'A general sense of frustration': Citizen group attempts to fill in gaps of Experience Regina campaign

A group of Regina women are hoping to fill in the gaps left behind from an independent review into the Experience Regina rebrand.

Regina Reimagined is comprised of residents who came together with shared concerns over the sexualized campaign.

“I think there’s just a general sense of frustration when people feel purposefully misled,” said Regina Reimagined member Kristen McLeod, who is also a former board member of Tourism Regina.

George Cuff was selected by the REAL board to conduct the independent review into the campaign. In July, he concluded a junior employee approved sexualized slogans for Experience Regina’s website without consulting senior management.

However, Mcleod said the conclusion does not line up with the report’s findings.

“The idea that this sort of slipped by at the very last minute, it doesn’t make any sense,” McLeod said.

The women condensed Cuff’s 114-page report to 15 pages that break down the timeline of events leading up to the Experience Regina campaign launch in March.

The group supplemented its findings with information obtained through freedom of information requests and social media.

The report shows slogans like ‘The City that Rhymes with Fun,’ ‘Anything but Flat,’ and ‘Do it in Regina’ were discussed for months before the launch.

Screenshots obtained by the McLeod show Experience Regina employees asked local social media influences to share the campaign’s promotional video with captions such as ‘Not your grandma’s Regina’ and ‘Look at my Regina!’

Internal messages obtained through freedom of information requests show city employees were concerned with the campaign before it launched.

REAL CEO Tim Reid said he couldn’t speak to those messages, but said REAL consulted with upwards of 30 organizations prior to revealing the slogans.

“We didn’t get any feedback through those conversations that said, ‘Hey stop this,’ which actually may have been part of the problem and it was something that we should recognize,” Reid said.

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McLeod, who has been a part of the city’s tourism industry, said residents’ feelings need to be considered in any tourism campaign.

“Those residents have to feel comfortable at least at the bare minimum with the campaign. It’s the residents that own the businesses and work at the places that the tourists will come and use,” she said.

McLeod said there could be potential challenges booking conferences and events in the future as a result of the campaign.

“That reputational harm, you can’t really quantify that, but to be kind of an international laughing stock and that deep hurt that was felt by the residents of the city, that needed acknowledgement,” McLeod said.

The group believes Cuff’s report lacked discussion on the impacts the campaign had on the city’s reputation, financials and the safety of female residents.

Cuff previously told CTV News that he was not instructed to answer how the slogans came to be and why they were not discarded in the brainstorming stage.

However, according to Reid, the parameters around the review were far-reaching.

“The terms of reference for Mr. Cuff were a fulsome terms of reference and included a review of all opportunities relative to the organization,” Reid said.

Jennie Avram, the founding member of Regina Reimagined, is a local business owner.

She said the independent review missed the mark at holding leadership accountable.

“We need to be shooting for excellence as a community and this really spoke to me as not even hitting the bar of mediocrity,” Avram said of the Experience Regina rebrand.

“In order to move forward, we need to restore trust and get to the bottom of being completely transparent.”

Avram said it is important residents continue raising concerns about the campaign.

She wants to see city council address REAL and the independent review when council meetings resume later this month.

In the meantime, the group has created a petition calling for greater transparency and accountability, as well as for the responsibilities of Tourism Regina to be removed from the umbrella of REAL.

In a statement, REAL board chair Wayne Morsky said the organization continues to take steps towards the recommendations laid out in Cuff’s report.

 

“As the independent review process is now complete, the REAL Board of Directors is moving forward based on the recommendations within the report. We remain committed to a positive future for tourism in Regina and believe the city deserves our efforts be focused on a productive path forward,” he said.

CTV News reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, but had not heard back by the time of publication.