The power of marketing
It would seem the decision on which city to pick for the multi-million-dollar theme park announced at this morning’s press conference hinged on a Powerpoint video.
Tom Aubrey, in explaining how Kamloops won the project, said he watched the Our Place in the Sun video over coffee one morning and used it to tip the scales in our favour.
If you haven’t seen this video, you’re one of the few who hasn’t. It was produced five years ago as a marketing tool for the city. We presented it to Premier Gordon Campbell when we were looking for Tournament Capital and airport expansion money. We played it at the official opening of the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality. We translated it into Chinese and Japanese and took it overseas.
Everywhere, and every time, it’s been played, it gets rave reviews. Occasionally, it gets updated with new pictures (my own photo has long since disappeared from the presentation). What makes it work is the music in combination with the quality of photos and the theme.
While the video received a lot of credit today, those who make it what it is didn’t. The City of Kamloops commissioned it, but Henry Small’s lyrics and music make it sing, literally. And the production by Sharon Stevens and her Communications Solutions company is first-rate. In fact, they’ve won awards for it.
Now, it seems, that Powerpoint, just a few minutes long, is responsible at least in part for getting us a huge new tourist attraction. That’s the power of marketing.
Footnote One: I wonder when Mayor Peter Milobar, who was at theannouncement, will be able to resist the urge to take shots at the media every time he speaks. Get over it, Peter, we’re staying.
Footnote Two: Coun. John O’Fee has a trigger on his computer that gives him a head’s up every time his name appears on somebody’s blog. This is for him, because now he’s going to have to log on to see what I’m writing about him. Hey, he gets his name on the blogosphere; I get another hit.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The whole “I was having coffee in the morning…story is just that: Hype–a story. That’s not to say it’s not a good video, it is. It just isn’t the truth as to how Aubrey came to his decision. In fact he had nothing to do with the decision making process. That decision was made by Mr. Wickham after two years of researching locations around the province, and prior to his being introduced to Aubrey by Venture Kamloops.
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Anyone who thinks this will actually be completed needs to wakeup!
Wont happen, its all a pipe dream.
Just look who the players are.
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Aubrey … was approached by a fella that had spent two years researching where to build a waterpark. Tom Aubrey, in explaining how Kamloops won the project, said he watched the Our Place in the Sun video over coffee one morning and used it to tip the scales in our favour, is a complete fabrication only meant to curry favour with the city. Shame on all of you for believing his canard!
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Thanks Mel for highlighting the connection between the announcement and the Flash video “Place in the Sun” — our team at Communication Solutions enjoyed making that video. As you will recall from your days in office, we were confident that the strategy of combining some of the Olympic 2010 pillars with a profile of our community assets and pride (and use local artists in the process) — to weave them into a theme that would generate an emotional response to some key community goals — would deliver results. We are pleased that it keeps on delivering!
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Doug Wittal’s presentation yesterday was fabulous and although I am relatively new to Kamloops, have heard from many that the Communication Solutions video used in the presentation has not only moved millions of dollars in Kamloops’ direction, but also has us firmly planted in the frontal lobes of many international influencers. I say there’s much more coming our way… soon. Oh yeah to the gods of marketing.
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Anyone can set an alerts page through the major web portals. I happen to use Google but I am sure Yahoo and the others have the same thing. Anytime a story or blog mentions any phrase containing your chosen words, you get an automatic email alert. It’s pretty simple to set up. I set mine for “Kamloops” in news only and my full name in news and blogs. It keeps me in the loop about the ‘loops.
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