Experiences Canada

PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY

Prepared by: Katherine Velluso, Alyson Duffy, Julia Prendergast, Rachel Booth,
Jesse Seheult, Matt Healey
COMS 4800 | PROFESSOR GAUTHIER | MARCH 3 2019 | V.1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction + Approach………………………………………………………… …..………....1
2.0 Situation Analysis……………………………………………………………… …..…………….….2
3.0 Strategic Plan…………………………………………………………………… ……………………..13
4.0 Action Plan + Tactics………………………………………………………………….…………...19
5.0 Conclusion………………………………………………………………… ……………………………..25
6.0 References………………………………………………………………………………..………………27
1.0 INTRODUCTION + APPROACH
Experiences Canada is a registered charity dedicated to the immersive cultural education of
Canadian students. They offer a multitude of programs and initiatives designed around the
principles of cultural awareness, national identity, and hands on education. Experiences Canada
offers specialized exchanges focused on different areas of interest; from sports, to languages, to
human rights. Experiences Canada is now introducing a new youth leadership forum focused on
the theme of diversity. While Experiences Canada has enjoyed years of success, they
acknowledge the fact that they face weaknesses in the areas of brand awareness and recognition.
Our team has spent the last few months carefully analyzing the current Public Relations state
of Experiences Canada through a series of different lenses and focuses, and in that time, we
have developed a strategic plan based on the CARE model that will help Experiences Canada
reach their specific goals. Our starting point and focus were the intended changes laid out in our
initial meeting with president and CEO Deborah Morrison, who noted that the key focus of our
campaign should be on name recognition and brand awareness. With these goals in mind, we set
out to create a plan that considers the key audiences that must be targeted, the strongest and
weakest resources available to the organization, and the potential threats and opportunities
presented by different environments, this document will outline the Situation Analysis and PR
Strategy our team had produced earlier in the year and touch on how we had adapted the thinking
presented in those to create the following plan. We will discuss specific tactics that can be used
to achieve Experiences Canada’s goals, which have been developed around the specific needs
and capabilities of Experiences Canada.
This research analysis of Experiences Canada aims to provide an in-depth understanding of
what interests are shared between Experiences Canada and their social media followers, based on
an analysis of their online presence, in addition to discussions with the organization’s team. The
goal of this section is to gain a clear understanding of the organization’s objectives, develop
recommendations for action to ensure upcoming and future campaigns will develop successfully,
and to assure that our work will contribute beneficially to Experiences Canada’s commitment to
develop, expand, and hold interest in Canadian culture and heritage.
Our primary approach to gathering research on Experiences Canada was to explore their
online presence. We found it important to focus on their website, social media, and mailing list.
The Experiences Canada website stands as the cornucopia of information for the organization. It
is user-friendly and easy to maneuver.
The organization has links to their four active social media platforms on their website,
including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. These platforms are represented in the
form of hyperlinked symbols. Their Facebook page has over 4,000 likes and over 4,000
followers; their Twitter has just over 2,000 followers; their YouTube has just short of 40
subscribers; and their Instagram has 2,000 followers. It came to our knowledge that the
Experiences Canada team focuses mainly on Facebook and Instagram, only using YouTube if
they need to put out a longer video and using Twitter to distribute information from other
platforms. An examination of their social media followers and following provides insight on the
types of audiences that access Experiences Canada information and communication. For
example, on Instagram and Twitter, their followers are made up mostly of Canadian youth
(determined by usernames and basic profile information such as photos and biographies), and
includes neighbourhood Canadian organizations, such as the Science and Technology Museum
and the Canadian Heritage page.
All the information gathered, even at a surface level, helps provide our team with information
on how to market and present Experiences Canada to the public.

2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS

2.1 INTENDED CHANGES
Experiences Canada seeks to service Canadian youth through the facilitation of safe, fun, and
meaningful experiences that strengthen their bonds with their communities. In order to
understand the changes they intend to make, it is important to first understand their foundation.
They believe “in the capabilities and potential of youth, [that] exposure to new spaces and ideas
will enable youth to see their world differently, [and that] every youth deserves to be respected
and included” (Experiences Canada, 2018). Their values of potential and inclusion are woven
throughout their dealings as an organization both internally and externally and motivate the goals
they inspire to achieve.
Experiences Canada’s vision statement is to “open young people’s minds and involve
them in a larger world” (Experiences Canada, 2018). To accomplish this, they are promoting a
new initiative, their youth leadership forums, as well as a reciprocal exchange program. These
youth leadership forums allow for participants to submit travel requests and explore a topic of
interest to them, with this year’s theme being Diversity and Inclusion (Experiences Canada,
personal communication, January 19, 2019). These larger changes that Experiences Canada
wishes to influence on Canadian youth can only be implemented if there is awareness of their
brand and engagement with their programs. This the most necessary change Experiences Canada
needs to and intends to make.
The organization faces challenges around recognizability due to the over-recognition of
programs delivered by schools and other youth programs and not Experiences Canada
(Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19, 2019). Experiences Canada wants to
develop a communications plan that focuses on building brand awareness by advertising the
differences that make their programs stand out (Experiences Canada, personal communication,
January 19, 2019). By incentivizing their audiences to at least take the first steps to engage with
them, Experiences Canada will notice a more robust group of people interested in, if not
participating in a program, then volunteering their time for their cause. To do this, they must
highlight the incentives they wish to promote: that their programs count towards volunteer hours,
and that there are bursaries available (Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19,
2019). Awareness of their brand must be promoted throughout the youth and their parents, as
well as those in positions of authority who may be instrumental in the promotion of such
programs. Residents of the city of Ottawa and other Canadian towns can only make an informed
decision when made aware of all their options.
Communication is essential to ensuring the longevity of an organization like Experiences
Canada. By increasing brand awareness in people with positions of authority over Canadian
youth, Experiences Canada will likely see an increase in youth engagement with their programs.
Authoritative figures such as parents are crucial audiences for the instruction of how to apply for
programs through Experiences Canada, as they likely facilitate the act itself for their children or
those they supervise. Promoting their easy-to-use website as the main point of contact for
communication as well as consideration for a program is also a must. Utilizing social media to
reach the youth they are advocating for on their level would also be beneficial. Seeing newfound
support for Experiences Canada may also bolster the money received from organizations that
fund Experiences Canada; these firms are more likely to invest their money in a profitable and
popular service to form a mutually beneficial relationship, where their corporate social
responsibility is enhanced, especially in the public’s eye, in return.
By telling their story and transparently describing their values, Experiences Canada will
build a healthy rapport with their audiences. Experiences Canada intends to increase their brand
awareness by emphasising the ways in which Experiences Canada differs from school-instituted
programs and making avenues for engagement easily accessible, as well as tracking their
progress along the way to make necessary adjustments to their strategy (Experiences Canada,
personal communication, January 19, 2019). This will result in a strong relationship with the
Canadian public, and a habitual pattern is sure to emerge.

2.2 AUDIENCES
Experiences Canada has many audiences including actor, influencer, and enabler
audiences. Teenagers are the main actor audience for this campaign. This includes high school
students between the age of 12-18 years old who will be attending and participating in
Experience Canada’s programs. Secondary actors are youth leaders, or slightly older people to
accompany the younger students on the trips and help facilitate events. The goal of targeting this
audience is to encourage them to sign up and become a youth leader (Experiences Canada,
personal communication, January 19, 2019).
There are many influencer groups that will be targeted with the intention of persuading
the actor audience to participate in Experiences Canada’s programs. The first influencer audience
to consider is composed of the parents or guardians of the actor audiences (Experiences Canada,
personal communication, January 19, 2019). This influencer audience has a complex relationship
with the actor audience that may have positive or negative effects on the actor audience’s
behaviour. One aspect to consider is the changing relationship that parents have with their
children over the course of their adolescent years. Teens may have a rebellious reaction to their
parents’ wishes, or they may be more open to following their guidance, depending on their age
and closeness with the parent (Psychology Today, 2010). This may make it more difficult for this
influencer audience to have an impact on the actor audience. Ultimately, the parent often has the
final say on whether their child participates in the program. In addition to the consent that
parents provide, they also provide financial support and will most likely be the ones to pay any
associated fees.
It is also important to consider changing family structures in Canada. There are
increasing amounts of divorced parents, blended families, multigenerational families, as well as
families with same-sex parents (Statistics Canada, 2018). Changing family structures are
necessary to recognize because it will play a significant role in how they will be addressed and
communicated with throughout the campaign. The campaign will need to be sensitive to all
family structures in order to avoid alienating people by assuming everyone lives in the same
family structure.
Other influencer groups include schools and educators, youth groups, peers, and the
media (Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19, 2019). Schools and educators
are the most appropriate influencer audiences other than parents because this is where
adolescents expect to hear about educational opportunities. Adolescents may be more likely to
respond positively to recommendations for opportunities from schools since they will be
surrounded by their peers and are in an environment where they are already more disposed to
learning opportunities. Schools also play a crucial role providing information about Experience
Canada’s programs to students and parents. Students and their parents would be much more
likely to respond positively to a source such as schools because they have pre-established
credibility and trust within their communities.
Peers also provide a safe and trusted environment for adolescents to make decisions
about participating in Experiences Canada programs. According to the Public Health Agency of
Canada, Canadian adolescents spend the most time surrounded by their peers and are very likely
to be influenced by their behaviour. It is also significant to note the influence that peers have
over each other in ways that are not accessible to adults. The article mentions that “peers provide
young people with developmental opportunities and social possibilities that are not available
through relationships with adults” (Public Health, 2012). They also note how healthy adolescent
“friendships [that] are based on shared interests such as sports and academic pursuits” are a
foundation for healthy psychological and social development (Public Health, 2012). Promoting
adolescent friendships based on constructive shared interests would be beneficial for Experiences
Canada in advertising their programs, as it would appeal to both adolescents and their
parents/guardians.
The news media is another important influencer audience. This audience has the potential
to influence several other audiences such as parents, schools, and enabler audience with positive
messages about Experiences Canada’s past campaigns. News articles from trusted national and
local news media sources such as CBC and Globe and Mail are credible sources of information
that Experiences Canada’s audience will find credible. It is important that the news media is an
audience for this campaign because their coverage of Experiences Canada’s programs will help
significantly in raising brand awareness among other audiences.
The enabler audience for this campaign includes groups such as the Board of Directors,
the Program Advisory Council (PAC), and the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC). The Board of
Directors is responsible for governance, strategic planning, financial and administrative oversight
of the organization. They will need to be persuaded that the public relations campaign will
provide strategic guidance and effective influence over their target audiences in order to sign off
on the campaign. The Program Advisory Council is responsible for the management and review
of existing program goals and outcomes, as well as providing feedback and recommending other
opportunities (Experiences Canada, n.d.). It will be essential for PAC to be aware of the
campaign goals and tactics in order to gain their approval of the campaign once it has run.

The following two tables provide a BENCH analysis of two of Experiences Canada’s
audiences: youth ages 12-18, and their parents. The biases, expectations, needs, codes, and habits
will be assessed to gain a deeper understanding of how to reach each audience.

Table 1.1: Youth ages 12-18

BENCH Explanation
Factor

Biases Positive biases:

 Youth want travel opportunities.
 Academically inclined students will be open to educational opportunities
 Want to have fun and foster friendships

Negative biases:
· Students who are less academically inclined will be harder to persuade to pursue educational
opportunities
· May believe that educational opportunities are not fun or exciting

Expectations Expected communication methods:

· Parents or guardians
· Schools or educators
· Youth groups/activities/organizations

Needs Social needs:

· Fit in with peers
· Not be away from home/family/friends for too long
· Want to feel safe/cared for

Practical needs:
· Not missing school
· Food preferences or allergies
· Affordability
 Codes Messaging:
· Simple language
· Fun emphasised
· Slang or memes feel forced (negative)
· Emphasize travel opportunity

Habits Consumption habits:

· Social media
· Online advertising
· Television
· Schools/youth groups
· Morning radio shows

Table 1.2: Parents/Guardians of youth

BENCH Factor Explanation

Biases Positive:
· Exciting opportunities for their children
· Will help them succeed academically
· Want their children to have a wide variety of experiences

Negative:
· Sending their children away may not be safe
· Worried about financial costs

Expectations Expected communication methods:

· Schools
· Youth groups
· Radio
· News media

Needs Practical needs:

· Ensure their children are safe
· Affordability

Codes Messaging:
· Parenting language
· Empowering their children
· Building their children’s futures

Habits Consumption habits:

· News media (radio, local newspapers)
· Social media
2.3 RESOURCES

Hard Resources:
Experiences Canada is a not-for-profit organization, which means that they will have limited
hard resources. Upon meeting with them, it was clear which hard resources they had more of and
which ones they did not, and it also helped us to understand them as an organization and which
soft resources they possess. When it comes to hard resources, we are looking at how much time,
money, people and vehicles an organization or company has (Gauthier, 2018). Time is defined
having the time to think, place, create, produce, distribute and wait for effects of the campaign
(Gauthier, 2018). When discussing the plan with Experiences Canada, they had started a new
project called Diversity and Inclusion. This project is set to take place in June of 2019 in Toronto
and is building off their 150 & me initiative from 2017. When we met with Experiences Canada,
they were already setting things in place because kids are required to make video submissions by
April 30th so that the selection process could begin. By entering their timeline in January, it was
difficult for our team to give them a campaign plan to implement for this specific project. To
compensate for this, we discussed applying this public relations strategy to future campaigns.
Since Experiences Canada is a not-for-profit organization, money can be a difficult resource to
come by since they rely heavily on donations, funding, and sponsors to finance their operations.
Their available budget can be used to buy data, professional services, reach, production, and
influence (Gauthier, 2018). After discussing the campaign, it was clear that there was not a set
budget. As a team, we would have to find opportunities to overcome this by focusing on the
strengths the organization possesses such as goodwill, stories, internal cohesion, strategic
intelligence, and communications vehicles. Their social media channels and website will allow
them to effectively reach their audiences at a low cost. Goodwill will allow them to rely on
alumni and volunteers to help with some groundwork such as going into classes or handing out
information packets to students and parents.
Another necessary hard resource to consider is people. The number of personnel you
have to dedicate to a campaign will determine how many people are available to work on a
campaign and provide insight and direction towards the success of the overall campaign
(Gauthier, 2018). Experiences Canada has a very small team of staff but they each are dedicated
to working on specific projects. Hassaan Malik is the project coordinator for the Diversity and
Inclusion program. Deborah Morrison is the president and CEO of Experiences Canada. While
she has other duties, this public relations strategy is of great importance to her. Due to
Experiences Canada’s positive reputation across Canada, they have many volunteers across the
province that are willing to help the organization that they can lean on to help them implement
and execute their initiatives. The volunteers range in ages, some are children who have taken part
in the trips and others are teachers who help spread the word about Experiences Canada. To our
knowledge the relationship between volunteers and Experiences Canada is a positive one, and
the volunteers feel a appreciated and connected to the organization.
 Communications vehicles are an essential resource in a public relations campaign. Upon
talking to members of the Experiences Canada communications team and researching their
platforms, it is clear that they have an established following on Facebook with over 4,000 page
likes and over 4,000 followers, Twitter which has just over 2,000 followers, and Instagram which
has 2,000 followers. Experiences Canada’s website is well laid out with messages and directions
that make it easy for audience members to find the information they are seeking. Having these
channels in place and active is very important for them and for us to understand which channels
to focus on in this strategy.

Soft Resources:
Soft resources can be harder to measure; however, they are just as important as hard resources to
the success of a public relations campaign. Goodwill is a soft resource that measures what key
audiences know about your organization and how much they like the organization (Gauthier,
2018). Goodwill is earned slowly and can be erased instantly but having goodwill can make
everything easier and move your campaign along faster (Gauthier, 2018). From talking to the
staff at Experiences Canada and seeing the stories they tell on their social media channels and
website of the exchange trips and being a host family, it was clear to see that Experiences
Canada has very strong goodwill among their audiences. The stories youth tell about their
experiences on exchange/being a host are very positive and uplifting which has contributed to
their excellent reputation.
To make any campaign successful, Experiences Canada need to have quality strategic
intelligence; this means having a good grasp of your resources, audiences, and the external
environment which can be learned by monitoring your media channels (Gauthier, 2018).
Experiences Canada knows their resources, audiences, and environment very well. They know
which parts of the country they get a strong representation from at forums and trips and which
regions they struggle with. Atlantic Canada is a region they struggle with getting engagement
and representation due to the recent ban on bus trips outside of the province (Experiences
Canada, 2018). Experiences Canada is making an effort to listen to their audiences and have
developed a forum on diversity and inclusion because this was a topic identified by youth as one
of the top challenges in their generation. This challenge was identified by asking those who
participated in the program what they wanted to focus on.
For an organization to run smooth and successful campaigns, there needs to be internal
cohesion between staff members. This means that members of the team work well together and
that they agree on all steps of the campaign (Gauthier, 2018). Internal cohesion is earned through
leadership, communication, shared culture and example (Gauthier, 2018). From our two
meetings with the Experiences Canada communications team, it is very clear that they are all
passionate about their organization, are all on the same page about which direction they are
taking the organization, and how they are going to get the organization to their end goal. They
are very passionate about the mission of their organization and helping Canadian youth expand
their knowledge of our country.
 Having good stories to tell can make an organization stand out among other similar
organizations. Having powerful stories full of emotions, tension, progress, victories, lessons,
interesting protagonists and antagonists can make people listen to you and join your
organization’s cause (Gauthier, 2018). The stories that Experiences Canada has to tell are
creative, inspiring, victorious, and have great lessons. These are stories that are going to draw
people in to this organization because these stories are generally feel-good stories. Experiences
Canada does a good job of telling the stories of what it's like to be hosting a twin or having a
football team from Vancouver host a football team from Ontario to teach them about Canadian
history in Vancouver (Experiences Canada, 2018).

Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses:

After going through Experiences Canada’s resources, it was clear that there were some
weaknesses in the hard resources specifically time, money and people. Time is a weakness
because we do not have the time to bring about the change we want before the deadline of their
program this summer (Gauthier, 2018). Since Experiences Canada is trying to establish
relationships with audiences that previously do not have a relationship with the organization this
also makes the time a big weakness.
Money is a weakness because they are trying to reach a numerous and diverse audience, and
certain communities can be more difficult to reach based on their geographical location
(Gauthier, 2018). Since we want to reach many different audiences this means we would need
more advertising which can become expensive (Gauthier, 2018). We would need to focus in on
very specific audience segments in order to reduce costs. There are other organizations
competing for the attention of the same audiences and most likely have a larger budget than
Experiences Canada (Gauthier, 2018). Experiences Canada is depending on limited revenue from
their sponsors, including RBC, WestJet, Air Canada, and Great-West Life which may not be
enough to run a full public relations strategy.
People are a question mark for Experiences Canada because they only have a full-time
staff of nine people and they are all very busy with different projects. Experiences Canada has a
good network of teachers, schools and organizations however we do not know how reliable these
volunteers are, so it is difficult to count on them to help the campaign. The staff at Experiences
Canada have the skill set to succeed as they all have previous experience in developing new
programs and executing them. The team of staff is very committed to the cause and understand
the long-term impact that their work will have on organizations success of the project. The team
that is working on the project is talented with varied levels of expertise and experience and is
very enthusiastic about the project however they have a lot on their individual workloads and no
designated communications team.
Vehicles are a question mark for Experiences Canada. They have multiple vehicles such
as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Website and an email newsletter. These platforms have a
decent following base, while their graphic design can be repetitive it is suited for their target
audience and is modern. They do not get very much interaction such as averaging 30 likes on
Instagram and averaging three likes a post on Facebook and zero shares, which shows that their
content is not being registered by their audiences and the audiences are choosing to not engage
with the material because it is not appealing.
Goodwill is a strength for Experiences Canada because members participate in feedback
and are quick to tell the organization what they want to see. The core audiences have nothing but
praise for the organization and are featured on their platforms telling new audience members
about their powerful and positive experience with the organization. The relationships that have
been established between the organization and their audience is loyal and positive. When people
have engaged and gone on exchanges with this organization, they have liked their experience and
have either come back for another trip or as a leader. These participants tend to tell their friends
about their experience because of how positive and fun it was.
Strategic intelligence is a question mark for Experiences Canada because as they have
changed and adapted to the social media platforms, they do not vary their material. They rely on
some data, but they seem to rely on what has worked in the past with not varying up their
strategy with fresh thinking. They do send out requests for feedback however it is not ongoing
and often.
Internal cohesion is a strength for this organization as the executives know what to say
and how to say it well which is a sign that they work well together. Approvals for the campaign
are quick and have a constant dialogue to continue improving the campaign. There are multiple
spokespeople in this organization. The partners Experience Canada has been responsive and help
the organization reach key audiences. The organization understands how to communicate and
stay on budget. There is very clear leadership within the organization structure and their
messages and clear and consistent.

2.4 ENVIRONMENT

Political
Experiences Canada is a not-for-profit organization that provides students with an extracurricular
program that teaches them about Canadian culture and other social issues. However, in this
current political climate, premier Doug Ford (PC) is lessening the funding towards programs
such as these. Although Experiences Canada gets a lot of support from volunteers, funding from
sponsors such as TD and Air Canada, and charitable events, they are still at a disadvantage when
the government pulls large subsidies from organization’s budgets. This means that Experiences
Canada will have to operate outside the help from local majority government. The Star wrote an
article about the Indigenous Culture Fund (ICF), which was a program like Experiences Canada
in that their mission statements both revolve around the nurturing of cultural awareness amongst
Canadian citizens, especially youth. Global News speaks on the cuts that Ford has made to
educational co-curricular programs and other ‘non-crucial’ curriculum (Benzie, 2018). This has
the potential to be one of the largest factors against smooth operation for a non-for-profit
organization such as Experiences Canada.
Economic
As Experiences Canada has disclosed to us, they have developed a large network of supporters
for their programs. Experiences Canada has partners and funding partners which includes
businesses such as RBC, WestJet, Air Canada and TD. This has allowed them to gather the
necessary funding to operate as an organization. When it comes to additional expenses for things
such as advertisement and outreach, it is still unclear from their website how much budget they
have towards these endeavors.

Social / Cultural
The social and cultural field is best analyzed by understanding how audiences feel about the
work that a company or organization is doing. The work that Experiences Canada takes part in is
fundamentally beneficial to Canadian communities, aiding children and young adults with
exchange programs within the country to learn about indigenous culture, human rights, and many
other social issues.

Technological
One of the first things that we wanted to research was their social media presence, so that we
could focus our campaign around improving their presence. We learned that Experiences Canada
focused most of their effort towards their Instagram, email list, and website. Experiences Canada
uses their Twitter and Facebook to share links and to repost from their other social media
platforms. The only problem is the technical capability in-house to take care of updating
subscribers about the organization’s events, how they can get involved, donate, etc. As a non-
profit organization, they rely on volunteers to help run their programs and activities. Volunteers
are not employed long enough to adequately run the social media accounts since they are tasked
to help only during the events themselves. Not having access to someone who can take on this
responsibility is cause for concern in the technological field.

Demographic
Experiences Canada focuses on youths, ages 12-18. The goal of this organization is educational
and to inspire young people to think critically about social and cultural difficulties within
Canada. This means that the organizations target demographics are the kids themselves being the
actors and the parents and teachers of those kids acting as both the influencers and enablers. We
went into a discussion with Deborah about who would be best to target in a campaign and she
has stated that it has been easier for them to put flyers up in schools as well as going and having
assemblies where they talk to the students about the programs. Experiences Canada has not had
much success in getting into the hands of students organically without those initial avenues. The
problem here is that if the target demographic is the students themselves not having the
capability to even grab their attention means that it is difficult for
Experiences Canada to incite them to take action or even to search for instruction.
Competitive Field
Experiences Canada faces the issue of a somewhat competitive market, with organizations such
as Brightspark and the Canadian Education Exchange Foundation offering similar programs to
the same audiences. One of the most critical threats presented here aligns with Experiences
Canada’s intended changes of brand awareness and recognition. The best way to get an edge on
their competitors is for their audiences to think of Experiences Canada first. Having their name at
the forefront of their branding and advertising would lead more parents and educators to search
out Experiences Canada before their competitors, which would give Experiences Canada the
opportunity to leverage their strengths to land the client. There is also a lot Experiences Canada
can do appeal more to their actor audience; students. Offering incentives such as mandatory
volunteer hours for high school students would make engagement more attractive. Using social
media and other communications vehicles to amplify the voices of young people is an excellent
way to not only make Experiences Canada more attractive as a brand but will also attract
students to work with Experiences Canada and partake in their programs. Experiences Canada
already has a commitment to strengthening the voices of socially and politically active young
people, which sets them apart from their competition.

News Media
Our research demonstrates that Experiences Canada has outreach through the Canadian news
field and can use this to their advantage by capturing Canadians’ attention. However, we
understand that their target audience may not be the same group paying attention to local news
and focus on alternative sources. This means that although they do possess a striking surprising
amount of news coverage it does not help them further toward gaining the attention of their
target audience. The main goal of Experiences Canada was to make their name and brand more
known in the news media. It was mentioned that Experiences Canada has mostly acted as a
partner to other organizations and their programs rather than being the featured name on any
event. We intend to emphasise their brand name in our tactics to compensate for this.

Natural Environment
The 2019 Youth Forum will be held in June. When it comes to the natural environment, weather
can be unpredictable which is a problem since many of their events rely heavily on being outside
during the summer months. Deborah told us about an event that they had where they emulated
with the kids what it was like to be homeless. We did not have the foresight to inquire upon this
further, but it can be imagined that if it were to have rained that night, they may have used it to
their advantage in the simulation or they may have rescheduled the event to another day to avoid
the natural obstacle. When it comes to planning strategically around the natural environment, one
must always be prepared for alternative solutions.
3.0 STRATEGIC PLAN
3.1 Intended Changes
We have distilled the changes Experiences Canada wishes to make and have accurately
identified the most pressing issues. Experiences Canada must focus on increasing their brand
awareness while also bolstering the fundraising done and funds donated to them. Of course, their
fundraising can only be improved upon once the public has shown recognition of the
Experiences Canada brand. It is fundamentally important that the communities Experiences
Canada serves are well informed about the organization’s mission. The programs of a similar
nature delivered by schools and other youth programs have proven to be considerable threats as
they are well-marketed throughout typical channels (Experiences Canada, personal
communication, January 19, 2019). To combat this issue, we have analyzed the relationship
continuum specific to one of Experiences Canada’s optimal audience: the parents.
Parents of the children who would take part in the programs run by Experiences Canada
can be assumed to be invested in the wellbeing of their child. Thus, they will likely want to
choose a program that is reputable and well-managed. When these parents consider their options
of programs for their children, Experiences Canada must make sure they are aware that their
programs are funded by sources they all know and are well-connected throughout Canada
(Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19, 2019). Furthermore, parents must
know that their programs focus on inclusion, meaning that their children will be well and
sensitively taken care of. This will help to influence the parents’ decisions when they are
confronted with all their options and make it easy for them to spot which organization does it
best.
It is then important to ensure that this audience has an easily accessible avenue for
contact with Experiences Canada. At this stage, it is important to consider brand awareness in the
eyes of the institutions involved in the nurturement of children in Canada. Adults in positions of
authority such as teachers, doctors, and therapists are excellent options for Experiences Canada
to pursue in making sure their programs are readily available to Canadian youth. Experiences
Canada benefits from an easy-to-use website and well-curated social media, which makes the
process much more fluid and less stressful for all parties involved. Experiences Canada is
benefitted by their incentive program, which helps to push the community to engage; children
who partake in a program through Experiences Canada are eligible for bursaries and to include
the experience as volunteer hours (Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19,
2019). At this point, the programs structure and realized value is most important. If those who
partake do not feel they have received a return on their investment, it is unlikely that any habitual
relationship will form, or continued support will be offered. This will also benefit Experiences
Canada’s brand awareness as firsthand testimonials are the most convincing form of marketing,
and a good experience is what ensures this.
Brand awareness will bring an increase in fundraising for Experiences Canada. As they
are hoping to work with corporate sponsors to build their fundraising (Experiences Canada,
personal communication, January 19, 2019), it is important that the community is involved and
showing support. They want to attract corporations that emphasize diversity and inclusion, so an
outpouring of local support would influence such businesses to get involved through goodwill
(Experiences Canada, personal communication, January 19, 2019), as it would also increase their
corporate social responsibility.

3.2 Audiences
Based on the Situation Analysis, we have determined six audiences for this campaign: teens
between the ages of 12-18, their peers, their parents, their teachers, principals, and school boards,
the media (referring to print, television, radio, and online/social media), and the board of
directors at Experiences Canada. It is not possible to reach all these audiences in a meaningful
way given our time and financial limitations, therefore we have distilled this list down to three
key audiences based on our condensed list of intended changes.
Since we are putting a focus on increasing brand awareness and funding, we have
determined that the optimal audience to reach is parents. As has been outlined in the Situation
Analysis, parents can have a major influence over their children if they have a positive
relationship with them. Conversely, there is the possibility that parents may not have a positive
relationship with their children, but there are many other factors to consider that make them ideal
audiences for this campaign. Parents are crucial enablers in that they provide financial support
and consent for their children to participate in Experience Canada’s activities, which has a direct
impact on the success of the campaign. Parents are an essential audience to target because they
will care more about recognizing the brand than their children. For parents, brand recognition is
essential because the brand carries a reputation that will influence their decision to support their
children’s participation in Experience Canada’s events. Parents need to feel that Experiences
Canada will provide a safe environment for their children especially since they are sending them
on a trip. Building trust with parents through brand recognition will significantly benefit the
goals of this campaign.
Parents are also great targets for funding messages because if their children have a
positive experience with Experiences Canada, they will be more likely to want to donate to the
organization or encourage their other children to participate. In this way, parents play a vital role
in maintaining the relationship continuum. In order to reach parents as an audience, we will first
need to target the media (including print, television, radio, and online/social media). The media
will help to build brand recognition by promoting inspiring, feel-good stories about Experiences
Canada that will establish the organization as a trustworthy, professional organization that has
benefitted children and teens across Canada for decades. It is essential that we select media
organizations that our target audience, parents, find trustworthy and from whom they regularly
consume news media. This can include local news organizations such as local papers, radio
stations, and television broadcasters, as well as national-level news organizations such as the
CBC, CTV, Global News, National Post, The Globe and Mail, and La Presse. A study from
Poynter Media found that people are more likely to trust local news rather than national news, so
we will focus on the local level (Lakshmanan, 2018). Many of these news organizations occupy
an online presence through their own websites and social media, which will be beneficial in
targeting parents through multiple channels. Promoting Experiences Canada’s stories through the
media will play a key role in establishing brand recognition and trust among parents across
Canada.
The media will also play a significant role in influencing potential corporate sponsors to
either donate to the organization, become an official sponsor, or become one of their partners to
help facilitate events. Reaching a wide variety of media outlets will yield greater outcomes by
indirectly reaching each of the unique audiences of each outlet, including individuals and
organizations. People of different ages, ethnicities, genders, and economic backgrounds are
drawn to different news outlets which highlights the necessity of reaching as many news outlets
as possible to spread the message. Likewise, different organizations pay greater attention to some
news outlets over others. For example, organizations with politically left leaning values will be
more likely to value news coming from leftist sources (Rothwell, 2018).
Finally, we have recognized the board of directors as one of our essential audiences. The
board of directors will need to be convinced that this strategy is sound, feasible, and reliable in
order to grant approval. Gaining their approval is paramount in that it will kick off the campaign
and allow us to begin establishing contact with news organizations. The other audiences outlined
in the Situation Analysis were not selected for this campaign because they will not advance the
goals laid out in the intended changes. Teens and their peers will not be influenced by brand
recognition efforts and most likely will not make donations to the organization. Although they
are essential to Experiences Canada’s mission, they are not an essential audience for this
campaign. Schools have also been eliminated as a key audience because we feel that Experiences
Canada already has and maintains strong relationships with educators. Schools are already
familiar with the work they do and would not benefit the intended changes for this campaign.

3.3 Resources
Experiences Canada excels in their soft resources, so by using goodwill, internal cohesion, and
stories, our team will be able to overcome the weaknesses of time, money and people to achieve
brand awareness.
Experiences Canada has a lot of stories to tell but they are not using effective methods to
broadcast these stories. Stories are an important way Experiences Canada can build brand
awareness, so we intend to use the vehicles already in place such as Experiences Canada’s
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as their website to show these stories to a
wider audience. Currently, Experiences Canada’s biggest method of telling their stories is their
website. This is a great start, but their social media need to be used to showcase these inspiring
stories because this is how their audience is going to impacted by their stories. Since the
audience we are trying to reach are parents the social media we would be focusing on is
Facebook.
 By using videos instead of pictures accompanied by a lot of text could resonate stronger
with their audiences. Instagram and Facebook have become great methods to deliver short videos
that appeal to the audience Experiences Canada is trying to reach. Experiences Canada has done
the hard work of writing the stories and crafting them in a way that aligns with their brand. By
using one of their strengths, which is vehicles, effectively, this will help them achieve brand
awareness within the six audiences we have identified. Since each story is unique and each social
media platform has a different audience, our strategy will have to be informed, dynamic,
customized while also having consistency to align with what Experiences Canada stands for as a
brand (Gauthier, 2018). The way we tell these stories are in our control and have already been
written. The job our team has is celebrating them and using these stories to access larger vehicles
to get more exposure to help build their brand awareness
Goodwill is a strength for Experiences Canada, which can be used alongside their stories
to overcome the weaknesses of time, money and people. Having a positive association with the
organization will help our team build brand awareness because we don’t have to overcome
negative association with the brand (Gauthier, 2018). People will be willing to listen and help out
with our campaign because they like what the organization does. Since Experiences Canada has
a small staff, by having goodwill it will be easier for our team to ask for help from volunteers to
help with the delivery of the campaign. Since our task is brand awareness, we will need alumni
from previous trips to talk to other kids about the trips and why it’s something kids should be a
part of. Since those kids had a positive experience, they will be more likely to want to volunteer
their time to help build the brand awareness of Experiences Canada. Since Experiences Canada
has built up goodwill within communities and has a positive image associated with their brand, it
makes it easier to ask for more time, money and people not only from them but from their
sponsors and when reaching out to volunteers. Volunteers will be more likely to help out with
initiatives and campaigns within their communities if Experiences Canada asks them to, which is
something we as a team can use to overcome money and time weaknesses.
Using stories about the difference Experiences Canada is making in communities and in
the lives of children can be used to further promote Experiences Canada’s goodwill. Showing the
direct impact that Experiences Canada is having on youth will attract new partners that they may
not have been able to partner with before. This strength can be leveraged to overcome
Experiences Canada’s small budget, lack of people and time while also using the vehicles they
already have in place to reach larger vehicles (Gauthier, 2018). This strength is within total
control of the company and it’s our job as a team to show them how this will attribute to their
growth as a brand while also separating themselves from their competitors.
Time is a weakness because they initially wanted to build brand awareness for forum they
are putting on in June. However, since brand awareness is an ongoing process, the strategies we
provide can be used moving forward and for other projects and forums the organization puts on.
We can use goodwill, stories and internal cohesion to overcome the weakness for the project that
is currently being put on. Time works in distinct phases: plan, implement, measure and then
adjust (Gauthier, 2018). We quickly identified who the audiences were that we were targeting
while also noting that there was an abundance of stories to be told and were already being told.
One of the key aspects of planning out the usage of time is looking at the infrastructure the
organization has (Gauthier, 2018). Experiences Canada already has vehicles in place and those
vehicles are being used. Since our team cannot ask for more time as our deadline is set, the
strategies we give Experiences Canada can continue to be used as building brand awareness is a
constant process. Our team is currently in the planning stage, but we are ready to show them how
to implement the strategies we think will be the most successful for them. As Experiences
Canada implements these strategies, they will need to measure the success these campaigns are
having and, if they are not being successful, they may need to readjust them.
Money is a weakness because the organization has stated that they rely on donations,
sponsors and funding from the government and that they are working within a tight budget. Since
they have a fixed income, we as a team have to rely on other strengths such as goodwill, stories,
internal cohesion and vehicles to overcome money. By using vehicles to tell their stories paired
with goodwill and internal cohesion we will be able to overcome the restricting budget. There are
also inexpensive options on social media to boost posts or to create a snapchat filter that would
be valuable to building their brand while also not being costly towards their budget. Since money
is difficult to come by, asking for more can be difficult however and strategies we deem
important would not be super expensive such as being able to boost your Facebook post to 100
people costs five dollars. The media that Experiences Canada is active on doesn’t cost money to
use; this is very beneficial for us and allows us to tailor our campaign to social media. The
audiences that we are trying to reach are active on social media which is helpful for Experiences
Canada because paired with their other strengths and the campaign we wish to implement, it will
be feasible due to the cost efficiency. Once Experiences Canada has reached a certain point of
brand awareness in their campaign, it will be easier to ask their sponsors for more a larger
budget. If the sponsors can see that Experiences Canada has grown and is continuing to grow,
they will see that this will be successful and have a return for them as well. Money is not fully
within our team’s control, however using the resources that are such as goodwill, stories,
vehicles, internal cohesion, we will be able to leverage them to grow Experiences Canada’s
budget.

3.4 Environment
Assessing and synthesizing the information gathered from our Situation Analysis, we
have concluded that our client has the best chance of capitalizing on particular opportunities and
are threatened by particular factors. One of the fields that we believed was crucial to increase
brand awareness was through News Media. Our team has found that media engagement has been
successfully leveraged by Experiences Canada in the past, and that an adapted approach to the
way Experiences Canada communicates their message will be even more useful in the future.
News media is an excellent way for Experiences Canada to leverage their key strengths further to
improve the relationship that the organization wants to have with their audiences.
 During our research in the Situation Analysis we were able to find many favourable news
articles that praised Experiences Canada in the past. By gaining traction again in the news media,
through contacting local reporters to cover the events that the organization runs, we can seek to
gather newer and fresher stories. We foresee this tactic having greatest impact with our enabler
audiences, parents and educators.
An article written by Derek Lester of the Canada Post, provides a piece about how
Experiences Canada was a part of sending 23 high school students to Nunavut to learn more
about different Canadian cultures as part of an exchange. However, our client has made it clear
to us that they are focused on building their own brand recognition, (Lester, 2018). This article in
particular is indicative of how the news has had a relationship with Experiences Canada,
skimming over those organizing the event and focusing more on the children themselves, which
although noble, does not convey the message that we are trying to spread. This is because the
viewers of an article like this are receiving an alternate message, where we wish to subvert their
attention slightly to notice our intended message, which is to find where they can be apart of
these experiences as well.
With that said, our team believes that we can ensure that with enough exposure aimed
towards our intended message the organization will be able to gain traction within their target
audience. Since their upcoming event is being held in Toronto, we thought that reaching out to a
media company such as CP24 will grab the attention of watchers or listeners of the program. By
instructing journalists to mention where they can find our organization, (through email, website
or whichever channel the client sees fit) to sign up for future programs, we will be able to initiate
a relationship with consumers. Our focus for this campaign is then to grab their attention and
show through the organizations goodwill and narratives that there is a reason for new people to
subscribe to the organizations mission and participate within it.
However, with that we need to mitigate the threats to our campaign. One threat that our
team has identified is the technological field. The reason being that if we are focusing our efforts
onto older people roughly 35 and above with young children to teenagers, we then erase the
possibility of gaining attention from the youths themselves. Alienating this actor audience, one
that is privy to online form of communication, limits the accessibility we have with this
audience.
As alluded to prior, children’s experience is the focus of the organization’s mission
statement. This means that by focusing our efforts onto News Media, especially MSM
(Mainstream media) outlets our campaign subjects itself to the possibility that we lose that
connection that we aimed for breaking the relationship continuum, (Gauthier, 2018). This is why
our team believes that to mitigate this threat it would be wise for the organization to hire outside
consultation, or possibly someone to handle matters inside the organization, that would be
responsible for public outreach on new technologies and social media sites, such as YouTube,
Twitter, Instagram and wherever else appropriate. This would be to ensure that once the parents’
attention has been captured and they have allowed their children to participate, they will be able
to communicate with Experiences Canada on further consultation of how they can apply and
participate in their programs.
We believe that the best way to mitigate these threats is to give consumers knowledge of
the means to which they can be apart of the programs. As stated previously in both instances, the
way that Experiences Canada has approached public outreach has been noble and they tell good
stories with the work that they have done, however, they fail to capture the goodwill the exude.
We want to capitalize on these things, creating a tether in which the new viewers can pull
themselves towards the organization rather than losing attention after the initial moment of
impact and let them drift astray from the message we are trying to impose upon them.

4.0 ACTION PLAN + TACTICS

This section will outline four tactics that we are proposing for Experiences Canada to adopt
based on our strategic plan. The tactics are listed in order of complexity and budget associated
with each. We suggest starting with low-cost tactics such as making changes to their website and
developing a stronger social media presence. Next, we propose reaching out to local news media
organizations such as radio stations and newspapers and organizing parent information sessions
in five cities. The last two tactics are the most expensive options and should only be considered
if there is enough in the budget to implement them.

4.1 Social Media

Tactic: Social Media Audiences: Students; Peers

Details/Strategic Rationale:
 INSTAGRAM: Significant increase in activity and involvement by:
1. Posting more often & including interactive comments;
2. Posting interactive stories;
3. Interacting with followers/following via commenting and liking their posts.
 INSTAGRAM: Additional option to promote posts or profile:
1. Set a budget and duration - depends on how wide you would like the post to be seen
2. Pay through Instagram or linked Facebook Page
 SNAPCHAT: Design Geo-filters, Moment-filters and Location filters ($)
 HASHTAGS: Implement and follow hashtags on all platforms, for example:
#ExperiencesCanada, #ExpCanada2019, #ExpCanYouth, #ExpCanDiversity
 Hashtags are a great way to build the organization’s brand, boost specific campaigns/events,
and keep in touch with your audiences. On social media, you are able to access all public posts,
so following hashtags are a great way to gather more media to build your feeds.

Budget: Timeline:
 Instagram: Free general use  Instagram: posting 1-2x /day; adding to Story 1-2x
 Instagram: Promotions starting /day; interacting with followers/following every day
at $6 per thousand views (comments, liking)
  Snapchat: Free geo- and  Snapchat: have graphic designer create filters;
moment-filters apply location filters (paid) during Youth Forum
 Snapchat: Location filter
prototype $50

Total: $56+ (will vary depending on

platform and advertising duration and
location)

Our first tactic is a social media campaign focused mainly on Instagram and Snapchat. These
platforms both lend themselves well to wide scale engagement and direct communication among
our key actor audience: students and peers. Instagram allows for strong participatory engagement
through its hashtag system, which allows users to search posts that carry the tag and creates
networking avenues for users to connect over their shared interest. Hashtags allow for influential
accounts to disseminate information among their followers, and serve as excellent
communicative vehicles that allow users, and in our case, participants in Experiences Canada
programs, to share their own experiences and stories with followers of the hashtag. This system
will not only help put Experiences Canada’s name at the forefront of the conversation but will
also help the organization leverage some of their main strengths and address some of their key
weaknesses.
In terms of resources, experiences Canada has an abundance of goodwill and stories, and
a deficit of money and manpower. Creating and maintaining an active hashtag is an excellent
way to mitigate these issues. Instagram offers an option for accounts to pay to promote their
posts to help stimulate engagement. These promoted posts have tiered price points, which reflect
the permeation of the promotion. Experiences Canada can set aside a small budget dedicated to
promotion and set a desired run for the promoted post. This can be paid for through the
Instagram app or through a linked Facebook account, which would also allow Experiences
Canada to connect their Facebooks ads to their Instagram promoted posts.
The open networked structure of Instagram means that much of the work will not need to
be done by Experiences Canada. Much of the content in the hashtag will be user generated and
come directly from Experiences Canada’s main audience. This allows students to have a level of
control over the narrative told in the hashtag, which will foster trust and enthusiasm among
peers. Having an organization tell you how great it is much less impactful than hearing it from a
trusted friend.
Our social media campaign will also include a snapchat geofilter that will be available for
participants in Experiences Canada’s leadership forum. The price point for specific geotags
depends on how wide the area in which they are available is, and for how long they are available.
There are also options for free geofilters that represent a meaningful location or event, such as a
monument or park, or brunch for leaving work. the free options are much more restricted
however they are a potential option if the forums will take participants to specific meaningful
locations around the city, however in terms of specific branding and name recognition, paid
filters offer a much stronger avenue.

4.2 Experiences Canada Website

Tactic: Experiences Canada Website Audiences: Parents; Partners (Sponsors)

Details/Strategic Rationale:
 The goal is to enhance the website’s current Partners tab (found within the About Us section).
 Get visually organized: layout the Program Partners and Funding Partners sections the same
way as the Board of Directors is presented - organized and linear.
 Provide brief descriptions (a few sentences; around 50 words) of the relationship Experiences
Canada has with that partner, and quote their leadership:
 For example: “TD, one of Canada’s largest banking and financial services
organizations, has been connecting people to global opportunities since 1864. TD has
partnered with several non-profit organizations to deliver programs that focus on
education, community development and the environment. Through a mix of financial
giving and employee volunteerism, TD contributes to and works well with
organizations that align with their goals. Their generous support has been invaluable in
helping Experiences Canada move forward on expanding and enhancing the
opportunities we provide to Canadian youth.”
 If possible, ask the partner for a short quote to use on the website as a way to showcase
the relationship and their impact with the organization.
 Link internally to related content on the Experiences Canada website (if available, if not,
perhaps include this through blog posts and social media).

Budget: Utilize current graphic and web designers on Timeline:

the Experiences Canada team to make these changes  Manage current sponsors
on the website. immediately (2-3 weeks)
 May have to spend time reaching out
Total: $0 to current partners for descriptions

Our next tactic is addressing the Experiences Canada website. We observed many strengths in
this area, such as FAQ pages, hyperlinks, and search bars. However, our team suggests different
managing of the Partners section of their website. Experiences Canada currently has a number of
partners, organized into two categories on the “About Us” section website for public access:
Program Partners and Funding Partners. The website states that “Experiences Canada would like
to thank all program partners and funding partners for their generous support” (Experiences
Canada, 2019). The website fails to provide descriptions of what each of these organizations
contributes. We believe that this is an area for improvement. Teson (2017): How to boost
supporters and enhance your partners page:
 Include names and logos;
 Link externally to their website;
 Describe the relationship;
 Quote their leadership;
 Link internally to related content;
  Get visually organized; and
 Promote the partners page
We believe that describing the relationship and quoting their leadership could really enhance
partnership awareness and even gather more contributors. Teson (2017) recommends including a
short synopsis (a few sentences) of the relationship and how they provide support or how they
are involved in helping work towards the mission. In terms of quoting their leadership, we
suggest asking the partner for a short quote to can use on the website to showcase the
relationship and their impact with the organization. In addition, these descriptions, we suggest
using links that connect to internally related content within the Experiences Canada website,
such as blogs or cases where a specific Partnership was extra successful/beneficial. Moreover,
Experiences Canada could try to become more visually organized by tidying up their Partners
page (like their Board of Directors tab) to make it appear more uniform and aligned, instead of
the logos mixed up around the page. Teson (2017) suggests investing “energy in creating a nice
grid or table that displays high-quality logos in uniform sizes and spacing with links to partner
websites.” We believe that the applying these two techniques could really enhance the
Experiences Canada Partners page, which has been found to result in more partners wanting to
participate and contribute to the organization.

4.3 Local News Media

Tactic: Local News Media Audiences: Parents, community, sponsors

Details/Strategic Rationale:
 The goal is to spread awareness about the “Experiences Canada” brand through local news
media platforms.
 Focus on the terms surrounding the organization, such as “Experiences”.
 Create avenues where members of Experiences Canada can act as Brand Ambassadors and talk
about the organization.
 How this can be done:
1. Press releases before events
2. Purchasing ad-space on local radio stations and newspapers
3. Interviews with radio hosts
 This tactic provides an avenue in which we can spread Experiences Canada’s stories.
 By engaging with local news organizations where our audience resides or where the event is
taking place, we can leverage the markets within those areas as the audience sees kids like them
participating in these programs.
 News publications are always looking for “filler” type content to occupy screen time,
especially with content about charitable work.

Budget:
 Local radio advertising:
$500/campaign
 Press releases: $45/hour
Total: $680
 = 500 + (45 x 4 hours)
Timeline:
 Immediate start, and an ongoing initiative
 2 week radio campaign
 Press releases to be organized around events held by
the organization and can be done on an ad hoc basis
Our third tactic focuses on interaction with local news media syndication within areas that the
organization is organizing their events, while also including smaller publications near where the
youths live. News Media is an exceptional avenue to use when an organization requires
spreading their constructed narratives surrounding goodwill to their target audiences. News
publications desire fresh content, such as charitable stories to occupy their airtime between
breaking news. As a bonus, it is beneficial for their own credibility and personability to cover
events such as the ones organized by Experiences Canada.
By engaging with local news media syndications, we will be able to exploit their desires
as well as bolstering “Experiences Canada” as a brand. Our team believes that with the right
approach, we will be able to spread a message containing phrases regarding where to interact
with the organization, through website, email, social media, etc, to attain the news audience’s
attention and direct those interested in the organization to the proper channels they can engage
with.
From our knowledge, Experiences Canada has been able to garner news stories around
them in the past. Although, during our research we found it rather difficult to find these types of
stories in a simple google search without using the advanced search method, putting the words
between quotations (“Experiences Canada”). This indicates to us that for the average person
looking for the organization, their search is more than likely to be corroded by advertisements for
tourist-directed links on how to experience Canada in different outdoor destinations across the
country. This can be fixed if we simply implore the journalists to focus more on the brand’s
name within the article as well as in search tags, then the organization may be more visible on
the front pages of search engines. By just asking them to mention the organization more
prominently and instructing them to provide links to the organization’s website reader’s, listeners
and otherwise will be able to act when intrigued by the contents of the article, to take part in the
organizations mission.
News Media is the perfect avenue to leverage our strongest resources, being narratives
and goodwill. These soft resources accumulate simply through the work that the organization
does, requiring no financing to create. As Experiences Canada conducts charitable action and
provides educational opportunities for young adults, they possess altruistic intent in their action,
which people resonate with favourably. By harvesting these messages and passing it through
news syndications our target audiences will be inclined to engage with the content directed at
them. Publications will want to work with Experiences Canada to invest in change, and through
the organization’s goodwill will believe in their mission and seek to aid the organization in their
endeavours.
Therefore, our strategy seeks to engage with the news media at three different angles.
Through press releases, by purchasing ad-space, and through interviews with journalists. We
believe that press releases give media members the opportunity to ask event directors briefly
about what is going on at that event and invites them to interact with youth leaders, organization
heads that are in attendance, and most importantly the youths themselves (upon requested
permissions) to gather information. This will then be relayed back to the public. The other two
angles are more direct approaches seeking publications through purchasing ad-space on
newspapers or their websites and interviews which would have to be initiated by a member of the
organization to speak about the organization and their efforts. Interviews are a great way to place
a face in front of potential viewers and come across more personable to the viewers.
Included in the budget above is advertising on local radio, which would include a
commercial on air and advertisements on the station’s social media, as well as a journalist to
cover four hours for press releases. These services can be sourced for a reduced price or entirely
for free, from various student organizations or freelance writers, though you pay for the reach
you receive. When a company begins working with a radio station on a campaign, the station
will prepare a document highlighting the value received from their promotions; the expected
reach, online engagement, and frequency of the commercials (as well as at what times of the day
they will be run) can be assessed before pursuing any further relationship. If Experiences Canada
is willing to offer some sort of discount to use in a promotional giveaway, which would therefore
increase the price, the station would adjust the value accordingly.

4.4 Parent Information Sessions

Tactic: Parent Information Sessions Audiences: Parents, teens, educators

Details/Strategic Rationale:
 Information sessions hosted in 5 cities across Canada, 2 events per city
 Hire alumni to host events, gather volunteers to help with set up
 Create promotional video about the previous year’s forum to show at the event
 At the information sessions:
 Give background on Experiences Canada, who they are and what they do
 Discuss upcoming forum, including theme, location, and activities
 Give instruction on how to apply to participate
 Link to strategy:
 Target key audiences such as parents, teens, peers, and educators
 Leverage goodwill, stories, and people

Budget:
 Students/alumni to facilitate presentations:
$100 per event
 Promotional posters/handouts: $100 per
event
 Video editing: In house
 Space rental: $150 per weekend gym rental
TOTAL: $450 per event x 2 events x 5 cities
= $3,500
Timeline:
 Produce plan for events (1 month)
 Find students to hire and volunteers (3
months)
 Produce video (2 weeks)
 Book time slots and rent spaces in
schools (3 weeks)
 Prepare information for presenters (1
week)
 Host events (2 months)

Parent information sessions will be hosted during the months leading up to the application period
for the upcoming forum in five different cities across Canada. An alumnus from one of
Experience Canada’s past activities will be hired in each city in order to facilitate two
information sessions. They will be paid $100 per session and will be supported by a small team
of volunteers to help set up the events. A promotional video will be created to showcase the
previous year’s forum. This video will be created by the graphic designer at Experiences Canada
using clips from participants, youth leaders, and facilitators. Parents and their children from
different areas of the city will be invited to one of two sessions that will take place across the city
to facilitate travel. The information session will introduce Experiences Canada, the upcoming
forum, and how to apply to participate in the forum. The presentation will also include
testimonials from the alumni who host the sessions.
This tactic directly addresses the primary audience identified in the strategic plan,
parents, while also indirectly reaching students, peers, and educators. This will ensure our
approach has a strategic focus while also reaching the less essential audiences. Ultimately, the
information sessions will be most beneficial to parents so that they can see that Experiences
Canada is a reputable organization that provides safe and fun learning opportunities for their
children. It is hoped that by gathering parents in a central location will help parents influence
each other and encourage each other to consider applying.
This tactic also draws on many of our strong resources such as goodwill, stories, and
people. These information sessions are a great way to feed off the goodwill that already
surrounds the organization as well as foster goodwill among people who have not heard of the
organization. This is also a key opportunity to disseminate positive, inspiring stories about the
work Experiences Canada does. These stories will be especially effective if they are told by
young people who have previously participated in their forums because they will lend credibility
and trustworthiness to their cause that would not be as effective coming from a representative of
the organization. Using volunteers and alumni to facilitate the events is an effective way to
leverage the people that are available to us as resources. Since Experiences Canada has a small
staff, it is ideal to leverage this area of our resources.

5.0 CONCLUSION
The tactics laid out in this plan were developed through strategic decision making based on the
information shared with us by Experiences Canada, research done by the team, and skills
developed over the course of this semester. By utilizing specific communication vehicles, and
isolating key audiences and understanding their needs, we believe that Experiences Canada can
create more comprehensive connections with these audiences and use those connections to best
achieve their goals and intended changes.
Our social media campaign will lay down a strong foundation for new growth in a way
that will allow Experiences Canada to have better control over its brand image and recognition.
A strong social media presence will not only allow Experiences Canada to exert more control
over its own narrative but will give audiences a fully curated hub of information and resources to
better understand who Experiences Canada is and what it is they do. In addition to this, we
propose that Experiences Canada can further strengthen their brand recognition and awareness
through parent information sessions. Having these sessions run in cooperation with an alumnus
of Experiences Canada will allow parents and educators to see first hand the impact that
Experiences Canada’s programs have on their participants and will be an excellent way to show
what sets Experiences Canada apart from its competition while delivering crucial instruction on
how best to engage with Experiences Canada’s programs. These sessions will also be an
excellent way to leverage Experiences Canada’s key strengths; goodwill, stories, and people.
Another excellent avenue to showcase these strengths is through local news media. By having
team members serve as brand ambassadors, Experiences Canada can utilize press releases, local
ad-space in print and radio, and broadcast interviews with local syndicates to best reach specific
demographics in their distinct communities. This will be an excellent way to broadly reach many
different audiences and deliver crucial information on brand identity and engagement. Our final
tactic is intended to focus on enablers, specifically corporate funders. By updating and
revamping Experiences Canada’s partners tab on their website, we believe that Experiences
Canada will become even more attractive to potential corporate partners and will greatly increase
its online engagement.
Our team would like to take the opportunity acknowledge and thank the Experiences
Canada team that we have had the pleasure to work with this semester. Deborah Morrison has
shown incredible passion and commitment to this project and was a huge asset every step of the
way. We also had the opportunity to work with Project Coordinator Hassaan Malik, who was
able to offer key insight and information that was essential in our strategic planning.
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