Value Co-creation
We recognize that value can only be co-created. Value is produced through interactions between people and organizations. This is why we see ourselves as working to co-create value with our client-partners. We say "client-partners" because we truly see those who we work with as partners.
Some recent projects we are excited about have included exploring the applicability of municipal accommodation taxes or hotel levies in different communities, undertaking visitor experience assessments, hosting workshops with tourism businesses around the power of storytelling, and developing custom press-releases to celebrate client-partner wins.
Research, Strategy, and Development
Research and Insight Generation
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At our core, we are researchers. We use qualitative and quantitative data to help our client-partners make important decisions with their communities, businesses, and organizations. Whether you are looking to understand your positioning in the market, improve your visitor experience, or explore the potential for a new product, we work with you to determine what questions to ask and how to use the insights generated.
Stakeholder Consultation and Engagement
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We know that by listening to your stakeholders you can produce better outcomes with longer-term benefits. This is why we see engagement as a powerful tool for place making and stewardship. Through workshops, surveys, pop-ups, open houses, table talks, interviews, and other innovative stakeholder engagement methods, we help you to build awareness and buy-in, establish shared understandings, and move forward with confidence.
Strategic Planning
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What does the far future hold for your business or organization? Do you want to navigate towards an inspiring vision where you and all of your stakeholders are flourishing? Are you ready to take seriously the steps needed to bridge the gaps between now and then? Strategic planning requires systems thinking and important conversation. We help by facilitating these and preparing you to respond to risks and seize opportunities that contribute to the health of the environment, society, and economy in which you operate.
Destination Stewardship
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We know that great places to live are great places to visit. Responsible destination development and stewardship are processes that can be used to achieve this and many other positive outcomes. Evidence-based and actionable strategy can help to guide destination stakeholders towards their vision. Through purposeful research and meaningful engagement, we work with you and your community to plan the who, what, where, when, why, and how tourism is developed and managed.
Monitoring and Evaluation
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Effective measurement is essential to understanding the outcomes of your work, as well as the potential directions to take. Knowing and understanding what you have accomplished and how is key to good management, building buy-in, and making informed decision. We help you approach monitoring in a manageable way and set up the systems to track your project progress with custom KPIs that reflect your goals. This work can be part of a larger project or a separate service.
Capacity-Building Workshops
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We design, develop, and deliver workshops on diverse topics in tourism including storytelling, partnership development, visitor experience, and much more. Whether you are looking to host a workshop for your network and member businesses or a tourism company looking to offer professional development opportunities to your staff, we love to bring custom and exciting solutions to your capacity-building needs!
Strategic Communications
Brand Development
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Your brand is one of the most powerful tools you have to connect with others. It represents the essence of your business or destination. We guide you through the entire brand development process, from market research and brand strategy to creative design and planning brand activation. One thing that we are particularly proud of is the work we put towards supporting implementation. Our goal is for every client-partner to be excited and feel confident about rolling out their new brand.
Marketing and Communications
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With a strong brand in place, sharing everything that it represents is the next big step. Through primary and secondary research, we collect the data needed to make informed marketing decisions. This means, understanding key components such as your positioning in the marketplace, key points of differentiation, your target markets, and much more. With this type of information, we support you in making decisions about how, when, and where to focus your marketing efforts. Our approach and methods depend on your unique context and can range from attending tourism conventions and developing social media content to launching a new campaign.
Media Relations
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Strong relationships with media are vital to telling your story and ensuring it reaches the right people. Whether you are managing a tourism business or destination, we can help you to develop story ideas, connect with journalists and bloggers, draft press releases, organize press trips, and strategically tie all of these into your overall marketing and communications plan. Our media contacts write for some of the best-known travel publications in the world, including AFAR, Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes, and more.
Content Development
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Whether you are looking to share the outcomes of a recent tourism project or let potential customers know about a new product that you're offering, we help you tell pertinent and captivating stories. We love putting our storytelling and creative writing skills to use. We work directly with you to develop content that connects with current and potential customers for use across a diversity of platforms.
Speaking and Facilitation
Speaking
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With years of experience within and beyond travel and tourism, our team has planned and presented at conferences and industry events around the world. We speak on a range of topics and enjoy working with others to ensure our speaking content and delivery resonate with their audience. To get a sense of the places and spaces we’ve spoken at, check out our News and Updates and Behind the Scenes pages.
Facilitation
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Over many years and countless projects, our team has homed in on the ingredients that make for successful facilitation. We have discovered through experience how to strike the right balance between what to share, how to ask, and when to listen. Whether a board retreat, strategic planning session, and community engagement event, we bring in creative methods that make participants feel comfortable sharing their insight, input, and feedback.
