Case Study

McCall Winter Familiarization Tour

Situation

McCall, Idaho is a growing tourist attraction for travelers within Idaho and outside of the state. The McCall Chamber is working to help local businesses take advantage of the city’s growing popularity by spreading the word about beautiful McCall, no matter what season it is.

To help generate awareness of the city of McCall, Red Sky proposed a media familiarization tour (FAM) to bring national travel writers to visit McCall. McCall celebrated the 50 th year of the McCall Winter Carnival in winter of 2015, creating an opportunity to capture the attention of travel writers throughout the US. Red Sky created the agenda for the FAM tour and coordinated with local businesses to bring the writers the best of winter in McCall.

Strategy

Media Outreach

Red Sky thoroughly researched national freelancers, staff travel editors, outdoor sport writers and dining editors to create a list of contacts for outreach. By building a robust and diverse media list of over 100 targeted contacts, Red Sky’s desired end goal was to bring a small group of vetted diverse and impactful editors to experience the best of Boise and McCall. In the end, Red Sky secured five high-caliber editors and bloggers to travel to Boise from around the United States.

The media in attendance included:

Forbes Travel Laura Downey
Snowshoe Magazine Katie Hearsum
New York Post / Chicago Tribune / Realfoodtraveler.com Yvette Cardozo
Outside / Men’s Journal / New York Times Charles Bethea
USA Today / The Washington Times / Men’s Fitness Adrienne Jordan

 

Business and Vendor Outreach and Sponsorship

Red Sky met in advance of the tour with specifically chosen local McCall businesses to create partnerships and facilitate sponsorships. Each of the restaurants, activities and resorts were willing and ready to work with us to promote their town and businesses.

State Funding – planning a FAM Tour with grant money

Red Sky coordinated the use of grant money to pay for the activities that were offered to the attendees on the FAM Tour. Since there was limited funding available, Red Sky also facilitated partnerships with local businesses to cover costs. The rules and regulations of the grant money was a part of the planning process that took a lot of careful monitoring and attention.

Our partners and sponsors included:

McCall Chamber Our client and the recipient of the grant that allowed us to put on the FAM
Idaho Power Grant funding Idaho Tourism Provided compensation for editor airfare
Boise Convention & Visitors Bureau (BCVB) Sponsored the Boise portion of the trip
Southwest Idaho Travel Association (SWITA) Sponsored the Blue Moon Yurt experience in McCall
Idaho Wine Commission (IWC) Provided wine for eight people during the Rupert’s dinner, as well as wine at dinner in Boise
Hotel 43 Provided government per diem rates for four editors to stay in Boise and welcome gifts for all editors
Proof Eyewear Gifted each editor with a box containing: sunglasses, pocket knife, lighter and wallet
City Peanut Shop Gifted each editor with three varieties of peanuts
Flatbread Sponsored a dinner in Boise for our first editor arrival
Bogus Basin Ski Resort Bogus provided transportation to and from the mountain and a full day of Nordic and downhill skiing for one editor
Juniper Provided a unique dining experience at per diem rates
Big City Coffee Provided coffee drinks and breakfast at per diem rate, and provided a gift bag for each editor
Hotel McCall Provided seven rooms at discounted rates for all editors and attending Red Sky staff
Shore Lodge Provided spa services, Shore Lodge tour, hors d’oeuvres and drinks for the editors
Tamarack Resort / Seven Devils Pub Provided lunch at Seven Devils Pub and a tour of Tamarack Resort for editors
Rupert’s Rupert’s created a multi-course wine dinner at discounted rates for editors, attending Red Sky and McCall Chamber Staff member
The Pancake & Christmas House Donated breakfast for all five editors and two Red Sky staff
Brundage Mountain Brundage Mountain provided personal ski instructors for each editor and a half day on the mountain
Salmon River Brewery Salmon River Brewery provided a snow sculpture demo as well as growlers of their local beer for the
Blue Moon Yurt Blue Moon Yurt provided the experiential multi-course dinner
Stacey Cakes Stacey Cakes provided ginger snaps in each editor’s hotel room and also provided discounted rates for breakfast

 

Itinerary Building

Red Sky, BCVB and the McCall Chamber strategically chose businesses and activities in McCall and Boise that would create the best experience possible for the travel editors.

The itinerary included dinner and a tour of Boise during their one night stay in the capital city of Idaho. Once in McCall, the writers had the opportunity to ski, snowshoe and eat some of the finest culinary options available in McCall.

Welcome Gift

Red Sky gathered informational brochures from the businesses involved in the McCall FAM Tour to include in a welcome bag for each of the editors. This welcome bag also included gifts from local businesses such as Proof Eyewear, the City Peanut Shop, the Idaho Wine Commission and Lazy Mondays. The gift included a personalized itinerary, fun facts about McCall, multiple recent press releases from McCall business as well as a social media document with the handles of all the businesses that participated.

About Red Sky

Red Sky is a strategic partner skilled in illuminating the key audiences and most effective channels for sharing your story. We align communication strategy with your business goals.