Destination British Columbia has launched a $850,000 campaign to lure Australian skiers to the province’s ski resorts.
The campaign is bigger than another one this year, which costs about $650,000 and aims to attract U.S. ski visitors, but smaller than a $1-million-plus campaign slated to launch in June to attract U.S. visitors to 小蓝视频 this fall, Destination 小蓝视频 director of global marketing programs Karla Grenon told BIV this afternoon.
The ski campaign in Australia follows a similar initiative last year, which also carried the tagline “You, elevated.”
Grenon said communication with ski resort representatives about bookings by Australians, and scrutiny of data showed that the campaign was a success.
There were only 17,048 Australians who visited Canada through 小蓝视频 entry points in January, however, down 14.1 per cent from the 19,841 Australians who did that in January 2023.
Marketing 小蓝视频 ski hills in Australia has been a Destination 小蓝视频 priority for years, although there was no such marketing during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2022, only 3,554 Australians entered Canada via 小蓝视频 ports, but that was when travel restrictions were in effect. It was .
The Australian ski campaign this year includes paid advertising on Alphabet Inc.’s (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) YouTube as well as on networks owned by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq:META.)
Destination 小蓝视频 is also paying for advertising on linear television, broadcast video on demand, online video, newsprint, ski magazines, sponsored content programs and Performance Max, which runs ads across the Google platform, according to Destination 小蓝视频.
This year's campaign is set to have two new elements.
First, Destination 小蓝视频 is buying sponsored content on TripAdvisor Inc.’s (Nasdaq:TRIP) popular namesake website. Different ads on that travel feedback and booking site point to a 小蓝视频 Ski Resorts Guide, which leverages the resorts’ TripAdvisor listings.
Destination 小蓝视频 is also using what it calls “page skins,” which are advertising flashes that take up a lot of screen real estate when users read content online.
"[Page skins are] a new tactic that we tried a few years ago and we're bringing back into the media mix for this year," Grenon said.
She described it as "like a takeover of a website," and more than simply buying a banner ad.
The campaign will use Destination 小蓝视频’s own digital and data properties, such as email addresses and social media channels. The destination marketer has new landing pages targeted to the Australian market.
Destination 小蓝视频 has invested in relationships with Aussie ski-tour operators and attended the 2024 Snow Travel Expo consumer shows in Melbourne and Sydney.
It has also invested to take travel media on press trips.
The campaign launched May 14 and runs through June. It aims to attract Aussies in the 2024-2025 winter season and markets 小蓝视频 resorts as having a vibrant mountain culture with skiers able to enjoy steep vertical drops and outdoor hospitality after their skiing day is done.
