A $1.1-million ski campaign that launches Nov. 14 wants to draw skiers in the Greater Toronto Area westward.
The campaign was developed by Dare in collaboration with the Canada’s West Ski Areas Association, which includes representatives from B.C.’s 13 ski resorts. It focuses on Toronto with secondary focus on San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Pat Bell, B.C.’s minister of jobs, tourism and innovation, said the budget is more than double what the province typically spends on marketing the ski season.
“The beauty of it we’ve got a provincial campaign that was developed by the people who have the biggest stake in the game – the destination resorts,” said Bell.
Research showed that the overwhelming reason people came to BC in winter was to ski and snowboard. “There was nothing else even close,” he said.
Christopher Nicolson, president of Tourism Sun Peaks, worked with the province on the campaign. He said the campaign and slogan “Get Above it all in British Columbia,” capitalizes on the attention B.C. received due to the Winter Olympics.
“As an industry, we felt the message had to be bold and position the province in a leadership role,” said Nicholson. “It’s not to be arrogant. B.C. is an exceptional product and we need to be bolder and tell the world.”
Carol Nelson, director of marketing with the tourism ministry, said the target demographic is 35-plus with a skew to males who are frequent travelers.
The campaign includes transit shelter ads, subway posters and elevator wraps in four key buildings in Toronto’s financial district. Each provides a link to DiscoverBCSki.com (which is set to go live Nov. 14).
The campaign will run until March.
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