Conventions Regina has a fresh new look to promote our city’s royal assets.
REGINA (Re-j-I-nah) The Latin word for Queen. A Canadian city named in honour of Queen Victoria. A community that treats its visitors like royalty.
In 2007, three local business leaders with a vested interest in convention business formed a marketing team called Conventions Regina (CR). They put their plans in place and invited the Regina Hotel Association (RHA) to become a partner. We accepted. Today, CR’s 17 members privately fund and dedicate in-kind resources to champion the Queen City as the best city in Canada to host national conventions, meetings and tradeshows.
The teams’ diversity, collaboration and passion for our community is the foundation of its creative and trend-setting marketing campaigns. So, how did we come up with The New Royal campaign? Creating a new promotional campaign from scratch is difficult and takes years to develop, refine and brand.
“We stepped back and took an extensive look at what was already happening in our community,” states Claire Belanger-Parker, a founding member of CR and President of CNT Management Group.
“We found a re-occurring “royal” theme throughout our community,” said Mark Kowalyk, Managing Partner of ProAV, “we embraced it and built our campaign from there.” Organizations that inspired The New Royal included majestic events such as the University of Regina Alumni CROWNING Achievement Awards and the QUEEN CITY Marathon; our regal attractions including The ROYAL Canadian Mounted Police Heritage Centre, the ROYAL Saskatchewan Museum, Government House, and the Legislative Building; enchanting pieces from our local designers including Hillberg & Berk brooch for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, fascinators by C’est Denine Designs and the list goes on and on.
The inspiration further came from the perception visitors have of our local residents, “it’s the simplest things like saying hello or greeting a stranger as you pass on the sidewalk that creates a personal, welcoming atmosphere for delegates, something you don’t find in other cities”, explains Chelsea Galloway, Manager of Convention Business Development for the RHA. “When a convention is in town, our community comes together to roll out the red carpet and personally welcome our visitors”.
The New Royal campaign was recently unveiled in Ottawa at the Canadian Society of Association Executives ‘Tête-á-Tête’ tradeshow and received positive attention from the meeting industry for its fresh and unique take on destination marketing. The CR team travels 15 weeks a year to promote Regina to meeting planners across Canada.
CR assists hundreds of local champions to bring conventions to the Queen City.
“A complimentary service we provide is assisting local organizations to bid and acquire national conventions to Regina,” states Brent Kloeble, a founding member of CR and President, Events Edge Entertainment and Speakers Bureau.
The Regina & District Chamber of Commerce, BOMA Regina and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Saskatchewan Provincial Council are three local champions that will roll out the red carpet for their national conferences and over 1,000 delegates this fall.
Follow our team on twitter @conventionsyqr
Visit conventionsregina.com and let us help you bring a conference to Regina.