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City Council to Consider Changes to Tourism Regina Governance

On November 8, 2023, Regina City Council will consider a request, unanimously approved by the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) Board of Directors on October 5, to end REAL’s oversight of Tourism Regina. In tandem with REAL’s request, City Administration is recommending that Council approve transitioning Tourism Regina’s responsibilities to the City of Regina.

“The amenities and operations of REAL are core to the success of the visitor economy,” said Wayne Morsky, Chair, REAL Board of Directors. “However, it is the position of the Board of Directors that the transition of Tourism Regina from within REAL is the best path forward to ensure the success of both organizations and the overall growth of tourism in Regina.”

"Tourism Regina plays an essential role in the vibrancy and economic prosperity of our community,” said Niki Anderson, City Manager. “Should City Council agree with REAL’s request, City Administration is prepared to accept responsibility for Regina’s destination marketing portfolio. The combination of communications and marketing expertise from both organizations would help facilitate a smooth transition and, longer-term, provide synergies to refresh and revitalize the work of Tourism Regina.”

Tourism Regina staff have been notified of REAL’s request of City Council, and City Administration’s recommendation. Operational details regarding the organization’s possible transition from REAL to the City of Regina cannot be established until Council considers REAL’s request and City Administration’s recommendation. At this time, REAL continues to ensure Tourism Regina delivers on its mandate to drive the visitor economy.

Pending Council approval, City Administration is committed to leading a respectful transition in consultation with REAL and with stakeholders directly and indirectly affected by the mandate and work of Tourism Regina. Administration is recommending the proposed transition from REAL to the City of Regina would be complete by December 31, 2023.

Administration’s report to Council on this matter will be made publicly available on Regina.ca as part of the agenda package for the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on November 8, 2023. To respect Council’s pending decision on this matter, City Administration will refrain from making additional public comments at this time.

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Name change, review of Experience Regina to take place following community criticism

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Experience Regina is changing its name back to Tourism Regina .

According to a news release Thursday from the Regina Exhibition Association Limited board of directors, a complete review will be done regarding the organization.

“To support this path forward, the decision has been made to return to the Tourism Regina name and reactivate the website and social channels under the Tourism Regina brand. These are critical tools for visitors to Regina and the businesses who service our visitor economy,” read the release from REAL’s board.

The board said an independent review will be led by a third-party consultant.

The organization came under fire after the rebrand to Experience Regina, which saw slogans on the new website like “Show us Your Regina.”

“Any further actions related to Experience Regina will occur once the detailed and independent review is complete,” the board release stated.

It added that the board would also engage community groups to develop a long-term brand strategy for Tourism Regina.

“Over the past few weeks, we have been working with Tourism Regina, City Council and external stakeholders to determine the best path forward for our tourism agency,” said Wayne Morsky, chair of the REAL board of directors.

“The REAL Board of Directors is committed to developing a meaningful course of action to truly capture the values of Regina and its residents.”

When asked about who might be doing the review, how much it costs, or how long the process would take, Morsky said they are just in the final stages of lining up a consultant.

“The board is very concerned about having a quality review put together.”

The review will be submitted to city council once it has been completed.

Regarding whether any positions at REAL should be moved or vacated, Morsky said they are waiting for the completion of the review.

He said he’s looking to learn from the review to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

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City to take control of Tourism Regina; Masters set to go to Dubai

Regina city council approved the transfer of Tourism Regina from REAL back to the city. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Responsibility for Regina’s tourism board will go back to the city after a unanimous vote at Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) is expected to transfer control of Tourism Regina to the city after a 9-0 decision. The transfer is expected to take effect Jan. 1.

“I think much more work is needed than was expected,” Mayor Sandra Masters said when talking about Tourism Regina changing hands again.

Tourism Regina first went under the REAL umbrella in 2022. Masters said the organization needs to do more to promote the city outside of the “main” places like Casino Regina, the Conexus Arts Centre, the Saskatchewan Science Centre or the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

“It’s much more about all of the events that we have going on in our city (which) help to fuel a visitor as well as residents’ happiness with the amount of options they have for what they get to do,” Masters said.

Last week, it was revealed that REAL’s board requested the transfer of Tourism Regina back to the city. Administration also recommended that the city take over Tourism Regina’s operation.

Oversight of the organization has been in question since a controversy erupted over its rebranding in March . Shortly after the Experience Regina brand was unveiled, people took issue with slogans like “Show us your Regina” and “The city that rhymes with fun.”

REAL reversed the rebranding decision in April , and a consultant was hired to examine what he later termed “ The Incident .” His report suggested that REAL had a lot on its plate even before it took on the responsibility for Tourism Regina and said the situation with the failed rebrand was an organizational failure.

Prior to Wednesday’s vote, Regina resident Andrew Reist delivered a presentation highlighting why he thought the proposed transfer should be delayed.

“It is simply not the right time to be doing this,” Reist said. “The report that was made by George Cuff about ‘The Incident’ — as dry as it was — had some contradictions that have yet to be answered for.

“Not to mention the limit placed on Cuff on what he could investigate did not allow for all questions of REAL to be answered.”

Reist did say he supported the transfer, but expressed concern that doing so now will sweep lingering questions about what happened during the Experience Regina launch under the rug.

“(REAL) is essentially from my view giving you back Tourism Regina in not the same condition that you gave it to them, which I don’t think is good,” he said.

REAL representatives Ahmed Malik, Kenric Exner and Cathy Warner spoke as delegates at council ahead of the vote. The trio did not have a formal presentation, but Malik began with a few comments before they took questions from council.

“What we can all agree on is that the brand launch was a failure,” he said.

“The brand launch included slogans that were offensive and not representative of our wonderful city. The launch itself fell short of the standards that our board and our organization does and should hold itself to.”

The trio addressed REAL’s organizational structure, some of its financial difficulties as well as the rationale for handing Tourism Regina back to the city.

Malik also noted that much of REAL’s work related to Tourism Regina was slowed down while it was dealing with the backlash from the failed Experience Regina rebrand.

Masters said the city hopes to bring two members of REAL’s staff over to the city for the transfer.

Masters’ trip to Dubai

Also on Wednesday’s agenda was council’s approval of the mayor’s planned visit to Dubai for the upcoming 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The trip was approved in a vote of 6-1 with Masters abstaining from the vote and Coun. Cheryl Stadnichuk being the sole councillor opposed.

Masters was invited to participate in the event as part of a partnership between the province’s Ministry of Trade and Export Development and Economic Development Regina (EDR), according to a council report.

Masters said EDR will fund the trip with funds provided by the ministry.

The report said Regina’s participation in the conference is intended to position the Greater Regina Area as a “natural and preferred home for climate-friendly production of food, fuel and fertilizer and the corresponding investment opportunities.”

“If you’re intentional about wanting to attract, to meet (and) to allow people to get to know a little bit about where we’re from and what we’re about, there is no better way to do that than to show up in person and to answer questions and to have presentations and to allow people to get to know you (and) that we are friendly,” Masters said when asked about the cost of going in person versus attending remotely.

“We’re hardworking, we have a great community (and) we have really smart people that work here. We want more international students, we want more scientists (and) we want more technicians. We have jobs to fill.”

Masters said she’s unclear of the cost now but said the trip would be cheaper than a marketing campaign that would reach the number of countries and delegates scheduled to be in attendance.

The mayor also said that no city funds will be used for her to attend.

Mayor Sandra Masters speaks to reporters after the transfer of Tourism Regina from REAL was approved. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

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Tourist board apologises for sexualising Canadian city’s name

The rebranding campaign has been described as ‘misogynistic’ and ‘juvenile’, article bookmarked.

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A Canadian tourist board has apologised for sexualising a city’s name.

In a rebranding move, the tourism agency for Regina, the capital of Western Canadian province Saskatchewan, shared a video on social media last Thursday to announce Experience Regina would be its new name.

The tourist organisation was previously known as Tourism Regina.

Lines heard within the music video include: “Show us your Regina”, clearly playing on the fact that the city name rhymes with the word “vagina”.

Another describes Regina as “the city that rhymes with fun.”

The video shows musicans playing at different tourist locations, such as the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the Conexus Arts Centre and The Hotel Saskatchewan.

The social media post includes the caption: “Our City has been living this brand for a while now, and we thought it was time to own it.”

“No more pretending who we aren’t,” it continues, adding that by “embracing who we are, this means out with the old and in with the new!”

The video was met with anger online, and some users referred to it as “misogynistic.”

“Show us your Regina. Really. That’s the best we can do, female anatomy humour to promote our city?,” one Facebook user said.

“Juvenile and cringe-level branding,” another commented, while someone else said: “We will see how funny this is the first time a woman is assaulted and asked to ‘show us your Regina’.”

Experience Regina has since apologised for the post.

A statement from Tim Reid, CEO of Experience Regina said: “I want to start by apologizing, on behalf of myself and our team, for the negative impact we created with elements of our recent brand launch.

“There was such positive feedback around Experience Regina; however, it was clear that we fell short of what is expected from our amazing community with some of the slogans that we used.

“Regardless of our intent, the impact is valid, and for that we apologize.”

Inspiration for the Experience Regina rebrand appears to have been taken from a YouTube video with the same name that went viral in 2008 and has since been featured in the film Deadpool and on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show .

This satirical tourist board video was created by a pair of American travellers after visiting the city.

It focuses on Regina tourist spots, as well as random inclusions such as a seagull, a house, a helicopter and some geese. A man sings “experience Regina” over and over on top alongside a musical accompaniment, while a woman’s voice can also be heard talking about the city’s attractions.

The YouTube video has had over 700,000 views and one user wrote: “This advert was a perfect balance of what Regina offers. All the bells and whistles of what a bigger city offers but played in a flat key.”

The Independent has contacted Experience Regina for comment.

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After infamous rebrand, REAL asks City of Regina to take over tourism duties

The Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) has asked the City of Regina to take tourism responsibilities off its hands following an infamous website rebrand earlier this year, a decision the city says will be discussed by council during a meeting on Nov. 8.

The controversial rebrand was met with worldwide criticism, after several slogans sexualized the city’s name, playing with the fact that it rhymes with vagina.

In a release from the City of Regina, City Manager Niki Anderson said if city council agrees with REAL’s request, administration is prepared to accept responsibility.

“The combination of communications and marketing expertise from both organizations would help facilitate a smooth transition and, longer-term, provide synergies to refresh and revitalize the work of Tourism Regina,” she said.

Wayne Morsky, chair for the REAL board of directors said the transition would be best for tourism in Regina.

Regina City Council will consider the request on Nov. 8, which was unanimously approved by the REAL board of Directors on Oct. 5.

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If the proposal is approved, the transition from REAL to the City of Regina would be complete by Dec. 31. A decision will have to be made as to whether it rolls into city hall or become its own organization.

Some councillors feel it might be the right thing to do.

“I think it’s a sensible request on their part. I think the trickier part is where if anywhere does it go if not there,” said Dan LeBlanc. "It really flows from the whole Experience Regina fiasco. The George Cuff report after, as I read it, says one of the contributing causes of the marketing flub to put it mildly was REAL had too much in its plate and maybe one of those things was tourism.

REAL feels it needs to focus on running its operations and facilities.

“It gives us a chance to kind of refresh what we’re doing with Tourism Regina and ultimately we want to create campaigns that give civic pride,” said coun. Cheryl Stadnichuk.

Before REAL, tourism responsibilities were handled by Economic Development Regina (EDR).

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‘Show us your Regina’: Tourist board apologises for sexualising Canadian city

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A rebrand is a tricky thing.

Remember when they tried to change the name of Coco Pops to Choco Krispies? No? That’s because Kellogg’s swiftly saw the error of their ways. And we bet your mum still calls her favourite sweets Opal Fruits.

Well, a tourist board in Canada is the latest to back pedal on some, erm, unusual marketing choices.

Last week Tourism Regina – who promote the wonders of Regina, a city in southern Canada – rebranded to Experience Regina.

To launch their new name, they released a video, with the slogan, ‘Show us your Regina,’ and, ‘The city that rhymes with fun.’

In case you didn’t quite get it, Regina rhymes with vagina. Very clever.

And let’s just say, it didn’t go down too well.

The rhyme has been used as a joke in Regina for sometime now, after a YouTube video popularised the phrase back in 2008.

‘Our City has been living this brand for a while now, and we thought it was time to own it,’ wrote Experience Regina on social media.

Even the city’s mayor, Sandra Masters, showed her support for the rebranding. She wrote on Facebook that the new slogan ’embraces who we are – fun, genuine, and bold’.

But not everyone agreed.

Regina residents took to social media to show that they weren’t on board with the joke. One user called it ’embarrassing’, while another dubbed it ‘crass’.

Others pointed out that it spoke to a patriarchal trope that makes fun of the female anatomy . ‘Frat boy humour won’t attract people to this city,’ said one disappointment person on Twitter. A second added: ‘Winking at the patriarchy isn’t funny, get your bros under control.’

After the backlash, Experience Regina seems to have changed their tune, issuing an apology on social media.

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They said they had removed all content that was ‘inappropriate or offensive’ and a message from CEO Tim Reid added: ‘Thank you for using your voice, thank you for holding us accountable, and thank you for allowing us to be better.’

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Regina, Saskatchewan Tourism Organization Apologizes For 'Show Us Your Regina' Slogan

Experience Regina, the tourism organization in Saskatchewan's capital city of Regina is under fire for its new campaign that centered around the slogan "Show us your Regina."

Their second slogan raised eyebrows too: "The city that rhymes with fun."

Wait... "Regina" doesn't rhyme with "fun'... Oooohhhh .

You see, there was a major overhauling of the city's tourism board. Experience Regina is the rebranded and edgier version of the Canadian city's tourism board.

The new name stemmed from a viral video that made the rounds in 2008, called "Experience Regina_.

(Apologies upfront if this pristine slice of 2008 Internet has you walking around singing "Reginaaaaaa; Experience Reginaaaaaa!" for the rest of the day.)

With new branding in place, Experience Regina had a job to do: get people to the city. Coming up with slogans was at the top of their to-do list. That's important for cities that aren't always top of mind for tourists.

They needed something to get attention. The promise of afternoon tea at the Hotel Saskatchewan or a Roughriders game isn't enough to get people to give up Disney World or Europe in favor of Regina. They wanted to show the rest of Canada as well as the world that this isn't your granddad's Regina.

Thus, "Shows us your Regina" and "The city that rhymes with fun" were born.

Those slogans quickly faced near-universal criticism.

A majestic sunset over Wascana Lake in Regina, Saskatchewan.

People Slammed The Slogans For Sexualizing Regina

People were irate that the tourism board would quote "sexualize" the city.

Kristen McLeod, a former member of the previous iteration of the tourism board, wrote a scathing letter to the city's mayor in which she said, "It's sexualizing the city when it isn't necessary."

The CBC reported that McLeod said it was the first time in 50 years that she hasn't felt welcome in Regina. She went a little overboard there, but the point is, people weren't thrilled with the slogan.

As you were probably able to guess, Experience Regina's CEO released an apology for the city's edgy new slogans.

Regina doesn't rhyme with "fun" anymore, but it does rhyme with "groveling apology."

"I want to start by apologizing, on behalf of myself and our team, for the negative impact we created with elements of our recent brand launch," Reid wrote on social media.

"It was clear that we fell short of what is expected from our amazing community with some slogans that we used."

The city's mayor is expected to talk about the slogans after the city council meeting on Wednesday.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

Saskatchewan's capital city leans into 'Experience Regina'

Tourism regina is now experience regina, a phrase from a viral song repopularized by jimmy fallon.

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Experience Regina — it's a phrase that has been used to make fun of Saskatchewan's capital city for years.

Regina's name sounding similar to a word for genitalia helped a song about the city go viral. Now the city that rhymes with fun is attempting to own the joke, making the name of the song the new name of Regina's tourism organization.

"It is an opportunity. When you travel globally and people talk about it, there's a moment of 'What's the city called again?'" said Tim Reid, CEO of Experience Regina.

"It just is what it is, so don't shy away from it. It is the city's name and we should be proud of it."

Jimmy Fallon tempted to 'Experience Regina' as online campaign heats up

The rebrand for the the organization previously known as Tourism Regina was unveiled on Thursday.

Reid and Mayor Sandra Masters were joined by Randy Boissonnault, the federal minister of tourism, as they premiered a music video covering a song that popularized the phrase "Experience Regina."

The original video was uploaded to YouTube in 2008 and has been watched nearly 700,000 times in the 14 years since.

Melody and Tim, the pseudonyms of two Americans, created the song after one of them took a road trip across Canada in 2008, according to the Regina Leader-Post .

Full of synths along with a hypnotic off-key singer, and featuring footage of various locations around Regina, the video went viral.

It saw a new wave of popularity in 2018 after Jimmy Fallon played the song on The Tonight Show, prompting laughs from Fallon's co-host, members of his band and its audience.

Jimmy Fallon plays Experience Regina song on air, jokes about pronunciation

While its use brought attention to the song, even nabbing Fallon an invite to visit the city from then mayor Michael Fougere, the city didn't seize the opportunity at the time.

One of the companies that did was Rebellion Brewing.

The Regina microbrewery has been making merchandise with the slogan since it took off on Fallon.

"When something kind of just happens like that, you need to jump on it and run with it. So that's what we did," said Mark Heise, owner of Rebellion Brewing.

The decision has paid off.

The company's T-shirts with the slogan are shipped across the globe. Although Heise has stopped keeping track of how many they've sold, he knows it's been one of their most popular products.

"It's famous everywhere I travel. People want our stuff. They want the shirt off my back. There's something to it," he said.

While the song is an earworm, the rebrand for Regina's tourism organization has received its fair share of criticism on social media.

Some people have pointed out the joke is a little off-colour, while others are calling it low-brow humour.

Reid said that's unavoidable.

"I think that that affiliation will always be an undertone that we face," he said, urging the public to be proud of the city's name no matter what.

"For those that want to have a moment of humour with it, that's not a bad thing. Embrace it. We're not changing the name of the city of Regina anytime soon."

He said the new slogan will be available to anyone who wants to use it, and if they want Experience Regina's help it will be more than happy to lend a hand.

How the 'I Love Regina' sign was quietly removed from city hall

Heise understands that some people don't like how the slogan can be interpreted as poking fun at Regina residents, but he said it's not making fun of individuals.

It's something everyone is laughing along with.

"It's incredible branding and marketing," Heise said. "You couldn't create this yourself."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander Quon is a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan based in Regina. After working in Atlantic Canada for four years he's happy to be back in his home province. He has previously worked with the CBC News investigative unit in Nova Scotia and Global News in Halifax. Alexander specializes in data-reporting, COVID-19 and municipal political coverage. He can be reached at: [email protected].