The Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourism British Columbia have entered a partnership in order to fund a massive campaign on Eurosport, promoting Canada as a year-round holiday destination and a Winter Olympic host candidate.

Using all three of Eurosport’s platforms – Eurosport, Eurosportnews and eurosport.com – it will target an upmarket viewer who has the ways and means to travel internationally.

Thanks to Eurosport’s 20 million+ viewers a day, this campaign running until June, should more than accomplish what the Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourism British Columbia have set out to communicate : a double-message to raise awareness in Europe that Canada is a desirable holiday destination and that Vancouver would be the ideal city to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games!

The campaign began in March with sponsorship of Eurosport’s Winterpark programming. Viewers across Europe watched the broadcast of the Alpine Ski World Cup, Ski Jumping World Cup, Cross Country Ski World Cup amongst other events. Viewers were not only treated to fantastic Winter Sport action, but were also entertained by the unveiling of the Map of Canada and the tagline ‘Discover our true nature’ at the beginning, middle, and end of each Winterpark broadcast.

The campaign will continue throughout April with the Figure Skating World Championships, and LIVE from Canada the Curling World Championships and the Figure Skating Synchronized Championships.

The Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourism British Columbia want to let the European audience know that Canada is not just a winter destination but a year round playground as well. To achieve this, the two Tourist Boards will associate themselves with Eurosport’s Cycling program. This includes sponsorship of the Paris – Nice Race, Cycling World Cup, Giro D’Italia Cycling Tour, and the Mountain Bike World Cup.

They are also sponsoring Wednesday Night’s USPGA Golf programming to remind viewers that Canada is an ideal golf destination as well.

As well as these billboards, the campaign will include a 30 second spot, airing in mid – April on Eurosport and Eurosportnews. The Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourism British Columbia’s (can also be found on eurosport.com) banners, buttons and pop-ups. In addition, Eurosport has developed a tailored news ticker that you can download to your computer along with a branded mountain bike game, which can be found in the ‘Game Zone’.
All in all, it will be hard to miss Canadian’s effort to enlighten European viewers to its rich diversity.

For more information contact:
Corporate Press Contact : Isabelle Nguyen : inguyen@eurosport.co.uk
Trade Press Contact: Patrick Cotting: pcotting@eurosport.co.uk