Tourism Victoria is betting that a little healthy competition with Calgary and Edmonton will help Albertans choose B.C.’s capital as their next destination.
The $57,000 campaign by Vancouver’s Think Social Media and Newad launches Feb. 17 with branded hand dryers in Alberta washrooms.
The women’s dryers are branded “This warmth brought to you by Tourism Victoria,” while the men will find “Warm up your golf grip here.”
“The average temperature in Calgary and Edmonton is -15 Celsius and ours is 10,” said Trina Mousseau, director destination marketing for Tourism Victoria. “Calgarians love their golf, and they certainly can’t golf right now in Calgary. But they can golf in Victoria.”
The hand dryers are accompanied by posters showing sunny golf courses and spring weather. Their copy says “We’re so sure Victoria’s weather is better than yours, we’ll bet on it.”
Mousseau says they are still working out the details, but if the weather is better in Calgary or Edmonton then they’ll likely take a full page out in the Metro newspaper with an open letter from the CEO of Tourism Victoria to the CEO of Travel Alberta.
“Basically, it will be saying ‘okay you guys beat us,” said Mousseau. “We’ll be poking fun at ourselves.”
The creative will also run on Weather Network properties, mobile and online media directing people to the Facebook page, and what Mousseau calls “a friendly wager” in an effort to get deeper engagement with their Alberta market.
The campaign will run for six weeks.
