2012 Marketing awards

Sina’s Golden Track Awards
CTC-China picked up a pair of early awards for 2012. Canada claimed the “Best Destination” designation at Sina’s Golden Track Awards in January. Here, a panel of industry pros picks the hottest destinations, images and blogs from around the world. Sina Weibo is China’s equivalent to Twitter, with more than 250 million users and 100 million-plus posts per day.

2011 China Travel Awards
Also in January, Canada walked away with the “Next Travel Destination Award” from Travel + Leisure (China) at its 2011 China Travel Awards. Established in 2007, Chinese consumers see these awards as their best travel guide.

Canadian e-Tourism Awards
The CTC took two honours at these awards, which pay tribute to digital’s evolution and fresh marketing power through social media and traditional consumer websites. In the Best User-generated Content category, CTC’s Tumblr Royally Curious campaign that covered the 2011 visit of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took second place. And the Hello Canada campaign, which helped introduce Chinese consumers to Canadian travel experiences, came third in the Best Online Campaign category.

2011 Corporate awards

FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index
In 2011, FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index (CBI) ranked Canada as the No. 1 most powerful country brand in the world for the second year in a row. The CBI examines how countries are branded and ranked according to key criteria, and identifies emerging global trends in travel and tourism. Canada has progressed to No. 1 from 12th in 2006, to sixth in 2007, to second in both 2008 and 2009 and finally top spot in 2010. In its assessment, FutureBrand noted: “From the creation of beautiful b-roll landscape footage to the ubiquitous use of the country’s iconic maple leaf, Canada actively made the most of its assets to support a ‘Keep Exploring’ brand position.”

2011 Marketing awards

Digital Marketing Awards
There were four podium visits for CTC initiatives at these annual awards by Marketing magazinein Toronto, ON. Our giant interactive, touchscreen Twitter storescapes that delighted US passers-by in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles also pleased the judges: the work claimed Gold in the Other Digital Media: Creative Use of Technology category and Silver in the Best Social Media Integration category. CTC’s Google Streetview online ads claimed Bronze in the Other Digital Media: Creative Use of Technology category. Elsewhere, our spring 2011 integrated campaign in Europe took the Silver award in the Online Advertising: Integrated Campaign section.

2011 CMA Awards
Marketers from hundreds of brands across Canada came to the Canadian Marketing Association’s big event in Toronto, ON, in Nov. 2011. CTC’s innovative Twitter storescapes in major US cities—New York, Chicago and Los Angeles—picked up the Gold award in the Digital: Consumer Services and Media: Consumer Services categories, as well as the Silver prize in the Promotion: Consumer Services category. The Gold Medal Getaways competition, which formed part of CTC’s celebrated LOCALS KNOW domestic campaign, claimed the Silver award in the Public Relations: Consumer Services category.

ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo
The CTC pavilion at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in St. Louis, MO, Aug. 6-9, took the Best in Show award. The judges looked for strong company identity, good design elements, great exhibit personnel and overall booth appearance.

Top Travel magazine awards
Canada was voted as Best Diversified Travel Destination at these awards in China. Top Travel is China’s only high-quality mag to focus on tourism, as well as fashion, autos and cutting-edge IT.
Also in China, CTC walked away with the Best Outbound Tourism Organization prize at the Sohu—China Travel Service Awards. Sohu.com draws millions of viewers to its site each day, and this award recognizes those organizations that provide the most friendly and convenient services to travellers. The UK, France, Greece and India were among the runners-up.

Outbound Travel Mart, Mumbai and Delhi
CTC picked up the best booth awards at both iterations of 2011’s Outbound Travel Mart in India, the country’s largest travel-trade and consumer show. Eight leading in-market tour operators joined CTC at the booths to welcome thousands of travel-trade reps and consumers. Stewart Beck, High Commissioner of Canada to India, also toured the Delhi iteration, meeting with visitors and agents.

Best Destination Marketing award from World Traveller
At World Traveller’s May 2011 awards in China, CTC received the best Destination Marketing award in the MICE (meetings, incentive-travel, conventions and exhibitions) category. World Traveller is one of China’s most influential travel groups, with a strong presence on TV, online and in magazines.

IMEX Green Meetings award
CTC collected the IMEX Green Meetings award for our 2010 Canada Media Marketplace in San Francisco, CA. This designation salutes environmental awareness among meeting organizers, highlighting how business tourism events can be staged in “green-minded” venues, backed by an agenda where sustainability issues have been given full consideration. IMEX is a giant meetings, conventions and incentive travel (MC&IT) trade show held every year in Frankfurt, Germany.

Our initiatives in 2010 caught the judges’ eyes, including printing all materials on 20% post-consumer recycled content paper (which saved 19 trees, 3,123 gallons of water and 97.5 kg or 215 pounds of solid waste in the past three years), recycling all paper, plastic, glass and metal and providing 60% of menu items from within 160 km (100 mi) of San Francisco.

2010 Corporate awards

FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index
In 2010, FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index (CBI) ranked Canada as the No. 1 most powerful country brand in the world, bumping the US from the top spot. The CBI examines how countries are branded and ranked according to key criteria, and identifies emerging global trends in travel and tourism. Canada has progressed to No. 1 from 12th in 2006, to sixth in 2007, to second in both 2008 and 2009. This ranking shows the salience of Canada’s revitalized tourism brand and the role of our consumer website in differentiating Canada in the global tourism marketplace.

2010 Marketing awards

Webby Award for LOCALS KNOW
The CTC’s LOCALS KNOW web campaign received Official Honouree distinction at the 14th annual Webby Awards. Presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby Awards are the leading international awards honouring excellence on the Internet.

Silver CASSIE Award for LOCALS KNOW
The CTC’s LOCALS KNOW campaign won a silver CASSIE award in the category of Events & Seasonal. Presented by The Institute of Communication Agencies, the CASSIES are Canada's only advertising award show based on proven business effectiveness and backed by rigorous published cases.

Adrian Awards
Presented by Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the Adrian Awards honour outstanding work in advertising, public relations and digital marketing in the travel industry. In 2010, we won two Adrian Awards for our work that leveraged the 2010 Winter Games:

• Gold in the “Feature Placement—Television” category for NBC “Today Show” host Matt Lauer’s run with the Olympic Torch in Burnaby, BC. The segment raised awareness of Canada as a top-notch travel destination, which was further boosted when Lauer was interviewed by Oprah.
• Silver in the “Feature Placement—Print” category for our work in hosting four Olympic hopefuls for Sports Illustrated’s (SI) celebrated swimsuit issue. Lindsey Vonn, Hannah Teter, Clair Bidez and Lacy Schnoor all took part in the shoot at Whistler, BC. The issue garnered a huge readership: 69 million people in the US, plus 116 million page views online and 11.8 million video views on the SI website.

HelmsBriscoe International Destination of the Year Award
The CTC picked up the International Destination of the Year Award at the 2010 Annual Business Conference of HelmsBriscoe, one of the largest third-party planning organizations in the world.

Meetings Industry Marketing Award for Best Brand Marketing Campaign
The CTC won a Bronze Award for the Best Brand Marketing Campaign at the Meetings Industry Marketing Awards (MIMA) 2010. The annual awards ceremony is hosted by Meetings and Incentive Travel Magazine, and recognizes the marketers of the industry for their successes.

Interactive Media Awards for CTC Media Centre
Our Media Centre won two 2010 Interactive Media Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the News and in the Travel/Tourism categories for good design, content, feature functionality, usability and standards compliance. The awards, which are sponsored by the Interactive Media Council, recognize web professionals as leading providers of top-tier services in the marketplace.

Media Innovation Awards
The CTC won five Media Innovation Awards in 2010. The event honours excellence in the planning and buying of media in the Canadian marketing/advertising sector. The five awards were:

• Gold in the Travel, Entertainment, Leisure category: CTC LOCALS KNOW
• Gold in the Digital OOH/Digital Place-Based Media category: CTC Twitter Wall
• Silver in the Integrated Multi-Channel category: CTC LOCALS KNOW
• Silver in the Localization Campaign category: CTC LOCALS KNOW
• Bronze in the Travel, Entertainment, Leisure category: CTC Twitter Wall

Mexico’s W Radio Distinctive W Award for Best Office of Foreign Tourism
CTC-Mexico won a Distinctive W award for the “Best Office of Foreign Tourism in Mexico for its effort at fostering tourism” from W Radio, one of the country’s most popular radio stations. The Distinctive W award ceremony is a high-profile annual event that recognizes the best of the best in Mexico. On behalf of Canada, the team also received an honourable mention in the Best Foreign Destination category.

ITB Berlin Tourism Oscar Awards: Das Goldene Stadttor
During the 2010 iteration of ITB Berlin—the world’s largest travel trade show—CTC-Germany received three tourism Oscar awards for CTC-produced films:

• Gold in the Region category for “Kanada für Entdecker” (Canada for Explorers)
• Gold in the Events category for “Four Host First Nations”
• Bronze in the Innovation category for “Clever Women TV—CANASTASIA—5 Jahre Clever Women”

B2B-Tourism Best in Industry Award for Canada Specialist Program
The CTC won the B2B-Tourism Best in Industry award at the 2010 New Media Awards for our Canada Specialist Program, an interactive tool for teaching and training travel agents around the world on “selling” Canada.