Tourism Vernon’s re-branding well received by city council

Vernon marketing ad

“This video is the perfect example of our voice and tone that’s laid out in our brand platform, with a humorous tongue-in-cheek approach to the brand,” Lucich explained.

“As part of our voice and tone, we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously, we’re chilled out and informal, and this video showcases that personality of who we are, and also that ‘best guest’ of who we’re trying to attract.”

Finally, a picture of the re-branded vehicle was shown to council.

Vernon Tourism vehicle (City of Vernon photo)

After the presentation, council expressed support for the brand refresh, especially with the commercial.

There were some comments on the vehicle branding, with Coun. Teresa Durning expressing concerns with the colour pallet, to which Lucich noted the colours are somewhat troublesome on certain fabrics, “but overall [there’s been] lots of positive feedback.

Coun. Brian Quiring also recommended there be more details and pattern to the vehicle wrap.

Coun. Kari Gares noted Vernon is a bike cycling and mountain biking community, and was happy to see those features showcased in the branding.

Lucich noted they are leaning into the trails aspect of Vernon as part of their plans, with more focus on it planned for the future.

“We’re still in discussion with the tourism commission, and staff are working on a few things, but I think that’s something you can see us invest heavily in in 2025 is promoting trails and the fact that we have this Trails Capital of B.C. designation, we’re going to be leaning into it,” Lucich told council.

Mayor Victor Cumming also recommended highlighting the dog-friendly parks for visitors to take their pets.

Cumming said he liked the “sauciness and the tongue-in-cheek” aspects of the commercial, which he went into further detail about when speaking with Vernon Matters.

“The video’s a bit saucy saying ‘this is called a traffic jam in Vernon,’ when you’ve got four or five bikes riding down a trail, or ‘long lines’ means cycling together all the way down a hill, not sitting in a traffic jam,” Cumming commented.

“We just have a different experience of life.”

Cumming also noted the new approach by Tourism Vernon will hopefully bring in people during the off-season.

“What we know about the Vernon Tourism product is what’s best for Vernon is more people in the fall and more people in the spring and not much increase in what’s happening in the summer,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“The idea is to spread so we’ll end up with more visitors in a year than we’ve been getting and encouraging them to happen in the spring and fall as well as the summer and winter. So we’re encouraging people who enjoy going outdoor in the shoulder seasons, and the winter too, come and enjoy. So that will attract a slightly different set of visitors.”

He added focusing on those visitors will benefit the local economy with more hotel rooms being booked out and businesses being visited throughout the year.

Council received the presentation on the Tourism Vernon brand refresh for information Monday.

by Liam Verster

Tourism Vernon’s re-branding well received by city council

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