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Opening our doors to Canadian shoppers in our area makes economic sense! Where is the downside of seeing an increase in consum-
Lynne Ferris Firm Administrator Conboy, McKay, Bachman & Kendall, LLP
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As our community continues to expand and develop, I find it rewarding that the Greater Watertown area can share the wealth of natural resources with our Canadian Neighbors! In the past several months, I have been privileged to meet with members of the Kingston area to discuss ways of partnering on future
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Canada
Ads in Ottawa Citizen Three insertions a color ad on the front page of the local news section in March Watertown hotels donated $3,300 worth of packages to be for the Citizens auctionmart promotion in early April (credit from money raised will be used for more spring ads) Google Adwords 2,600 click-throughs (to date) to visitWatertown. com on Google adwords paid search targeting Eastern Ontario from March-April (270,000 impressions).
Here are some notes on the Watertown Shop, Stay & Save promotions targeting eastern Ontario: Fall, 2011 Working with the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council, the City and Town of Watertown have supported a Fall Shop, Stay and Save promotion targeting Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. The $32,000 program during September and October included Ads in various newspapers and shoppers in Kingston, Gananoque, Brockville and Ottawa (examples attached) Three half page ad insertions to Kingston and Brockville EMC Shopper Newspapers Six insertions of various
sizes to Metro-Ottawa newspaper Four insertions of five column by 8.5 deep ads to Ottawa Citizen Insert in Ottawa Citizen and eastern Ontario papers coordinated with Johnson Newspapers 115,000, copies of a 12page Watetown tabloid Google Adwords 3,000 click-throughs to visitWatertown.com on Google adwords paid search targeting Eastern Ontario from mid-September to mid-October (214,000 impressions). Spring, 2012 Working with local hotels, the Council is running a $8,500 mini-campaign for spring shopping targeting easter break business.
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As a marketing agency promoting many businesses in the North Country I thought I would share with you some information and insights that may benefit members. First, attached is a some information from Visa. It is a travel snapshot. Canadian inbound spending into the U.S. is up 12% year to year. Travel Trends: Canadian travel is on the rise with more Canadians planning to travel this year than in 2011. The majority of trips will be out of the country, with the U.S. as a top travel destinationand New York, Florida and Washington as the most popular states to visit (study by BMO Bank of Montreal). Canadians who say green initiatives at hotels are important to them are on the rise, says the 2012 Canadian Travel Intentions Survey. Forty-two percent of business travelers surveyed indicate that eco-practices like recycling and energy efficiency matter to them when choosing where to stay, up 5 percent from last year. Further, 36 percent of leisure travelers and 34 percent of business travelers say they want hotels to have green products. Twenty-five percent of leisure travelers and 31 percent of business travelers say a hotel with an environmental certification program is important to them. Of Canadians visiting travel sites, skiing/snowboarding/ snowmobiling, visiting parks/zoos, and visiting national and theme parks, museums, were the most popular activities. Marketing Trends: Whats the best way to reach them? ONLINE: Canadians are also the most engaged nation online. According to Comscore, Canadians spend more time online, view more pages and more content online than any other country. On average, they spend 45 hours per month online and view over 4,000 pages of content across various websites each month. SOCIAL MEDIA: Social media is a driving force for brands, commerce, social change, idea sharing, news, current events, and advertising in Canada. It is now the #1 category for time
spent online and also the #1 category for delivered ad impressions. Facebook is the top social network with the most growth in the 55+ and 18-24 yr old demographics, however social media across age groups has experienced massive growth. MOBILE: Mobile is becoming a major channel for consumption of news, information and entertainment as well as an agency for e-commerce. Smartphone penetration is 45%-a dramatic increase over 2011 and in the coming year, penetration is estimated to eclipse 50% mark. 1.4 million Canadian smartphone subscribers scanned QR codes (at least one per month), which is 8% of all mobile subscribers. In all cases, the #1 reason was to obtain product information, receive coupons or offers, or obtain event information. Top source for QR codes were printed magazines and newspapers, suggesting that an online and offline strategy is effective. Other: AS we read about this week in the WDTs, there was also a recent change in the Canadian duty policy which may lead to increased shoppers http://www.watertowndailytimes. com/article/20120410/NEWS03/704109866 From a marketing perspective there are a number of specific efforts that a business could utilize. A few recommendations that clients have executed include: deals and packages targeted toward the Canadian market (as a hotel develop specific Canadian holiday packages including Canadian spring break and Victoria Day packages - and a targeted PR pitch to travel media); optimized content on ones website to increase search rankings; targeted landing page to be used for paid search; translation services to develop a French-Canadian press release targeted to French-speakers; targeted media buys that focus on the Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa markets; targeted email blasts through 3rd party services or Canadian specific databases; accurate and complete local listings - Google Places, Yahoo local, Bing Business, Yelp, Foursquare, and Facebook; and more.
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Thousands Islands Winery 43298 Seaway Ave, Suite #1 Alexandria Bay, NY 13607 Phone - (315) 482-9306 Website - www.thousandislandswinery.com To: Congressman Owens April 2, 2012 Subject: Federal and State taxation disparity between Ontario, Quebec, and New York Dear Congressman, 1. As the owner of the Thousand Islands Winery, Alexandria Bay, NY, I am increasingly concerned about the unfair wine taxation policy between the US and Canada. Our Farm Winery welcomes fair competition. However, Canadian wineries presently enjoy a huge tax advantage that can not be overcome by New York wineries. This tax disparity between New York and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec is similar to other border regions across the US and Canada. 2. It is difficult for our New York farm winery to compete with the Canadian Wineries that are now being built all along the Ontario and Quebec border. This is due to the protectionist tax policies that are in place in those Provinces. This tax disparity includes both the Canadian Federal and Provincial taxes that together total between 53% and 150% of the wines value entering into Canada. 3. However, in the US there is not a restrictive taxation policy that prevents Canadian wine from flowing economically into the United States. The US presently only levies a $ .21 per liter duty on imported wine from Canada and that duty is usually waived at the border for private purchases under two cases. This leaves New York wineries like mine at a 53% to 150% competitive disadvantage compared to Canadian Winery imports that are increasingly pouring into New York. New Canadian wineries continue to be built all along the New York border in areas like Quebec, Thousand Islands, and Niagara on the Lake. Accordingly, Canadian wineries are planning to use their tax advantage to market to New York and American wine enthusiasts.
4. I believe there are three options to restore New Yorks wineries ability to fairly compete with our northern colleagues. Either persuade Ontario and Quebec to reduce their restrictive trade policies against wine entering into Canada from the US, create an International Free Trade Wine Zone along the border that encourages wine commerce between the two nations, or New York levels the playing field and imposes a taxation policy that would increase taxes on wine entering New York from Canada. 5. It would be ideal if the Canadian Taxation policy was changed to reflect the current US policy. If this happened, almost immediately the following positive changes would begin at our farm winery: We would begin to market and advertise to Canadian customers. Presently, we already advertise on radio and television stations in the Ogdensburg and Watertown markets. These stations have market penetration into Canada. Our advertising dollars would no longer be wasted reaching people who can not purchase our wine. We could begin to invite Canadian tourist to visit our Winerys Festivals that we host annually. Presently, we do not market these events to Canadians due to their inability to return to Canada with wines purchased at our NY farm winery due to the existing restrictive trade policy. I believe that a free trade wine agreement between Ontario, Quebec, and NY, could conservatively increase our sales by 35% almost immediately due to the favorable exchange rates and our close proximity to the Canadian border. I am confident; this statistic could be supported by the vehicle plate counts on Canadians that frequently shop at the malls located in Massena and Watertown. 6. Local Canadian officials, who are aware of this wine taxation disparity have conducted an international trade mission to China in 2011 to attract foreign investment into the Thousand Islands region of Canada. They successfully attracted the attention of a Chinese International Industrialist, Mr. Wu, who on 5 March, 2012 announced that he had purchased a 600 acre estate and begun developing a $100,000,000 winery operation located in Mallorytown, ON which is just 13 miles from the US Customs border crossing (I-81) located on Wellesley Island.
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7. With recent advancements in cold hardy viticulture, changing climate impacts of global warming, and foreign investment these Canadian wineries have the potential to become some of the largest winery operations in the Eastern half of North America. American wine enthusiast will likely pass through New York to these exciting new wine destinations. However, they will be unable to purchase wine from US producers as they approach Canada, because it will not be economically feasible for them to transport the US produced wine into Canada. Therefore, they will only be able to purchase New York wines once they return from Canada and are heading home. This will restrict potential purchases by 50% from these consumers. 8. Since these developments have occurred, I have become hesitant to expand our winery operations in Alexandria Bay, NY until I can gauge the full impact of such a massive winery operation that will enjoy an enormous com-
petitive tax advantage once their vines mature in just four years. It could actually become more lucrative for New York wineries to expand their operations within Canada, if the US and NY is unable to level the wine taxation playing field. 9. Thank You for your consideration. If you have any questions please contact me at sconaway@thousandislandswinery.com or telephone 315-482-9306. Stephen Conaway President Thousand Islands Winery
Save Time Searching For Government Contracts On Your Own And Join PTAC!
Have you ever wanted to learn about government contracting or be able to bid on a project? The North Country Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) can help you with this, free of charge, no strings attached.
Confidential one-on-one counseling with business looking to do work with government Market goods and services to the military and other federal, state, and local government agencies Understand the basics of government contracting and marketing fundamentals Learn about bid solicitations, proposals, and a wide variety of contracting topics. Class and training seminars on all aspects of government contracting Free bid matching o Linking your company capabilities and matching them with current Government solicitations, then sent via email directly to you
For more information please feel free to contact Stephen Barr or Katrina Kapustay at: 315.788.4400
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What a jewel! This is what a zoo should be! These are some of the many comments we have heard from visitors and zoo colleagues to describe the New York State Zoo. It is thanks to you, our guests and supporters, that we are worthy of such high praise. We have come a long way since the Thompson Park Conservancy first began operations of the zoo in 1991. The old iron and concrete exhibits have been replaced with natural habitat enclosures. The buildings have been updated or renovated. Gardens, picnic areas and play spaces have been added. All to create a wonderful family experience. Our collection defines our commitment to conservation. The New York State Zoo focuses on the education, conservation and displaying of New York wildlife and wild places. From Wolves, Bears, Mountain Lions, and Eagles to the rarer Wolverine, Snowy Owls, and Canada Lynx we share with our guests the unique fauna not only to the New York area, but also the region.
This year the New York State Zoo has several new additions to the collection that are waiting to meet our guests. Helping you connect with the animals and creating memorable experiences is one of our goals this year. Our educational department, staff and volunteers will be more available with keeper chats and other presentations this summer. The zoo will also host several events to give value to you visit. To find out more about the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park visit our website at nyszoo.org or facebook page.
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AJ Missert
Doldo Brothers Eagle Beverage Company
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understand that the role of the Spouse is often a solo part. Left to maintain the household by oneself, the Spouse endures separation and the complications that arise because of it. Spouses are not only expected to keep their heads up, keep positive for themselves and their children, but also for their Soldiers morale. The sacrifices they make as well as the role they play in the morale of the Soldiers serving our country, is a testament of the strength the Military Spouse possesses. It takes a special kind of person to fill the role of Military Spouse. It takes commitment, resilience, passion, will, internal strength,
devotion, ingenuity, imagination and faith. This year ACS has teamed up with AAFES, Sams club and Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes to provide a free movie at the Multi Purpose Auditorium for spouses showing from 11-2 pm followed by a lunch at the Adirondack Creek Community Center from 2-4 pm. This is done to show our appreciation of the men and women who are the homefront heroes here at Fort Drum. As a community we are honored to show thanks and appreciation for their service.
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The people of Watertown are going crazy for pushups as a way to get in shapeand give something back to our wounded warriors. Its called Pushups for Charity, and its causing quite a stir. Run by Chris and Jessica Page of Page Fitness Athletic Club, a Professional Training Facility here in Watertown, Pushups for Charity is a fun way to get fit and make a difference by supporting the Boot Campaign, an non-profit organization whose mission is to honor and men and women of the U.S. Armed Services who have come back home and could use a hand.
The Pushups for Charity Challenge takes place on May 19th at 10am. Complete information is available at http://pushupsforcharity.com/pagefitnessathleticclub for those who want to participate, donate or just come out and watch teams compete to see who can do the most pushups in 90 seconds. Our goal is two-fold, explains Jessica Page, co-owner of Page Fitness Athletic Club, running the Pushups for Charity event here in Watertown, we want to show our support for our veterans who have sacrificed so much for our
freedom and security, and we want to engage our local community in a fun way to get fit. The community is really rising to the challenge there is a lot of interest in Pushups for Charity. I think that says a lot about our communitys interest in supporting wounded warriors, and is a reflection of how much people appreciate the importance of being healthy, says Page. Pushups are one of the foundational exercises for overall body strength and lean muscle development. Lean muscle increases metabolic activity so the body burns more calories. Additionally,
pushups are a simple exercise anyone can do almost anywhere. Pushups are a gateway exercise, says Page, people feel results quickly, sometimes within days, and that inspires them to do more exercise. Facebook: www.facebook. com/pushupsforcharity Twitter: #PushUpsForCharity Youtube: http://youtu.be/IYGWYx5w78 To register for the event please visit: http://pushupsforcharity.com/ pagefitnessathleticclub
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May 9,
one-on-one discussion with an SBDC Advisor to discuss each participants specific business project, whether in person or through email or phone contacts. The fee for the course is $195.00 per person; registration deadline is May 11, 2012. Online registration and payment. You may also pay by cash, credit card or checks at the SBDC offices; call (315) 7829262 or mail your registration to: SBDC/JCC, 1220 Coffeen Street, Watertown, NY 13601.
May 5,
May 11,
Jefferson County Historical Societys Mothers Day Tea at the 1876 Mansion! 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, The Jefferson County Historical Society is inviting all to come and enjoy a lovely afternoon celebrating the Mothers in your life at the 1876 Paddock Mansion. Mothers, grandmothers and all that love them are invited. For more information you can contact the Jefferson County Historical Society at 782-3491. Walk MS: 2012 - Watertown, Walk MS is a simple but incredibly powerful way for you to share in the hope for the future. Walk MS is our rallying point, a place and time for us to stand together and to be together, while raising funds to end this disease.
Railway Historical Society of NNY Cake Walk, 6:00 PM 8:00 PM, Railway Historical Society of NNY, Croghan Railroad Depot, Main Street, Croghan, NY, Croghan Recreation Park Pavilion. Donations of baked goods needed & can be dropped off the day of cake walk at the Croghan Recreation park from 3:30 PM till start of Cake walk. Come and win a cake for Mothers Day! Food & refreshments available for a small fee.
May 6,
May 6,
TISWT Scavenger Hunt, Saturday, May 19th 10:00am6:00pm and Sunday, May 20th, 11:00am-4:00pm. Reservations required - reserve your space early! $25.00 per person (non member) $20.00 per person (member, military, designated drivers)- Get your friends and family and join in the fun sleuthing for clues. Discover places and amazing facts, sample delectable award-winning wines
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tion of highly skilled and educated workers with sophisticated infrastructure and a leader in many growth industries. Canadas location strategically places it in the global economic forefront and its inclusion in NAFTA gives access to millions of consumers in North America. Canada has fared relatively well in the economic recession and lends stability to an otherwise turbulent atmosphere for investors. Finally, Canada is renowned globally for its clean and friendly environment and is considered a fantastic place to raise a family, live, work and invest. Article Source: http:// EzineArticles.com/6883285
enjoy a day full of music, art, creative expression, food and networking. BetterArts open house is in conjunction with the First Annual Artists Studio Tour, showcasing more than 27 artists and 21 studios in the Thousand Islands Region. At Better Farm, guests can enjoy artwork on display in the Art Barn gallery space, a tour of studio spaces, open-air art projects that invite visitor participation, live music and open jam sessions with guests, and information on betterArts upcoming free and low-cost workshop schedule. For more information on betterArts, to donate or sponsor a table or item for raffle at the Open House event, visit www.betterarts. org, or call Holly Boname at (860) 836-0535.
May 26, BetterArts Annual Open Canada has a strong competi- House and Fundraiser,10 tive advantage for business a.m.-8 p.m. at Better Farm investment. With one of the in Redwood. This event most dynamic economies in invites all residents of the the world, Canada is a naNorth Country to come and