Welcome to Alberta....oh no wait a minute...that's England!

Considering that I am not allowed to write about MJ, because hubby told me I was not allowed to utter another word about it verbal or written, and that it is an incredibly slow news week, I, Fundywriter, have literally scoured the Internet looking for interesting little tidbits to bring to you.

Now I came upon this story which somehow slipped right under the radar here in Canada, for reasons which will be obvious, but certainly made the U.K. papers.

Being that I am from Alberta I almost P....d my pants when I read this.

Every couple of years Provinces like to re-vamp their Tourism campaigns, with brand new full blown media launches - and they work. We look at the yummy food eatin in fine restaurants, local culture and music to partake in and of course the sweeping vistas of the country or area.

Well the province of Alberta also relaunched its media package. In the past you typically saw the mighty majestic Rocky Mountains, crystal clear mountain lakes, and the vast sun kissed prairies, under the brilliant blue of an Alberta sky. (gosh - maybe I should be writing the stuff for them. All those scenes were included in this latest version - with one small addition. A five second clip of two beautiful children running along the - beautiful sand dunes and billowing sea grass growing along a white sandy beach, waves crashing along the shore.....WAIT A MINUTE?!? What waves???? where the hell are those? I lived there almost 4....well along time and I never saw any sandy dunes and breaking waves!

It seems that a Northumberland, U.K. beach was mistakenly used in the promotional advertisement for the landlocked province of Alberta.

The Alberta government issued an apology, saying it "screwed up", ah... yeah! A statement from the Alberta Public Affairs Bureau said: "At one point in the narrative we mentioned our regard for people in other places, and in that place we used the only image that did not come from Alberta. Come on! They couldn't find one single image anywhere? Also, I have written marketing and advertising for years and number one rule: when trying to promote the product or message - you should not show another product in its place assuming that will work better. That is called "False Advertising."

Despite the two places being 5,000 miles apart, and an 8 hour flight away, advertising executives charged with attracting visitors to Alberta decided to feature Bamburgh beach in Northumberland, and a boy and a girl happily running through sand dunes and tall grass on Britain's heritage coastline.

Alberta's government has denied any attempt to mislead the public and attempted to justify Bamburgh beach's inclusion. A spokesman for Ed Stelmach, the premier of Alberta, said: "The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we were trying to do. "Children are a symbol of the future. They symbolise that Albertans are a worldly people." Yeah...our OWN children!!

The beach concerned is a horse-shoe shaped stretch overlooked by Bamburgh Castle, built by the Normans after the original was destroyed by the Vikings, and restored by William Armstrong, Victorian industrialist. Sheelagh Caygill, marketing executive at Northumberland Tourism, said the issue had arisen at a time when the region is working to sustain a recent boom in tourism. She said: "We think it's quite funny, a landlocked province in Canada presenting an image of itself as an island.

The $24 million dollar re-branding was handled for the province by Edmonton PR firm Calder Bateman, who said they were unable to comment on work done for clients because of the terms of the government's contract. Olga Guthrie, manager of the brand initiative for Alberta's public affairs bureau, said: "This slide represents Albertans' concern for the future of the world. There's no attempt to make people think that the place pictured is Alberta." What would be the point of a Tourism campaign for Alberta that was not intended to make people think of Alberta? Also, it probably didn't help that the name "Alberta" is slapped across the image...?

Apparently the campaign has really worked though, hits on Northumberland's tourism web-site has increased 5 times to what it used to be.
And they didn't have to spend a dime.....ha! ha!

But you know....if it wasn't for the rest of Canada, Alberta would be surrounded by water....

Til later

Ahoy Matey! Cruise Ship off the port bow

Photo courtesy of portcitypics-fundysnapper.blogspot.com

Ah…..summer. Weed whackers, backyard BBQ’s, beers out on the deck…and oh yeah...CRUISE SHIP SEASON!!!

Yes folks it’s that time of year again. The time when thousands of cruise ship passengers descend on Saint John like a swarm of pastel colored, photo snapping, chino wearing locusts.

But hey we know what side our back bacon is buttered on and because of this short lived span of American greenback influx we will put on our best Canadian grins, practice saying ‘EH’’ and generally get into character. Remember to tell them what the price is in ‘REAL MONEY” , ours apparently is just pretend stuff. I know it may stick in our craw a bit, but come on….the Americans love it! What does it cost us really? We know we read more books and speak better English.

For a couple of weeks now downtown has been a busy little hive of activity. Cleaning, scraping, painting and generally sprucing the joint up. We have venders that wait all year just for this flow of retail commerce and base their financial survival on it. If you shop at the City Market make sure you do not go between the hours of 9 to 5., otherwise you will never make it thru the throng of tourists ‘Oooin and Awwwin “ over $17.00 vials of maple syrup, moose figurines and T-Shirts with friendly beavers on them.

Being that hubby and I are from Alberta, you don’t get many cruise ships out there. None that I can think of anyways. Our first apartment we rented when we landed in Saint John was down on Prince William Street, right on the harbour in front of Pugsley wharf. I can still remember being awakened one morning to a low grade rumbling of a ship’s mighty turbines. On the way to the kitchen I glanced out at the wall of white steel blocking my view of the world thinking, “holy cow…someone parked a ship on my doorstep.” Note to self: pick up “No Cruise ship Parking” sign.

Well we were pretty impressed I must say. Hubby snapped away, getting photo’s from every possible angle. Then we printed off a schedule so we could prepare and set up chairs for each arriving and departing ship. We put up Canadian flags and waved at all the tourists. Stood on our front deck at the end of the day and waved goodbye, teary eyed as our nautical friends waved back. E-mailed hundreds pictures home to Edmonton.

First it was fun, helping tourists with directions and explaining Canadian currency - no that’s real money…for sure eh? Then….it became a little bit of a drag. Helping them find their ride at the end of the day. “The large WHITE thing parked at the end of the street, I think that’s your boat.“ Assuring them that it would not snow later in the afternoon and yes we have the internet in Canada….” and so on.

Saint John is the fourth-busiest port in Canada for cruise ship passengers, behind only Vancouver, Victoria and Halifax. In 2008, the Port City welcomed a record 183,462 passengers - a jump of more than 49,000 over the previous year. Port officials are confident that traffic will reach 200,000 passengers in 2010 and surge past the 300,000 mark by 2015. The 2008 Cruise Ship season brought approximately $19,000,000 in revenue into the port city and remember we got that big spanking new Cruise Ship Terminal to pay for.

So just remember, to dumb down a little, smile a lot, it‘s just for a short while….because at the end of the day, that is allot of maple syrup.

Til later