Tourism BC Field Reporters

Field Reporting for Tourism British Columbia initially started off as a pilot project but quickly transformed into it’s own full-time program.

The main objective of these videos was to create awareness for the British Columbia within our major markets and showcase the iconic places to visit and do in BC as well as highlight what truly makes BC unique, it’s culture and people.

What Tourism BC and other stakeholders quickly recognized was if you are going to market a destination, video is one of the most engaging ways to do it.

The added bonus to producing these videos was the cost, only a fraction compared to some of our more highly produced videos i.e. docos. And the turn around time to get these videos approved and published was fast i.e. shoot one day and have it online within the same day, which is a key component when distributing content online.

As for delivery, it was all online, hosted on Youtube.com and embedded on HelloBC.com.  We  encouraged our stakeholders such as the regions, communities and industry to embed and/or share the videos.  The more eyes we can get on these videos the better.

One of the key elements to this programs success was recruiting the right people for the job.  They needed to be proficient when it came to video production (ability to host, shoot and edit) and they needed to understand the online space and social media.

So far the Field Reporter program has been a huge success.  But to keep this going we need to adapt to the changing demands of our online audience.  I’ll keep you posted on how this program evolves specially when it comes to covering the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olmpics.  In the meantime, check some of the most popular Field Reporter videos:

Chris Wheel – Vancouver Seaplane Tour

Ivan Hughes – Searching for the classic run at Big White Ski Resort

Kelli Corscadden – 2010 Winter Olympics One Year Countdown at Whistler

Jay Ward – Whale Watching Vancouver Island/Tourism BC

Michael Fountain – Exploring Eclectic Nelson, BC