Tourism 2010 Resource Centre

New Marketing Tools Help Communities Share Games Excitement with Visitors

“Build it and they will come” just doesn’t cut it for BC’s tourism industry.

With the two-year countdown underway, Tourism BC is launching a new initiative to help communities market their excitement and pride as hosts for the Games.

British Columbia, Home of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Share the Excitement!™ is set to energize the province’s tourism marketing efforts at the grassroots level.

“Use of the official Olympic trademark is very limited, so we wanted to create a new Games-related tagline that can belong to everyone in the BC tourism industry,” says Rod Harris, President and CEO of Tourism BC. “In a very practical sense, this is a tangible way for regions, sectors, communities and individual tourism businesses to be a part of the Games.”

To maximize the benefits of the Winter Games for all regions of the province, BC’s mantra from the start has always been – research it, build it, market it, and then they will come.

With the research done and most Olympic and Paralympic venues now open or near completion, the Share the Excitement! campaign is a key building block in the industry’s overall marketing strategy to ensure that visitors come – and keep coming – before and long after the athletes leave town.

“The intensity of the actual Winter Games is exhilarating, and we know it can be a strong catalyst for our industry. If we work hard together, we can put tourism on a new trajectory for long-term growth,” says Harris.

First introduced at the BC Tourism Industry Conference in February, the Share the Excitement! message started rolling out to regional and community tourism groups in April. Tourism BC and the regional destination marketing organizations will be working together to promote its broad use in local marketing activities – from visitor guides to websites, advertisements and street-level signage.

“This new program gives the North a way to tap into the pride that is building in our communities and share that excitement with our visitors,” said Anthony Everett, CEO of the Northern BC Tourism Association. “The Games might be taking place in the Lower Mainland and Whistler, but we can now use these new marketing tools to leverage their marketing appeal in our activities.”

Everett says the region is already using the Share the Excitement! tagline on its visitor guide and looks forward to putting its marketing power to use everywhere it can.

That’s the kind of endorsement Kathleen Lorentsen, Tourism BC’s Director of Marketing Communications, hopes will encourage other communities and tourism groups to do the same.

“The synergy of everyone’s use will create a tremendous buzz and momentum in the marketplace,” says Lorentsen, charged with overseeing the Share the Excitement! initiative.

“Our industry is uniquely positioned to share the collective feeling of excitement that is pulsing through every community as we gear up to host the Games,” she adds.

Tourism BC is incorporating the tagline into all its marketing materials, including a new Share the Excitement! section of its popular Hello BC® website. Communities and regions will also have the opportunity to incorporate a Share the Excitement! promo on their own website, giving their online visitors an easy way to link into Tourism BC’s site and contribute their stories and Games excitement.

“It’s interactive and is designed to get consumers to share with other consumers their excitement and passion for British Columbia, and their enthusiasm about the Games,” says Lorentsen.

Strong participation will be built by encouraging local communities and individual tourism businesses to share their stories of how they are preparing to host the world in 2010.

BC’s tourism industry is being looked to as the engine to deliver two-thirds of the economic benefits associated with hosting the Games. Tourism BC CEO Rod Harris is quick to respond that the industry is ready, willing and able to deliver on this challenge.

“The ultimate strength of the Share the Excitement! initiative is in its ability to be a focal point and rallying cry that unites BC’s tourism industry and ensures a lasting legacy from the 2010 Games,” he says.

Check out one of Tourism BC’s new Share the Excitement! advertisements now running in its latest visitor guide distributed throughout North America.