Once again, I was lucky enough to attend yet another amazing and inspiring event this past week thanks to BCIT. The BC Chapter of the American Marketing Association (BCAMA) Marketer of the Year Gala took place at the Westin Bayshore on Wednesday, November 12th. This year’s award winner was Tourism Victoria, and it was a night filled with creative minds and great ideas.
The Marketer of the Year Gala was attended by around 300 of British Columbia’s best marketers. Being a judge for the awards, the program head of the BCIT Marketing Communications program was able to work his magic and get nine of us marketing students a ticket at a discounted price.
The evening started off as most of these events do with a cocktail networking reception in the lobby outside the ballroom. The lobby was staged with some of the ideas and props that aided Tourism Victoria in becoming this year’s Marketer of the Year, beating out the other finalists the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Bayshore Financial. A delicious three-course meal then followed before the award ceremony began.
Trina Mousseau, the Chief Marketing Officer for Tourism Victoria, accepted the award and walked the room through the creative strategy behind the award-winning marketing efforts. Some elements of Tourism Victoria’s marketing excellence included British-style telephone booths placed throughout Vancouver and Seattle. In these booths, people could watch videos about Victoria, win prizes through answering questions, and speak to members of Tourism Vancouver. Another creative tactic used was in the form of mirror advertising in public bathrooms.
Even with a small marketing budget, Tourism Victoria managed to tremendously increase the amount of visitors to Victoria and change people’s perceptions of British Columbia’s capital city with the use of unique and creative marketing tactics.
Events like this one get me so excited to finish the program and get out into the work force. There are so many opportunities to work with extremely talented people after graduation, and who knows maybe one day I will be accepting the award for Marketer of the Year.
Thanks for the great night BCAMA and congratulations to Tourism Victoria- you deserved it!