The starting point
A tough room in December
Kevin started with Travel Manitoba in October 2007. His first real meeting with the industry came that December, at the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association show. The lodge owners weren't happy with how things had been going, and the new government contractor was the one standing in front of them.
"My name is Kevin Palmer. I'm your new fish and hunt manager, and I know nothing about fishing and hunting."
It was an honest opening, and it didn't land well. But they heard him out. Kevin walked them through his marketing work for Ontario and the Northern Ontario Native Tourism Association, and the room started to relax. Then he made one request: send me the names of your best customers, so I can ask them why they come to Manitoba instead of Ontario, Saskatchewan or Quebec.
Earning trust
One name, then two, then four hundred
Nobody sent a single name. The lodges didn't trust the government with their customers. Kevin kept emailing and kept asking. One list trickled in, then two, then five lodges and five outfitters. Over time he built a list of 400 top fishing and hunting guests, all of them people who came back to Manitoba year after year.
Kevin also got out to the lodges themselves. Over his years with Travel Manitoba he visited 53 of them in person, which is how the working relationships, and later the friendships, were built.
The research
400 conversations, half an hour each
Every guest on the list got a telephone interview of about 30 minutes. The questions were built to find out what brought them to Manitoba and how to find more people like them:
- Which shows do you attend every year?
- What do you like about Manitoba's lodges?
- What do you like about the fishing?
- What do you like about the hunting?
- Where do you work, and what do you do?
- How would we find more people just like you?
One answer kept coming up when guests were asked where they go to see what's available: the All Canada Shows.
The plan
Go where the guests already go
The survey answers became a marketing plan that split the market into fishing and hunting and went straight after the shows the guests named.
Become the main sponsor
Kevin called the All Canada Shows and committed part of his budget. Instead of handing over a cheque, Travel Manitoba would buy media in each market before each show to drive attendance, with Manitoba creative everywhere. The show organisers agreed, and Travel Manitoba became the main sponsor.
Build the booth once
A booth four spaces wide, under a 22-foot inflatable northern pike. The All Canada Shows maintained it and moved it city to city, and Manitoba crews arrived to staff it.
Warm up every market
Radio, television and billboards ran in each city in the weeks before its show, so people arrived already thinking about Manitoba.
Own the show floor
Door promotions, small brochures, handouts, a printed show guide and a floor map leading straight to the Manitoba lodges. The Manitoba Monster was everywhere.
Bring the lodges along
Low-cost partner packages let small lodges and outfitters join advertising they could never have bought alone, from guide ads to TV time.