2001
After moving to Victoria, BC, The Port Angeles Department of Tourism asked us to help them develop an advertising campaign designed to help draw visitors to the Port Angeles and surrounding area.
Tucked in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, Port Angeles is the epicenter for the Olympic Peninsula with visitors arriving from near and far to experience a magical vacation. As the gateway to the Olympic National Park — a top-of-the-bucket-list worthy wonder and one of few national parks in the Pacific Northwest — this smallish seaside-meets-mountain town has nuggets of history, hints of fame, bewitching beauty, and adventure waiting to be discovered. Port Angeles is the spot to start —and stay — during your Olympic Peninsula journey.
After spending a week visiting the area and discovering the abundant natural beauty of the area, we coined the tagline ‘You Can See it From Here’ and created a campaign which encouraged visitors to stay in the area for more than a day trip and over the past twenty years, it has worked wonders.
When we presented it to the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, we received a standing ovation, which was a first in my career.
The campaign featured such destinations as Olympic National Park, Ruby Beach, Marymere Falls, Lake Crescent, Sol Duc Falls, Hurricane Ridge and of course, the M.V. Coho Ferry owned by the Black Ball Ferry Line.
The campaign ran in various forms for over a decade.
As Executive Director of the Port Angeles Department of Tourism, I had the pleasure of working with Steve on developing our advertising campaign for our region and would like to recognize his creativity and professionalism. Steve was a major player in the success of our advertising campaign and in helping us raise the awareness of our area and I highly recommend his professionalism.
Ad Campaign
Our campaign picked five destinations to feature including a trip to Victoria, BC as an area to visit while in the Port Angeles area and highlighted the voyage aboard the venerable Coho Ferry. Day One is featured above. The campaign ran in Outside Magazine, National Geographic and virtually all major newspapers throughout the Pacific Northwest – creating awareness to the destination. In the first year the campaign ran, visitation was up 19%.
Our Solution & Result. Port Angeles wanted to develop ‘something’ which promoted the town. We came up with the concept of promoting both Port Angeles AND the surrounding attractions with the idea being that visitors could stay in town and enjoy the restaurants and accommodations at the end of a great day of local sightseeing and created the ‘You Can See It From Here’ campaign. The concept was well received by the town, implemented and was quite a success.
In the first full year that the campaign ran, accommodations in the town were up 19%”.
Day Two was set at lake Crescent.
Lake Crescent is known for its brilliant blue waters and exceptional clarity, caused by a lack of nitrogen in the water which inhibits the growth of algae. It is located in a popular recreational area which is home to a number of trails, including the Spruce Railroad Trail, Pyramid Mountain trail, and the Barnes Creek trail to Marymere Falls.
The Spruce Railroad Trail follows the grade of what was once the tracks of a logging railroad along the shores of the lake. Following this trail on the north side of the lake, one can find the entrance to an old railroad tunnel as well as “Devils Punch Bowl”, a popular swimming and diving area.
Day Three featured the Hoh Rainforest.
The Hoh Rain Forest, pronounced “Hoe”, earns its name from the ever-flowing Hoh River that carves its way from Mount Olympus towards the Pacific Coast. However, where the name originates, is up for debate. The word “Hoh” undoubtedly comes from Native American languages; possibly the Quileute word “Ohalet” which means “fast moving water” or “snow water.” Since the river itself forms from glacial runoff, that origin seems straightfoward. Other explanations state that the Quinault word “Qu,” meaning “boundary,” could be the root of the name as a river as massive as the Hoh certainly forms a formidable boundary across the landscape. A third consideration claims that the word “Hoh” translates to “man with quarreling wives.” What the actual history behind the name is appears to be lost to time.
The Hoh Rain Forest is located in the stretch of the Pacific Northwest rainforest which once spanned the Pacific coast from southeastern Alaska to the central coast of California. The Hoh is one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rainforest in the United States and is one of the park’s most popular destinations.
The Hoh lies on the west side of Olympic National Park, about a two-hour drive from Port Angeles and under an hour from Forks.
Day Four was set in Port Angeles.
Tucked in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, Port Angeles is the epicenter for the Olympic Peninsula with visitors arriving from near and far to experience a magical vacation. As the gateway to the Olympic National Park—a top-of-the-bucket-list worthy wonder and one of few national parks in the Pacific Northwest—this smallish seaside-meets-mountain town has nuggets of history, hints of fame, bewitching beauty, and adventure waiting to be discovered. Port Angeles is the spot to start —and stay — during your Olympic Peninsula journey.
Day Five took visitors off to Victoria, BC.
Known as “the Garden City”, Victoria is an attractive city and a popular tourism destination with a regional technology sector that has risen to be its largest revenue-generating private industry. Victoria is in the top twenty of world cities for quality-of-life.
Victoria is the southernmost major city in Western Canada and is about 100 km (62 mi) southwest from British Columbia’s largest city of Vancouver on the mainland. The city is about 40 km (25 mi) from Port Angeles, Washington, by taking the Coho across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Port Angeles, Washington – You Can See it from Here.
Our mandate was to create a compelling story about why travellers should want to visit Port Angeles and we crafted a journey to all the surrounding attractions and focused on Port Angeles as the center of the area.
This included day outings to locations such as Lake Crescent, the Sol Duc Falls, Hurricane Ridge, McCartney Peak and the Hoh Rainforest with side trips off to Ruby Beach and a day trip to Victoria aboard the Coho Ferry.
Advertising
These skyscraper type ads were created using the best photography we could find from the surrounding greater Port Angeles area and featured Lake Crescent, the Sol Duc Falls, Hurricane Ridge, McCartney Peak and the Hoh Rainforest with side trips off to Ruby Beach and the wide choices of seastacks along the coastline. The campaign appeared in Outside Magazine, National Geographic and Sierra Magazine.
The Five Day Planner
There are some projects that I think I really get right and this was one of them… beautifully photographed, wonderfully written and perfectly printed, this planner told the story of how a five day vacation to Port Angeles could be one of the best vacations they ever had and Yim and I tried it. We loved it.
For me, the details are what I feel make my work stand out. For the series of ads we created for Port Angeles, I personally collected pine cones and needles from each location and photographed them on a white background and dropped them onto the top of a polaroid photoshop file to add some credibility to the campaign.
Go. Visit.
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