It’s all over the place now so it hardly needs repeating but I have to say something – maybe because I lived in Alberta for 20 years. Using an old school approach to marketing, one of smoke and mirrors, Alberta has turned itself into a joke – one that’s gone viral. Why? A tourism campaign that uses images not of Alberta, but of, “… Beadnell Bay near Bamburgh, Northumberland, where the North Sea rolls in from Lindisfarne.” From an article in The Guardian:
“We think it’s quite funny – a landlocked province in Canada presenting an image of itself as an island,” said Sheelagh Caygill of Northumberland Tourism, which is now fondly hoping to piggy-back on the international campaign. News of the gaffe is spreading like wildfire on the internet with tags such as: “Come to Alberta – no, wait, it’s Britain.”
For those unaware, that’s the UK, a considerable distance from Canada.
Should not one of the cardinal rules of a tourism ad be that the images be of the place being promoted?
Apparently not. Also from The Guardian:
Tom Olsen, head of media relations for Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper, said: “There’s no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we were trying to do.”
So now we’re trying to make something bad even worse by trying to tell people that it’s okay to be deceptive if it fits the mood. But of course, that’s Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office. It’s Alberta that is responsible. Their response?
His take (Tom Olsen’s) that the British children were “a symbol of the future” was echoed by Olga Guthrie of Alberta’s public affairs bureau, who is managing the campaign. She said: “This represents Albertans’ concern for the future of the world. There’s no attempt to make people think that the place pictured is Alberta.”
In other words, something clearly stupid will not be admitted to. If it actually is a, “… concern for the future of the world,” then the message must be, “… and the future ain’t in Alberta.”
I’m sorry, but the whole thing is embarrassingly stupid and it’s being made worse by not owning up to it. Every rule of marketing and PR in this technological world is being broken and apparently with no awareness or concern at all.
The story link above, a version of a story that has been kicking around for a few days, is from The Guardian (the UK). I got the link from a guy in Manitoba via Twitter, where I’ve seen it repeatedly for the last few days from people across the country, from around the world. I first heard of it on Facebook – how many people on that?
Yes, it’s viral.
It’s another example of, a) not understanding or respecting people, b) not understanding current technology and how it affects communication and, c) relying on old school marketing and PR techniques that not only don’t work, they harm what they’re meant to promote.
In trying to make itself look better, Alberta has made itself look worse. And the irony? There aren’t many places in the world as beautiful as Alberta. Unfortunately, its politicians and marketers don’t seem to believe that.
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