Travel Alberta wants people to remember to breathe.
That’s the tagline for the provincial corporation’s new branding campaign, unveiled last week at an annual industry conference in Banff.
Remember to Breathe represents the provincial marketing group’s first actual official brand and has been in the works over the past two years, according to managing director of global marketing Royce Chwin.
“If you look back (Travel Alberta) really didn’t have a brand,” Chwin said.
He said two years ago when Chief Executive Officer Bruce Okabe took over the corporation he charged his staff with creating a corporate strategy that included developing a brand.
Chwin said competition is fierce for tourism dollars and the brand needed to cut through that clutter and get an emotional response.
“All we do is drive awareness, it is the tourism providers that make the sale and provide the experience,” he said.
The new brand focuses on unique and authentic experiences that visitors can enjoy in breathtaking landscapes.
“Alberta is blessed with so many real and memorable experiences in one of the most spectacular backdrops in the world and we are confident that we will raise awareness of Alberta with travellers around the world with the message ‘Remember to Breathe’ when you visit here,” Okabe said. “This message will differentiate Alberta from competing vacation destinations both in Canada and internationally and underpin our strategy to grow tourism spending in the province by $1 billion by 2016.”
Executive director for North America Shelley Grollmuss said the winter branding campaign is important to increase awareness of vacation offerings in Alberta.
Grollmuss said that increased awareness will then push references to tourism operators and translate into sales and revenues.
“We are going into the North American market with one single unified consistent message about what we are selling,” she said. “Traditionally, we have sold products in the past and we are moving toward selling experiences.”
The change in traditional marketing sees the destination marketing organization focus on achieving an emotional response instead of selling products.
Marty Eberth with industry relations said tourism operators can leverage the Travel Alberta campaign to their benefit and provide content and offers on its website.
“We are hoping you are asking yourself ‘how can I get involved’,” she said at the conference.
The branding campaign also follows the Canadian Tourism Commission’s explorer quotient (EQ) segmentation model, based on extensive market research, to find out exactly why people travel and why different types of travellers seek out different experiences.
The segmentation tool relies on psychographics instead of demographics. That means it defines people by looking at personal beliefs, social values and worldview.
Eberth said businesses can access the information on EQ and whom Travel Alberta is targeting to create or enhance their product to target a specific audience.
Grollmuss added Travel Alberta’s upcoming winter campaign focuses on ‘free spirits’ and ‘cultural explorers’ of the EQ model.
The markets being focused on are Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ottawa and areas of southwestern California like San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.
Key to that area, which Grollmuss says has the right EQ mix, is the destination marketing organization’s relationship with the Anaheim Ducks.
It is using social media, TV spots, cinema in Ottawa, elevator wraps in Calgary and a snowball fight in California. Marketing features dog sledding, an ice walk, snowshoeing and skiing as possible experiences.
The winter campaign will launch officially on Nov. 14 and more information, especially for those wishing to align their marketing with Travel Alberta’s brand, is available at www.remembertobreathe.com
Tourism currently attracts more than 22 million visitors who spend more than $5 billion in the province annually to Alberta. The industry generates more than $2 billion in annual tax revenue for federal, provincial and municipal governments and employs more than 90,000 people.
