REGINA – The game day experience: from when you leave your house to when you leave the stadium, the Riders have engaged their fan base.
“The same thing holds true for a tourism operator. It’s getting someone to your facility, but then it’s how you treat them; what’s the experience once they’re there,” said Greg Sauter, vice-president of business development and marketing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, speaking Monday morning at the HOST Saskatchewan Conference.
That was just one of the tips and tricks from the most well-known brand in the province. “Rider Pride” wasn’t always as strong as it is today, but a better understanding of what fans wanted in a stadium experience, merchandising, and a mobile app and social media saw a group of loyal season ticket holders grow into Rider Nation.
“Everyone being proud of their part of Saskatchewan and use that kind of passion to bring everyone together. Make the visitor feel like there’s really something special about this province,” said Tracey Desjardins, marketing and sales manager for the Waskesiu Wilderness Region.
Desjardins is planning to use that type of enthusiasm to enhance the region’s marketing strategy.
“Whether it’s a yurt, or going paddle boarding or kite boarding, whatever you want to do, it’s something you do with your family, so that’s another correlation with the Roughriders,” she said.
And even the province is taking note – announcing a new event strategy following Grey Cup.
“We want to have appropriate supports in place for communities who host events and we think it’s something that will continue to drive tourism here in our province,” said Tim McMillan, minister responsible for Tourism Saskatchewan.
“We have to make sure that we have a strategy in place first of all that ensures we’re going to be able to support these events because the worst thing that can happen is you’re going to host a major event and you don’t have the volunteer and the corporate funding isn’t available,” said Pat Fiacco, Tourism Saskatchewan CEO.
No funding was announced with the provincial event strategy, but it is expected to be a major funding announcement in the provincial budget in March.
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