By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
The Village of McBride held its annual tourism summit last Thursday, which invites business owners, nonprofits, and representatives from the regional and provincial government to discuss advertising strategies and challenges facing the tourism sector. This year’s presentations included an overview of the revamped Visit McBride website (mcbridetourism.ca) and a new tourism campaign, “McBride Alive.”
The new site, designed by Vancouver-based company KIMBO Design, features more photos, links to McBride Tourism’s social media accounts, and new posts about upcoming events. Northern Development Initiative Trust sponsored the redesign, said Karen Dube, McBride’s Economic Development Officer, during her opening remarks.
The website also features the slogan of a new tourism campaign: “McBride Alive.” Chris Fields, the consultant hired by the Village to refresh their tourism advertising campaigns, said the slogan is meant to invoke the excitement of outdoor activities like snowmobiling and horseback riding, and inspire local business owners to share their personal stories in their advertising.
Fields has been working with the Village for about a year and a half now, he told The Goat. He hopes the new campaign will be an accessible tool for locals who work in the tourism sector: they can use the “McBride Alive” slogan to come up with their own advertisements and branding. The example Fields gave was an ad featuring a photo of a campfire and a story about enjoying a campfire story with your family, capped off by the “McBride Alive” slogan in one corner.
“It’s easy to work with. You don’t need to be a brand expert to work with this simple phrasing,” Fields told The Goat. “And the second piece is telling local stories… a lot of tourism marketing will be all about majestic views and super general stuff. What I like about this is it’s trying to tell the stories of real people.”
Fields has had a good experience working with the McBride tourism committee, he said.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said. “All the things we, as visitors, like is what McBride is: honest, transparent, authentic.”
McBride resident Eileen MacDonald, who sits on the tourism committee and attended the summit on behalf of the Back Country Horsemen of BC, said she found the summit to be a valuable way to come up with action items for business owners to promote tourism.
“Right now, there’s an opportunity in the things that Jasper can’t provide. If we can provide it in a McBride way, tour companies can bring more people here. But we have to move this stuff into action,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald also appreciates the McBride Alive campaign’s emphasis on adding a personal element to advertising.
“I like the story focus,” she said. “Creating interactions and a personal relationship is really important.”
“It’s really nice to see all the support from out of town,” she added, referring to Community Futures, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, and Rec Sites and Trails BC. “McBride has had a lot of challenges this summer, and it’s nice to get ideas from different groups.”
