Tourism Marketing and Year-Round Campaign Design for Vernon, BC
Our work for City of Vernon
Tourism Vernon needed a steady supply of advertising creative without adding to its internal team’s workload. As its agency of record, we organized the brand system and delivered monthly display ads, seasonal campaigns, event graphics and video advertising. The work appeared across stadiums, airports and media outlets, including Postmedia and Castanet. More than 20 projects in the first year gave Vernon a consistent way to promote the destination throughout the seasons, with one team handling the design and production across formats.
Consistent tourism branding across formats
We organized Tourism Vernon’s brand assets, built advertising templates and standardized the visuals used across campaigns. The city team could commission new creative within a recognizable system, from digital display ads to large-format placements.
Monthly creative for seasonal campaigns
We produced monthly display ads, event graphics and seasonal campaigns on an agreed schedule. That regular production support helped the city team keep campaigns moving while managing its other tourism marketing responsibilities.
Tourism advertising in airports and stadiums
We created video ads for Calgary Saddledome, airport banners and national media placements. These formats brought Vernon’s destination advertising beyond local audiences and put the creative in front of travellers and event attendees.
Building Year-Round Campaigns for Vernon, BC
Context & Challenge: Tourism Marketing Agency Support for Municipal Growth
Tourism Vernon needed a tourism marketing agency that could keep up with regular campaigns across several channels. The city’s team needed consistent design and dependable delivery, whether the brief was a seasonal advertising push or a short-notice event graphic.
Like many municipalities, Vernon faced two pressures:
- Keeping their brand identity consistent while managing dozens of campaigns.
- Maintaining visibility across local, regional, and national audiences without exhausting their internal resources.
They needed ongoing production support as an extension of their tourism marketing team. That covered display ads, videos and event graphics, as well as large-format placements such as airport banners and stadium advertising. Each format had its own requirements, but all had to look like part of the same destination campaign.
After winning the RFP, we became Tourism Vernon’s agency of record, contracted to provide design and marketing services on an ongoing schedule. The relationship gave us time to learn the city team’s requirements and organize a repeatable process for briefing, producing and delivering its year-round advertising.
Approach / Strategy: Digital Marketing Services for Tourism Boards
We built the strategy around simplicity, consistency, and scale. The practical question was how to maintain one recognizable destination brand while adapting it to different seasons, events and media specifications. A shared set of templates and a monthly production schedule gave the teams a workable starting point.
We focused on three priorities:
- Cohesive Brand Platform: Organize their visuals, colour palette, typography, and templates to ensure Facebook banners and Saddledome videos used the same recognizable Vernon identity.
- Monthly Cadence: Establish a reliable schedule of digital marketing campaigns that covered seasonal tourism pushes, event promotions, and evergreen awareness ads.
- High-Impact Placements: Push Vernon beyond the Okanagan, showcasing the brand in airports, stadiums, and national media outlets to reach visitors where they make travel decisions.
Creative Process: Tourism Branding and Design Agency Solutions
We started with brand organization. Our team dug into their identity and created a toolkit of ad templates and creative guidelines that aligned with their vision: approachable, nature-driven, and confident.
From there, we built assets that could scale:
- Digital Display Ads: Produced monthly, tailored for Postmedia, Castanet, and other outlets.
- Video Ads: Short, high-impact loops designed for arenas and large screens.
- Print Media: Quarter-page ads and event graphics supporting festivals like Pride.
- Out-of-Home (OOH): Airport banners and Saddledome placements that positioned Vernon on the national stage.
We worked with Vernon’s marketing team on both the planned schedule and ad hoc requests. The templates helped us adapt creative when a new placement or event came in, while the agreed cadence kept the regular campaigns moving. That combination supported a continuing role as the city’s needs changed.
Execution & Deliverables: Multi-Channel Tourism Advertising Campaigns
Over the first year, we delivered 20+ projects for Tourism Vernon, ranging from quick-turn event ads to full-scale seasonal campaigns. Highlights included:
- Monthly Display Ads: Creative variations delivered across multiple formats for consistent visibility.
- Airport Banner Campaign: Large-scale design placements targeting incoming travellers.
- Saddledome Video Ads: Cinematic content shown during Calgary Flames games, reaching thousands of sports fans.
- Pride Fest Graphics: Inclusive and bold visuals that tied into Vernon’s community-focused tourism strategy.
- Print & Digital Media: Quarter-page ads, embedded banners, and animated assets.
What set this partnership apart was consistency. Instead of scrambling for assets before each campaign, Tourism Vernon had a steady pipeline of creative they could trust.
Tangible Outcomes: Tourism Marketing KPIs and Business Impact
The outcomes included broader placement of Vernon’s advertising and a more manageable creative workload for the city team. We assessed the work through the delivery schedule, the channels covered and the continuation of the relationship, rather than treating the number of assets alone as a measure of tourism growth.
- Reach & Visibility: Vernon gained exposure across stadiums, airports, and major news outlets, placing the destination advertising in settings used by travellers and event audiences.
- Operational Efficiency: By outsourcing creative production, the city team could focus on strategy while we handled execution.
- Consistency & Trust: After more than 20 projects, Tourism Vernon continues to renew and expand our role.
Vernon now had a repeatable marketing system for seasonal campaigns, event branding and digital ads. New creative could be produced each month within the existing brand and templates, with the city team supplying the campaign priorities and our team handling the design and production requirements.
Client Impact
The Vernon team reported a smoother workflow with regular access to creative delivered on time and within the brand system. The relationship continued beyond the initial projects, giving both teams a familiar briefing and review process as the campaign calendar developed.
Lessons Learned: Performance Marketing for Municipalities
Tourism Vernon’s team needed enough production capacity to handle regular campaigns alongside event work. Our role was to provide that capacity within a scalable tourism marketing system: shared brand assets, agreed schedules and support for new formats. It gave the team a consistent process for requesting and receiving creative.
The planned next phase included more video advertising and digital media distribution for seasonal tourism campaigns. The existing production process and brand assets provided a starting point for those new placements.
For a municipal tourism board, the useful detail is the working model. Tourism Vernon combined an agency-of-record relationship with a regular creative schedule and room for short-notice projects, supporting year-round advertising across varied placements.
Project FAQs
What does a tourism marketing agency do for municipalities like Vernon, BC?
A tourism marketing agency helps municipalities and tourism boards attract visitors through branding, advertising, and creative campaigns. In Vernon’s case, we provided digital marketing services, display ads, video production, and event branding to showcase the city across stadiums, airports, and major media outlets.
How did Setsail Marketing support Tourism Vernon’s advertising campaigns?
We delivered over 20 projects including monthly display ads, airport banners, Saddledome video ads, and festival graphics. By acting as Vernon’s agency of record, we ensured consistent branding and execution, helping the city scale visibility while saving their team time and resources.
Why should municipalities choose a performance marketing agency for tourism?
A performance marketing agency can help a municipality plan placements and track campaign measures such as reach and impressions. For Tourism Vernon, our work covered channels including Postmedia, Castanet and live-event advertising. The creative and media plan supported year-round awareness; visitor growth would need to be assessed against tourism data separately.
What types of creative services does Setsail Marketing provide for tourism boards?
For Tourism Vernon, the work covered destination branding and design, display advertising, event graphics, video and media placements. The agency-of-record arrangement gave the city regular production support across those formats. Tourism outcomes would need to be assessed using visitor data separately from the creative delivery.
How do I get started with Setsail Marketing?
Book a Growth Strategy call with Setsail Marketing to discuss your destination, audiences and campaign calendar. We’ll review the creative and media support your team needs, including the frequency of work, approval process and formats required for your placements.
