PHOTO: Jo Knight, Destination Osoyoos Director of Tourism & Visitor Experience, and Glenn Mandziuk, Destination Osoyoos Chief Executive Officer, check out the Osoyoos brand logo embedded in the ice at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, in Victoria. (Destination Osoyoos photo/Andrew Klaver)

Osoyoos was on the ice with Canada’s best women curlers last week at the national women’s curling championship, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, held in Victoria from Feb. 21-March 1.

Destination Osoyoos continued its bold ongoing marketing program – promoting the Osoyoos brand as Canada’s Warmest Welcome and awareness of the town as an all-season destination – by putting the community’s logo right in the ice, visible to hundreds of thousands of curling fans from coast to coast.

Chief Executive Officer Glenn Mandziuk says last year Destination Osoyoos introduced the Osoyoos brand through TV commercials during broadcasts of curling championships. “This year we graduated to major sponsorship status and included the Osoyoos brand logo embedded in the ice sheets at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts,” he says. All week, as the television cameras captured each rock delivered down the ice by the curlers, they panned over the colourful Osoyoos logo.

“The brand got great exposure live at the event in Victoria and through the national television coverage on TSN – with a viewership of more than 800,000 watching the finals alone!” Mandziuk says. He credits Destination Osoyoos’ partnerships with the Osoyoos hotel industry and the regional marketing body, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, with helping to make the curling sponsorship happen.

“We strongly believe in the market that watches curling across Canada, and in their interest in Osoyoos products,” Mandziuk says. “We are currently working with the Canadian Curling Association to establish a long-term relationship with curling for the years to come.”

He says that in addition to this premium on-ice exposure, Osoyoos has arranged for official event website recognition at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling, the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier, and the 2009 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship. Osoyoos has also arranged for the right to provide informational materials at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling, the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier.

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For More Information Contact:

Glenn Mandziuk, CEO
Destination Osoyoos
Tel: 250-495-3366
Email: glenn@osoyoos.ca

The Destination Osoyoos Development Society is a non-profit grassroots organization committed to strengthening economic, physical, social and cultural conditions in the Osoyoos area. The goal of its Community Economic Development Strategy is to promote enhanced quality of life and a sustainable, diversified economy. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors representing diverse interests in the community.