The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a finalist for an Alto Award for marketing excellence for budget $10,000 to $50,000. The award will be presented at the Travel Alberta Industry Conference Gala on October 20 at the Banff Springs Hotel.
mailphoto by Patrick Kolafa

    The Royal Tyrrell Museum has been nominated for an Alto Award for Excellence in Marketing.
    The Drumheller valley has become a provincial beacon of tourism excellence for many years and last year the Canadian Badlands Passion Play won the Alberta Pride Award, and Drumheller won the Tourism Community of the Year Award.
    This year the valley is back in the spotlight as the Tyrrell is a finalist in the marketing category (budget $10,000-$50,000).    
    “It is a nomination, so we won’t know until October 20 whether we’re the winner,” said Carrie–Ann Lunde, marketing and public relations at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  
    The museum is among some very tough competition. Other finalists include the Jasper Pride Festival 2014 campaign and Banff Lake Louise Tourism for their Ski.com Facebook campaign.
    “The Rockies are usually the big players in Alberta,” said Lunde.
    The Royal Tyrrell’s campaign was called “Welcome to Dinosaur Country.”
    “It was based on a series of four seasonal images and played with the idea that dinosaurs are all around us in this country, the Badlands of Alberta. The museum is relatively unique because it is not just a museum about dinosaurs, but it is located right where all the dinosaurs lived and walked,” explains Lunde.
    “These were modified to the four seasons to remain appropriate throughout the year, and reinforce the message that the Museum is open year-round. From the outset, we wanted to capture the essence of the Museum experience starting from the moment the visitor hits the road. Therefore, one of the key strategies used in graphics and imagery was that of the journey and the stunning landscape in which the museum is situated.”
    She said the campaign was versatile and lent itself to a number of effective platforms.
    “This got incorporated into our print campaign, our social media campaign and directed our float in the Canada Day and Calgary Stampede parades,” she explained.
    The stage is not new for the Tyrrell.  In the year of the museum’s 25th anniversary it won an Alto Award for their ‘Changes So Big” campaign.
    The Alto Awards are presented at the Travel Alberta Industry Conference Gala at the Banff Spring Hotel on October 20.