Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association

MY DOWNTOWN!One of the most comprehensive promotionalthrusts in DVBIA history is imminent.Eye-catching advertising and promotionsemphasizing “My Downtown”will be prominent, all of it designed todrive people toward the DVBIA web site,www.downtownvancouver.net for informationabout downtown businesses andattractions.Members of the Marketing andCommunications Committee have contributeda great deal of time and effortto this versatile campaign to achievelong-term benefits. The goal is to drawand retain customers downtown. Thetargeted promotion relates “real people”to the vast range of downtown experiencesand attractions, including the retail,dining and entertainment communities.Major advertising in The Vancouver Sunwill underscore the theme, but the “MyDowntown Micro-site” (accessiblethrough the DVBIA’s Internet address)will be action central and all businessmembers are encouraged to takeadvantage of a free listing.The advertising puts it all in very humanterms.What does “downtown” mean toyou? Home? Work? Theatre? The Arts?Street scenes? Great dining? Sports?Recreation? Night Clubs? Hotels?Services? All of the foregoing? Just thetitle of the newspaper ads gives a hintof where we are going with this:• My Idea of a Superhero• My Idea of Rush Hour• My Idea of Time Management• Redefining After Five!• Treating My Best Friend• My In-Laws Are On The TownWatch for them. Collect them! Creativeelements of the campaign were developedby Derek Hepburn of TektonCreative (www.tektoncreative.com).Idea Media and Marketing Inc. has beeninstrumental in the development of theweb portal, the “My Downtown” micrositeand member database.Get with it! List your business. On theDVBIA home page you will find a pop upscreen and branding button for the “MyDowntown” micro-site. Go there and geta feel for where your business might fit.This represents another step in expandingthe DVBIA web site to being moremeaningful and useful for the businesseswithin the Association’s 90-block district,as well as the general public.Consumers (and our members) will beable to find out what type of servicesand products can be purchased andaccess the web sites of these companies.Anotherfeature of this on-linebusiness directory will be a mechanismthat will greatly assist theDVBIA to maintain itsdatabase of more than8,000 businesses withinthe 90-block area.Promotional cards weremailed out in earlyNovember inviting businessesto register on-line.If you missed this or haveyet to do so, registrationis simple. Just go to theDVBIA web site andfollow instructions.Benefits include:• A free listing on theDVBIA web site and linkto your business website;• Promote your businesson a searchable web sitewith category listingsmaking it easy for customersto find you; and,• Partnership with thedowntown communityin a new, dynamicinformation resource,promoting andadvertising what thearea has to offer.DVBIA4