Tourism marketing got a boost with the “ICE Awards 2004 “ recently held in Halifax, N.S. Awards were given to Tourism PEI and their advertising agency of record, Cossette Atlantic, for creative in the newspaper ad category as well as media innovation.
The 2004 ICE Awards represent the third year for Atlantic Canada’s advertising creative awards show. Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the awards bring together advertising agencies and clients from around the region to vie for the coveted Crystal Ice Buckets. The goal of the ICE Awards is to increase the quality of advertising creative produced in Atlantic Canada.
“We were very excited to win the Gold Award and be recognized for our advertising in the tourism sector,” said Tourism Minister, Philip Brown. “We work very closely with tourism industry partners and our advertising agency, Cossette Atlantic, to create images and copy that will entice people to discover Prince Edward Island. To be recognized by peers in the advertising industry as standing out is a great compliment.”
The brochure for the event noted, “Great communications begin as advertising and design that gets noticed – that stands out. After all, an ad can touch you only if it first commands your attention. So when the elements of an ad combine in just the right way to elicit a smile or a tear from its audience, then, like stars aligning in the sky, it’s magical – and it deserves to be rewarded.”
Taking advantage of a mistake on a yahoo Web site where Prince Edward Island was omitted from the map, a tourism ad was placed with a torn corner of a newspaper with the caption, “Prince Edward Island missing from Yahoo.com map.” Directly below this caption was a separate line reading, “WHAT BETTER PLACE TO DISAPPEAR FOR A FEW DAYS?”. The ad prompts readers to the tourism Web site www.peiplay.com or the toll-free phone number 1-888-PEI-PLAY for more information.
The second award, a merit award for media innovation, was given for “Voisins de L’Île” (Island Neighbours) which included a Prince Edward Island logo-ed Jeep vehicle adorned with a bicycle and kayak which toured the Acadian region of New Brunswick distributing tourism literature. The public were invited to enter a contest to win the bicycle or kayak and in so doing were entered into the Tourism PEI database as potential visitors to the region with subsequent mailouts direct to their residence.
The two awards recognized just two of the many innovative ways used to catch the attention of potential travellers. More information about the awards, other winners and the judges can be found on the Web site www.iceawards.com.