'Cavendish Forever' — new tourism brand focuses on reconnecting with memories

A new brand from Tourism Cavendish Beach focuses on reconnecting people with their memories of visiting Prince Edward Island and capitalizing on the iconic story of Anne of  Green Gables.

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The TCB unveiled its new brand — 'Cavendish Forever' — and 2017 marketing plan at a meeting Tuesday night at the Cavendish Visitor Information Center, where about 40 people from the tourism sector attended. 

"The brand is a reconnection focus where people that have visited the province before have all created very special memories here. The brand will touch the hearts of previous visitors," said Kevin Champion, marketing chair for Tourism Cavendish Beach, about the brand.

"We want them to bring their new family here to experience some of the experiences they had."

Focus on family

Tourism Cavendish Beach represents operators geographically located west from Malpeque, east to Grand Tracadie and south to Route 2.

The new brand has a central theme of family with strong visuals of Anne, family attractions, beaches, golf, and the Cavendish Beach Music Festival. 

TCB said its research showed one of the fastest growing travel trends is multigenerational families travelling together and the new brand is designed to attract past generations who have had a love affair with Cavendish and introduce new generations to P.E.I. through the eyes of their parents and grandparents. 

Capitalizing on Anne

TCB plans to use images of Anne in photos and videos in marketing materials. It said there is opportunity to maximize revenue as the iconic Anne is even more popular right now with recent series on CBC, Netflix, and YTV. TCB also said the character sets P.E.I. apart from other destinations.

There has been recent private investments in the millions in new tourism developments and expansions in Cavendish as well, says the TCB. 

While the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island (TIAPEI) has said in the past it wants to capitalize on visitors seeing the whole Island, the TCB's brand is designed to support the provincial brand by providing a strong emotional appeal for past visitors to rediscover and reconnect with Cavendish. 

"We're promoting Cavendish, but we really look forward to being consistent with the message that the Island is representing," said Champion. 

Consistent message

Tourism operator Matthew Jelley, president of the Maritime Fun Group, said his organization has been part of the development of the strategy. He said the new brand fine tunes a message the entire region can use to market their attractions. 

"We certainly think that the brand has brought together what Cavendish has been, what it is now, and what we hope it will be," said Jelley. 

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