MICE

Business Events Canada (BEC)

Project: ‘Canada Rocks, How Do You Roll’ bus tour

Target Audience:

• Business events media
• Event planners, intermediary event agencies, corporate planners and associations 

Key Objectives:

• Our brief was to find an innovative way for our client Business Events Canada, which we had earlier launched in the UK marketplace, to target business events media and event planners.
• In addition to showcasing our client as a cool and innovative option we would be generally looking to raise awareness of Canada’s diverse product offering and its suitability for hosting major events and incentives. 

Key Challenges:

Due to the nature of our client Business Events Canada, which is made up of a wide range of partner organisations such as Tourism Toronto, all of whom run independent sales and marketing campaigns parallel to those of the BEC, it was of paramount importance that our campaign was not just brand compliant but unified to ensure ‘buy in’ and support from all the BEC partners.

We also needed to secure facetime with key UK media publications, decision makers and event planners across the five-day period and fill a finale event in London with media and target planners within a relatively tight total budget.

What we did:

Our solution was to devise a campaign centred on branding two luxury coaches with scenes of Canada, highlighting selling points such as its great outdoors and unique experiences. This was reinforced by plasma screens inside the coaches showcasing a specially commissioned promotional video.

The coaches then toured the country visiting potential clients onsite, acting as branded meeting venues supported by onboard Canadian hospitality and other branded marketing collateral.

The project kicked off with a teaser campaign to pique interest, supported by social media and coverage secured in the major business events publications. The latter were also our first port of call on launch day for photocalls and interviews. While the media were expecting us the style and scale of our arrival, complete with on-board professional caterers handing out Canadian canapés’ and Canadian wine, ensured maximum impact.

In every port of call we held competitions to win tickets to see Canadian rocker Bryan Adams in concert and the tour culminated in a finale back in London centred on a nightclub we had hired and transformed with Canada branding, backed by a concert by a Bryan Adams lookalike and a competition to win a Les Paul Guitar. 

Results achieved:

• The number of potential delegates for BEC partners increased by 455% to 14,887 in the period from Sept–May, compared to the same period in the previous year
• Valuable printed and online coverage secured in all business events publications, including M&IT, C&IT and CMW magazine
• Potential room nights for BEC partners increased by 532% to 45,966 for the same Sept–May period, year on year
• Potential revenue of £20,000,000 generated, equivalent to a staggering return on investment (ROI) of more than 87 times;
• The campaign also generated an incredible amount of goodwill and raised awareness for the various BEC partners in the UK marketplace.

Testimonial:

Kieron O’Shea, Client Services Director, The MotivAction Group:

“The Canada Bus Tour was undoubtedly the most effective onsite destination visit we’ve had at MotivAction. The format, tone and content were just right for our busy team of project managers and sales people… and all with minimum impact on the working day.”