Four Years Falls Fast at Niagara Parks

Oh... So that's what it's like to spend four years working in a mansion that overlooks Niagara Falls.

Last month marked four years since coming to Niagara Parks as Senior Manager of Marketing, overseeing all branding, marketing strategy and communications, Travel Media and Influencer Relations, and so much more. With so much done, so much to do, and still more to go, time has totally flown by.

I came to Niagara Parks in 2014 after spending two and a half years as a Marketing Communications Specialist at Factor[e] Design Initiative (now Parallel).  Between the people, beer Fridays and office dogs, I loved my time at Factor[e] but as I came up on two years I was starting to think about how to move my career forward.

Also, as anyone who has worked agency-side can attest, and especially as someone who likes to be purpose-driven in their job, the fleeting nature of projects, spontaneous starting and stopping, a lack of creative control, can begin to wear away at enthusiasm, no matter how much you enjoy the place. 

Our 102 year old Whirlpool Aero Car.

So here was this job with a Provincial Agency, a sibling to the ROM, the AGO, the RBG and more. Here was a brand that had existed without a comprehensively flushed out identity since 1885, and boasted culinary, heritage, golf, retail, gardens and attractions experiences, with a large-scale brand redevelopment project as the most immediate task under this job’s portfolio.
A brand that represented one of Canada’s foremost travel destinations, with one of the world’s foremost natural wonders, with the ability to build a team and operate like an internal agency.

Essentially, it was 56 km, outdoor adventure museum, and we would get to head the project that redeveloped its identity and told its stories in a naturally and culturally authentic way. One that would likely contrast most people’s memories of the area, no matter how fond.

Imagine being tasked with reinventing the identity of Banff, or the Grand Canyon, or any international landmark. In fact, a common candid refrain of the marketing team when talking about how to truly position this international landmark with the respect it deserves was/is “WWETD?: What Would the Eiffel Tower Do?”

This was exactly what we were being tasked with. No matter what perception you have of Niagara as a region, or the falls specifically, this is one of Canada's foremost travel destinations.  It was now our duty to reinvent its brand, and position it in among these international treasures. Moreover, to make it distinctly different from either lasting impressions or existing perceptions of the areas that are distinctly not Niagara Parks (i.e. Clifton Hill, wax museums, etc.). To make sure that as many people's first true touchpoint with Canada, it represented that true north nature, culture, and experience in an authentic and exciting way.

Namaste Niagara at our Journey Behind the Falls attraction.

Across that time we’ve tackled, developed, or launched anything from the three year Brand Redevelopment Project (with support from the awesome Scott Thornley + Company), health and wellness series like Namaste Niagara, concert series like the Polaris Prize supported Niagara Stage, revitalized focus on digital marketing, enhanced travel media and influencer outreach programs, and as part of the broader Niagara Parks team, amazing culinary initiatives, new heritage stories better detailing narratives of diverse identities, national and international campaigns.

As a team (whether the extremely talented marketing team or the broader Niagara Parks team) we've had some amazing successes and innovative projects across that time, including:

• Substantial increases in visitation and revenue (we are a self-sustaining agency)
• Massive increases in digital community engagement (in 2014, Niagara Parks had approximately 10,000 likes on it’s Facebook page, less on Twitter, and no Instagram. We are now the regional social leader in travel/tourism, and among the top ten in Canada, and through our strategies have seen huge growth of over 2000% on our Facebook page, now standing at 270K likes with fantastic content and engagement all produced in-house)
• Enhancements in experiences we provide which have lead to provincial and national award recognition
• Comprehensive refocusing on local stories, from the culinary experience in our Feast On certified full-service restaurants (currently nominated for the Ontario Culinary Tourism Leadership Award), to Audubon certified golf courses, to the unique diversity in historical stories in the region, whether related to indigenous culture, European colonization, Underground Railroad, and more 
• Comprehensive wayfinding project updating all signage across our 56 km
• Extensive web-development (with support from Cinnamon Toast) and e-commerce work that has drastically enhanced our online presence and sales
• Working with the renowned Polaris Music Prize on a summer concert series, the Niagara Stage, that showcases the diversity of Canadian talent and identities
• Niagara Never Stops - a Niagara pride brand of apparel, produced by Niagara Parks with proceeds going to horticultural conservation work
• Draft Public Art Policy and initiated public gallery and large-scale art installation pilot projects
• Unique Travel Media programs like Culinary Crawls and Buffer Festival excursion days
• Compilation of an inventive Three Year Sales and Marketing Plan inclusive of individual Annual Plans
• Our beautifully in-house designed annual Visitor Guide
• And so much more with so much yet to come...

And that's exactly it, there is so much done, and never not something to do. As I look ahead to the next year I already see even bigger more exciting projects on the horizon, including large-scale infrastructure and development initiatives. As I start my fifth year and think about the future of my career, whether here or beyond, I know the experiences provided by Niagara Parks, whether marketing, strategic, natural, cultural, or culinary related, have contributed to my professional development, skills, and vision in a way I could never have predicted.

Cheers to four years!

The Darcy's, warming up for their Niagara Stage concert on Canada Day 2018.

Namaste Niagara

We're just wrapping up the third year of our Namaste Niagara series at Niagara Parks. As much as I am looking forward to having lower key Sunday mornings again, there are few better reasons to wake up early to work on a Sunday.

The Namaste Niagara series is about health and wellness in extraordinary ways, essentially the program is either yoga at our iconic Journey Behind the Falls platform at the base of the Canadian Falls, followed by an incredible brunch at our Queenston Heights Restaurant, or it's a guided meditation workshop at White Water Walk - where the Niagara River becomes class six rapids - followed by a brunch at our Whirlpool Golf Course Restaurant.

The program originated in June 2016, truth be told, as somewhat of a marketing stunt. We on the Niagara Parks marketing team were thinking of unique ways to photographically use our Niagara Parks sites and attractions - as we always found ourselves drooling over the active lifestyle shots found on the likes of Banff's or Travel Yukon's Instagram accounts. So we organized a morning yoga session and invited some travel and food media folks out try it and then enjoy a brunch.

We got the amazing shots we wanted, but even more we got the insistence from the media that attended that because it was such a cool experience we HAD to open it to the public. So we tried again in July, with the same schedule and tickets available online, and found we had both instant demand, and something very unique on our hands.

Flash forward to 2018 and we are doing the alternating yoga and mediation workshops with brunch to follow every Sunday this summer, and tickets sold out for all sessions in a record three hours after posting the link on our social media.

Despite the breathtaking health and wellness experience it provides participants, the program really remains a strategic marketing tactic. Given that the price tag for a ticket just covers any cost on our end, and that the capacity for the yoga is only 40 and meditation only 25, this is certainly not intended to be a money-maker. Instead, what it gives is more intangible, an entirely unique experience that shapes and boosts awareness of the Niagara Parks brand as we have worked to redevelop it over the past three years (more on that in a later post).

It tells a story of the exciting health and wellness opportunities available on our lands, of the cultural impact of the organization to the Canadian travel/tourism industry, and the brunch contributes to our culinary story. The Feast On certification that our Culinary Services have obtained, mandating that the majority of ingredients used in our restaurants are locally sourced, is a key point in our brand story, as it speaks to the authentic presentation of the Niagara river corridor that we strive to present to international visitors. It presents our guests with a true "taste of place."

And of course the online virality numbers from the images and videos posted from the series, whether by us or others, are also a nice little feather in our marketing cap.

Of course, we couldn't have done without the awesome program partners: for the yoga workshops that is Helena McKinney and her Hamilton based In Fine Feather yoga studio, and independent instructor Danielle Hulan. And for the mediation workshops, independent instructor Swapna Krishnamoorthy.

One more Sunday to go, and then that's it until Summer 2019!

The Niagara Parks Visitor Guide 2018/19

The 2018/19 Niagara Parks Visitor Guide, with minimalist,
die-cut cover.

Something I love working on with my team at Niagara Parks, our annual Visitor Guide publication.

Reintroduced as a free collectible at Niagara Parks sites in 2014, this guide is meant to be equal parts information guide, brand story-telling opportunity and promotional vehicle. In addition to distributing free throughout Niagara Parks, they can also be picked up at Ontario Travel Information Centres throughout the province, and we do a large inserted drop through a number of US newspapers such as the New York Times and Boston Globe, to their respective cities.

Our 2016/17 Visitor Guide, with adult colouring
book cover by Chelsea Peters Illustration

When the team first started working on these annually in 2015, we saw it as a great opportunity to do something different, if not disruptive.  Working in the highly photographic travel/tourism industry, and with one of Canada's most photogenic destinations, we have consistently taken the approach to have more minimalist covers, with the goal to stand out on Tourism Info Centre shelves where splash images would otherwise blend in like white-noise. 

Additionally, though print vehicles may seem somewhat outdated in the age of digital media, especially with "competing" guides often looking like flimsy magazines, laden with ads, the goal with ours has always been to make it feel as though it's something you want to touch, leaf through, and even collect year after year.  To achieve this we typically include no ads, with the exception of our sister provincial agencies, prioritize user-generated content for images, include interactive elements that reinforce the brand (such as site-sticker collection and note pages), and ensure the guide has a spine rather than stapled (print-nerd territory now).  It's classic "medium is the message," a creatively, uniquely designed, high quality guide speaks the same to the brand as we seek to better establish it (more on that in a later post).

2017/18 "Travel Journal"

As said, we love pushing the boundaries of its design and travellers' expectations for what a destination's  guide book can be.  Past guides have included adult colouring book covers, or designed like a beat-up travel journal to reinforce exploring Canada during its 150 celebrations (see pics above).  

Among the many cool things we did with it this year, and coinciding with the launch of the new brand, was including four specially designed "map art" pages. Featuring creative interpretations of what Niagara Parks is from Canadian artists both local and farther out.  All connected to the cover which depicts our actual geographic footprint as a provincial agency, and "56 km outdoor adventure museum" along the Niagara River.

Chelsea Peters Illustration

Grab one, or let us know if you want one mailed to you (yes, we do deliver).

Map Art featured by Chelsea Peters Illustration, Shaun O'Melia Design, ILikeMaps,Night Shift Studio

Night Shift Studios

ILikeMaps

Shaun O'Melia Design

Did I Last Post Four Years Ago? Yes, I Did Last Post Four Years Ago.

Alright, alright, alright.

So I've allowed a bit of lapse here and things have DEFINITELY changed since the last post.  Going to look to start to return to this more regularly.

Bear with me, I'll catch you up...

Forget Running When Training for a Run

The article below is written for the Around the Bay Road Race social media strategy, in preparation for the 120th Around the Bay Road Race in #HamOnt.

I should start out by stating that the following diatribe is by no means a professional opinion on effective race training.  I have been running since high school cross country, have done a number of marathons, half-marathons, a handful of adventure races, and soon, nine consecutive Around the Bay Road Races.  I have even managed to get relatively decent times.  Often in spite of myself.

Like most people, my running training has - and is - continually evolving through trial and error.  I can easily say that one of the biggest training errors I have made, once upon a time, was running, a lot.  I used to believe that to be prepared to perform well on race day, I had to be running consistently, and at consistently high distances.  What this lead to was plateaued results, IT band injuries, sore knees, poor agility, and terrible performance in other sports.

It was frustrating, although I would readily admit that I was only an amateur runner, I still could not understand why I was not able to get any faster and stronger.  In fact, I generally found that instead of getting better, my form and overall feeling would get worse.  More importantly, this "feeling worse" even extended to how I generally felt on a day to day basis.

This was until I actually put a bit more effort into researching the training techniques and approaches of different types of amateur runners.  I was intrigued, particularly with, say, cross-fit athletes, and the way in which many actually wouldn't run much at all (and certainly less than me), and yet perform really well (and certainly better than me).

Roughly 14 years since I first started running, if there is one thing I have learned about both feeling prepared for a race, and performing well during one, is how important it is to vary your training.  Moreover, how important it is to all but forget about running, and engage in other activities to round your body out.

Yes, running is still the priority preparation exercise, but whereas old me would have only focused on pounding the pavement, new me now only uses running to benchmark mileage, and to gauge distance capability.  Otherwise, in any given week, I will also do:

• Swimming.  I enjoy doing this for the low impact, the inherent refreshment and feeling of vitality, and the overall body work out. 
• Boxing.  I love going to McGrory's, at the corner of Barton and Sherman in Hamilton, and wailing on a bag.  Boxing provides great agility training (approximately 60mins of a 90min workout do not even involve punching).  As well it releases aggression and boosts confidence in a way running never can.
• Weight Training.  One of the biggest mistakes I feel like I always used to make was not properly integrating weights into my training.  Suffice to say, heavily weighted squats, deadlifts, lunges, and other compound exercises are among the best things you can ever do for yourself and your body. 
• Sprints, Stairs, Spinning.  These three are kind of a no-brainer, but still a lot of people don't do them like they should, myself formerly included.  

Since re-aligning my training ways last year, I have seen a great improvement in my running performance, and overall body feeling.  I am stronger, faster, with better form, and have happily achieved new personal bests.  More importantly, I no longer have to endure the mind numbing boredom of running long distances nearly everyday in the weeks leading up to a race.

Of course, I have learned all of this just in time for a new challenge, being 30.  Now I need to learn proper and effective recovery techniques for my no-longer-irresponsibly-20-something-body.  Wamp WAA*

Nine times around this, across nine years.

Facebook is Doing Just Fine

This article, titled "Facebook is Doing Just Fine," I wrote for the FACTOR[e] On The Floor blog.  It was published on February 12th, 2014.

We consistently underestimate Facebook.  We underestimate how much it has, and continues to, change communication, society, and indeed, the world.  Moreover, we continue to underestimate its performance, identity, and future as a company.

I have written before on my skin-crawling revulsion for people’s claims of Facebook’s decline, or premature declaration of death.  It.  Is.  Always.  Bunk.  

It is the social media reporter/researcher’s equivalent of being the “boy who cried wolf.”  It is grandiose, and attention-seeking.  And as I advised in the piece in which I decried this phenomenon, this sort of prediction is typically made by someone whose skills and expertise are also bunk.

Shockingly, in mid-January, Princeton University also joined this canon of misguided critics, by releasing a scathing study stating that Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017.  As a result, for at least the next 48 hours that followed, anyone who wanted to baselessly appease an audience was more than happy to report it as a valid headline (I watched, disappointed, oatmeal bowl in hand, as CBC Newsworld broke the story first thing in the morning). 

I will not go into why the study was flawed.  Particularly when Facebook did it better than anyone could by using the same mistaken methodology to prove that by 2021, Princeton would lose 100% of its students.  Suffice to say, Princeton was wrong.  

However, being the venerated Ivy League institution that they are, they can be forgiven.  They are not the first, and will definitely not be the last to make such a claim.  And for those who would like to in the future, I would like to offer a couple contemplative points of consideration on the social network’s past, present, and future.  My hope is that perhaps this will give pause before one decides to ring the old Facebook death knell.  

Past 

Mark Zuckerberg had no vision.  

Now this is not a jab at him, it is just me being sensational.  What I mean is that Zuckerberg had no idea of the greater significance of what he made, when he made it, and particularly its implications and the potential for what it could become, whether in communication, business, tech, politics, or society.  

Really, who could?  It would be like expecting the inventor of the wheel (or at least a medieval wagon-maker) to be able envision a combustion engine.  

Certainly he has greater vision now, but remember that this also due to the multitude of brilliance that surrounds him, is employed by the company, and is driven by the very fact that Facebook is a social endeavour that, by and large, the world has bought into, participates in, builds, and guides on its way.  

So, to those considering making a claim on its longevity, remember that Zuckerberg beat you to it, and he has since proven himself wrong.

Present

Ironically, while facing the claims of decline, or losing 80% of its users by 2017, in late January Facebook still pulled in record numbers (stocks at an all-time high, $2.6bil revenue, and continued overall growth).  Although traditional business metrics may not be the most accurate representation of a company’s future, they certainly present a position that is difficult to argue with.

Additionally, a frequent claim is that despite its continued increase in users, Facebook is declining in popularity among youth, particularly teens.  This is true, but as Mashable reports, it is also levelling off.

Moreover, this points to Facebook’s adaptability.  It is always worthwhile to note that while Facebook is trailblazing, it was not a trailblazer.  It asserted itself because it was able to read the failings of companies that came before it.  As a result of that foresight (derived from other’s hindsight), and now given its current size and resources, it is able to read, grow, and evolve from its own mistakes. 

In regards to the youth, and services that they may be going towards. Sure, SnapChat, and WhatsApp exist, but they are merely components of the broader services that Facebook does, can, and could provide.  If anything, what they expose to Facebook are merely gaps to fill, and when they cannot fill them by acquiring them outright (as Facebook did with Instagram, and has tried with SnapChat), they can just look to provide a similar service that renders the "offender" all but irrelevant (as Facebook did with FourSquare).

Future 

I really don’t know where to begin here, and could go on for days.  

So let’s say, Warren Buffet.

Warren Buffet will not buy into Facebook, because for him, simply put, it is “unproven.”

However, that’s also the key to why Facebook will not decline, because it simply can’t be proven.  Being the leader in an industry that both shapes, and is directly shaped by human interaction and behaviour, makes you less a business than it does a living, breathing, evolving organism.

Facebook has shown this capacity to evolve, moreover, that this capacity is born out of the participation of people worldwide, the production of content, the creation of data, and the desire to share.  Original iterations of the site recalled platforms popular among youth of the day (MSN chat, ICQ, email), on mediums that were equally as popular (desktop PCs, laptops).  Now, we already see Facebook moving to encompass current communication trends (focused circles, privacy), and on prevailing mediums (mobile).  

Facebook is a company, but it is also an entity, much like Google, it is something that cannot be defined (i.e. Google is NOT a search engine), as such, is incredibly difficult to identify as a “prudent investment” by traditional financial means.

More importantly, Facebook is not “social media,” and for that matter, neither is social media a “thing.”  We need to stop thinking this way, Facebook IS social, and social media IS human communication.

A Child's Christmas in Hamilton

"We knew it though, that he would come, that he did come, that he will always come.  We knew from our joy and his merriness, the elation in our hearts rising like the height of his sleigh as it soared over the Skyway Bridge, his magnificent reindeer running on the cold, Ontario night-air, south-westerly careening above and across Burlington bay."   

I had always been a great fan of Dylan Thomas' prose A Child's Christmas in Wales.  From the age of four it had always been a family tradition to watch the short Canadian/UK film translation, starring Denholm Elliott as the nostalgic Welsh grandfather, regaling his grandson with the story of what Christmas was like when he was a boy.

As such, it was in 2009, or so, that I had first thought it would be fun to write a similar prose, written in a Thomas-style, on the experiences of being a child celebrating the holidays in 1980s Hamilton (the same time when I would have first heard Thomas' piece).  Therefore, I began what would become A Child's Christmas in Hamilton.

Unfortunately, despite starting it, it quickly fell to the back-burner until November 2012, when factor[e] design initiative was considering unique, philanthropic projects it could pursue in the holiday spirit.  I pitched it as an endeavour that could simultaneously showcase our in-house talents for writing, illustration, print-design, and layout, while also being sold locally in Hamilton, Ontario for a charitable cause.  It was accepted, and once again, the project was underway.  

With illustrator Chelsea Robinson, and designers Michelle Hayward and Parker Martin covering layout and design, factor[e] published the book in December 2012, and for the past two years has been sold at various locations locally during the holiday season.  With all proceeds going to the local charity, City Kidz.

This was an exciting, and well received project to be apart of.  Moreover, it re-solidified my interest in personal, creative-writing.  An interest that frequently wavers in my motivation.  My hope is that we can continue to put it out, year after year, and see it grow as a traditional holiday story, woven into the culture and heritage of Hamilton.  However, even if it just makes someone smile, considering their own happy holiday memories, I'd be glad for it. 

For more on my reasons for undertaking this project, see here.

"Buildings build a city, and people populate it, but cities are truly made by stories.  Our identities, and indeed Hamilton’s identity, is shaped by shared experiences in a shared geography.  There are many tales of Hamilton, many factual and many fictional, many small and many big, many short and many long.  The more we write them down and share them with each other, contributing to our mutual culture, the more we can understand each other, where we have been, and where, as a city, we are going together. ...Read More" (Stories and The City, factor[e] blog, December 2012)

See below for local coverage it received upon its release:
CBC - Hamilton
MonkeyBiz.ca