2012 Fall Shopping Campaign

Description:
On October 1, Tourism Calgary launched its final regional campaign of 2012. The campaign was designed to drive visitation to Calgary for fall weekend getaways that featured shopping. The hotel package promoted in the campaign included gift cards for one of three Calgary shopping centres.  

Dates:
October 1 to December 31 (Media in market for 8 weeks; online presence and packages through to December 31)

Partners:
Chinook Centre, The CORE, CrossIron Mills, Tourism Calgary, Calgary Hotel Association, Travel Alberta TDR Fund

Markets:
Edmonton, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Southeast British Columbia

Media:
Television, newspaper, magazine, billboard, online, visitcalgary.com, social media, public relations and hotel communication channels

Budget: $620,000

The campaign was supported by a new, enhanced shopping landing page on visitcalgary.com that featured the campaign’s partners and regularly updated shopping content. It also included a first-of-its-kind online shopping tool that recommended stores based on the visitor’s shopping style. This new online tool has garnered much attention since being launched October 1, receiving coverage throughout Canada in publications such as Regina Leader Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Ottawa Citizen and the Calgary Herald.

The shopping campaign was highly integrated into other Tourism Calgary fall fashion/shopping initiatives such as the Paul Hardy Anniversary event (see the public relations section for details) and an exciting social media initiative called  “Tweet Dress”.  

Results:
Fall Campaign Web Traffic – Website statistics from Q4 were positive with visits up 51% and page views up 37% over Q4 2011. The shopping landing page on visitcalgary.com was the most visited page in Q4 and increases in web traffic came from the key markets targeted by the shopping campaign.

Q4 Web Visits
Regional Market: Change over 2011
Edmonton Up 184%
Saskatoon Up 365%
Lethbridge Up 120%
Regina Up 400%
Final sales results from the campaign will be provided in Q1.