Tourism 2010 Resource Centre

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World’s Media Tuned in to BC

The 2010 Games exceeded expectations on all fronts when it came to generating stories about British Columbia in print, online and television media around the world, says Mika Ryan, Manager of 2010 Travel Media Relations for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts.

Although the ministry is still tallying up the results of its Olympic media relations efforts, the event appears to have been a home run.

“One of the biggest wins for us was that this wasn’t just a two-week event,” Ryan says. “We definitely exceeded our expectations with the world’s top media outlets.”

The Province began shooting vignettes around B.C. two years prior to the Games, creating a bank of B-roll material beyond the Olympic venues and host cities that has been used repeatedly by official broadcasters.

The Ministry was able to second staff to many of the major Games broadcasters. This unique relationship, several years in the making, gave media relations teams a unique opportunity to help shape stories about B.C., while also providing a valuable service to Olympic broadcasters.

As a measure of Olympic media success, coverage was not restricted to the Lower Mainland and Whistler region. NBC, for example, produced an evocative feature on the Haida Gwaii. The 2010 Tourism Passport program was also a big hit in terms of promoting regional and legacy stories, giving approximately 3,000 journalists from key tourism markets like Ontario, the U.S., Europe and Asia, free access to attractions, tours and nightclubs, ferry travel, and steep discounts on transportation, hotels, and restaurant food bills throughout the province until March 21, 2010.

As a result of the passport program, media - like an ARD affiliate from Germany that produced destination stories on Vancouver Island - was encouraged to turn their lenses toward the province’s diverse tourism riches.

A huge part of the media success story is attributable to the joyous feeling surrounding the Games, which was evident to anyone strolling the streets of Vancouver and Whistler in February.

According to Ryan, when veteran media were asked about comparable past Olympic experiences, they said Vancouver generated the same critical mass of positive energy that elevated the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games and the 2000 Sydney Summer Games into the realm of history’s most memorable Olympic experiences.

The 2010 Games has now joined this elite club, and when the next Winter Olympics opens in Sochi, Russia, Vancouver will be the benchmark.

“People were engaged, everybody was on board and that made a huge difference on the overall impact of the Games,” Ryan says. “Lots of media have said they plan to return to B.C. with their families. Awareness about B.C. has definitely increased and I expect this to continue well into the future.”

While much energy went into media planning before and during the Games, Ryan says the ministry is also building on this huge exposure for the years to come, and focusing attention on other parts of the province that weren’t basking directly in the Olympic glow.

And contrary to what some people might have expected, Ryan says she hasn’t witnessed any post-Games Olympic fatigue in media attitudes; in fact the opposite has been true.

A recent media event in San Francisco to kickoff the first international consumer marketing campaign post-Games attracted more than 40 key travel and news media from the California market.