock simply has limited relevance to what they are facing today.

Marketers tend to make two mistakes in targeting boomers. They either treat them like they are aged versions of their youth, or lump them in as "seniors" with everyone over 45 or 50, failing to understand that midlife is a distinct life stage, unlike youth or old age, with its own rites of passage and turning points.

Today, boomers are defined by a common life stage -- midlife -- that occupies an expanded period from their 40s to late 60s. Their experience of midlife is new because they can expect to live up to 20 years longer than past generations. Most look and act younger than their parents at this age. Think of Tom Cruise, Katie Couric and Oprah, all midlife boomers. Rather than preparing to check out, they are moving on to a second life. If they are lucky, they will reach a life-peak their parents could only have dreamed of and that younger people envy.

They'll also face unprecedented struggles that will keep them out of the rocking chair anytime soon. As they have with all life stages, boomers are pioneering this period. They have no roadmap, no examples to follow. They are looking for help.

An example is that of finding your "true north" -- your purpose and passion in life. StrawberryFrog research has shown that between the ages of 45 and 64, boomers go from saying they want to find their passion to actually feeling they've found it. Midlife-targeted products such as nut snacks, that we helped a major food company develop, are specifically designed to fuel boomers during this turning point.

In summary, there's a new and better approach to boomer marketing, and it's not generational. It is all about products and branding that are hyper-relevant to their new life stage.

Source: written by Chip Walker: Marketing Daily – February 23, 2009: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=100710

US Travel Industry Introduces New Standards for Business Meetings, Events and Incentive Travel

In the face of relentless media focus and new federal regulations on business travel during these challenging economic times, the US Travel Industry introduced new model standards for business meetings, events and incentive/recognition travel. These accountability standards for companies that have taken emergency government lending, establish clear, workable guidelines to help businesses maintain productive meetings, events and incentive travel. (click here for the standards and here for the press release).

US Travel is operating a comprehensive communications and government relations strategy to protect and promote corporate travel. This strategy includes groundbreaking research; ally development with business, labor and government leaders; aggressive outreach to Capitol Hill and the Obama Administration; and extensive efforts to help the media better understand that American workers and local communities are the unintended victims of cuts in meetings, events and incentive travel. For more information visit: http://www.ustravel.org/index.html.

Source: US Travel Association