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Co-op Marketing

Canoeing in Raft Cove on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island | Graeme Owsianski

The Destination BC Open Pool Co-operative Marketing Partnerships Program (the Co-op Program) is an application-based program that provides co-operative, consumer-focused marketing and promotion support to Community Consortiums, Sector Organizations, or approved Individual or Paired Communities in British Columbia.

The Co-op Program supports the provincial tourism strategy to sustainably grow the visitor economy through innovative marketing and to increase tourism revenues which provide social and economic benefits for residents of British Columbia.

Destination BC recognizes the continued, evolving circumstances the tourism industry is facing due to COVID-19. All of industry, including our Community and Sector partners in the Co-op program, are currently experiencing uncertainty and the need for recovery.

Destination BC will continue to provide support through the Co-op Program to ensure the strategic partnerships and collaborative efforts that have been built over the last 6 years continue. After careful consideration, Destination BC has determined the best course of action to support our industry is to once again run a modified program intake process for 2022/23. This modified intake will provide certainty to our partners currently in the program, while at the same time, allow for new projects to apply for funding.

The modified Co-op Program for 2022/23 will run as follows:

All current partners in the 2021/22 year who have a signed Shared Cost Agreement (contract) with Destination BC do not need to submit an application by November 30, 2021; we will ask you to provide an updated plan to us by February 28, 2022 which will form the Appendix to the 2022/23 Shared Cost Agreement.
Applications will be accepted only for new projects; applications are due November 30, 2021 by 4:30pm PST. New projects may request up to $25,000 each. A maximum of ten projects may be approved for funding.
Industry is not required to match the funding from Destination BC for the 2022/23 year.
There are no changes to the current framework of the program (i.e. eligible applicants, eligible costs, payment, and reporting terms).
The application intake for the 2022/23 fiscal year is now closed. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions by January 31, 2022.

Drive consumer demand and increase tourism revenues by investing resources where and when capacity exists.

Leverage private and public funds to maximize the marketing impact.

Support the execution of the Powerful Marketing Network. by creating deep collaboration to enhance our global competitiveness and supporting necessary capabilities such as shared data and content, and industry digital readiness.

Purpose of the Co-op Program

To enable groups that share common interests and common marketing goals, that align with provincial tourism priorities, to leverage both private and public funds in order to achieve greater marketing impact in driving tourism revenue.
To drive industry collaboration, align industry marketing efforts to provincial and regional strategies, and to connect industry to the provincial destination brand, building brand equity through all province-funded marketing initiatives.

Cariboo Chilcotin Coast | Andrew Strain

Funding Pools

The Co-op Program is designed around two funding pools:

a. Open Pool
An Open Pool of funds is available to all qualified applicant groups on a competitive basis.

b. Reserved Pool
A Reserved Pool of funds specifically earmarked for strategic marketing priorities that are fundamental to the provincial destination brand. This pool is available to a limited number of eligible recipients. Reserved Pool guidelines are provided directly to eligible recipients.

Open pool program highlights:

Eligible applicants to the program include community consortiums (clusters) of three or more eligible communities. (A community is defined as a geographic area with a DMO, or where a DMO does not exist, a municipal or village council, or Indigenous community, or regional district.)
Tourism product/experience sectors that represent province-wide (where it exists) experiential, market-ready tourism product are also eligible to apply.
Two paired communities and/or community Destination Marketing Organizations, where there is not the opportunity to for a consortium, may apply with pre-approval.
For further information, please see eligible applicants section (4.1) in the program guidelines

New sectors or community consortiums (of three or more communities) may apply for up to $25,000. Individual communities that meet requirements may apply for up to $7,500. Paired communities that meet requirements may apply for up to $15,000. Individual and Paired community applications require pre-approval.

Eligible activities include: digital readiness, stakeholder marketing subsidy, online marketing, paid advertising, print/online collateral, branding of collaborative efforts as part of a campaign, consumer-focused asset development, market research, consumer shows, and marketing tactic coordination up to 20%.
All applications will be collectively reviewed and evaluated based on merit, based on the following four criteria categories:
- Increased Tourism Revenue in BC
- Building Brand-Aligned Content and a Content Commonwealth Approach
- Strength of the Marketing Plan
- Resources to Execute Program Effectively

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

View questions commonly asked about our Co-op Marketing Partnerships Program here.

What about 2022/23 Applications?

The application intake for NEW projects for fiscal 2022/23 is now closed. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions at the end of January 2022. Destination BC’s formal announcement will be made once all contracts have been signed; estimated Spring 2022.

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Co-op Marketing

Co-op Program Goals