BC Wine Institute wins "Best Tourism Marketing Campaign" award

BCWI’s new focus on marketing quickly achieves industry recognition for excellence

Less than a year after a strategic shift to focus on marketing and expanding wine tourism in BC, the British Columbia Wine Institute (BCWI) has been recognized for a top-notch marketing campaign designed to get British Columbians visiting the province’s wine regions and wineries.

The BCWI won the Best Tourism Marketing Campaign award for last summer’s Our Land, Revealed campaign. The award was presented last night at the seventh annual BC Tourism Industry Conference in Penticton.

“BC’s wine regions and wineries are beautiful places to visit, but we know that it’s not enough to just build an industry and wait for people to come to us. We have to show them and tell them why they should hop in the car and visit a wine region, and that’s what this campaign did,” said BCWI executive director Peggy Athans. “It’s gratifying to be recognized for our work, especially when the award comes from tourism experts. BC’s tourism industry is known for innovative marketing, so we are pleased that a campaign promoting BC’s stunning wine regions and quality BC VQA wines has been singled out for this award.”

Tourism British Columbia and the Council of Tourism Associations of BC (COTA) established the British Columbia Tourism Awards to recognize excellence and innovation within the tourism industry.

The Our Land, Revealed campaign had two parts; the first featured a 16-page magazine supplement promoting the exploration of BC’s wine country and the quality of BC VQA wines. The first of its kind for BC wine tourism and food, the piece integrated all the flavours of BC wine, food and discovery into one concise publication and in a style that is “uniquely BC” – fresh, simple, clean and beautiful. Nearly 300,000 copies were distributed throughout BC through various media and retail channels. The second part of the campaign was a retail program called Explore BC in 202 government liquor stores and in the province’s 20 BC VQA stores. The retail program focused on the styles and flavours that make BC wines unique to our province, and was supported by a media launch and advertising campaign.

Based in Kelowna, the BCWI promotes the Wines of British Columbia (BC VQA) and the Wine Regions of British Columbia brands.


For further information:
Jeff McDonald, BCWI Communications Manager
tel (250) 762-9744 ext. 103 cellular (250) 718-1223 toll-free 1-800-661-2294
jmcdonald@bcwi.bc.ca www.winebc.com

Based in Kelowna, the BCWI promotes the Wines of British Columbia (BC VQA) and the Wine Regions of British Columbia brands.


For further information:
Lindsay Anders, Communications Manager
tel (250) 762-9744 ext. 103 toll-free 1-800-661-2294
landers@winebc.com www.winebc.com