Canada ‘colour commentary’? We’ve got it. CTC helps 2010 Winter Games broadcasters ‘Keep exploring.’

CTC’s 2010 media relations team gathers video content from all provinces and territories on one website to bolster Olympic sports broadcasts.

When the Olympic medals have been won and the records set, broadcasters scramble for “colour” to fill in the gaps. That’s precisely where the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) aims to help.

As part of the CTC’s mandate to make the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games “Canada’s Games,” the CTC’s 2010 media relations team is assembling video footage and developing story themes from all across the country—not just Vancouver and Whistler, BC, the two host sites for the 2010 Winter Games. The team is especially looking for content that links well with the “Canada. Keep exploring” brand CTC is rolling out in its nine international markets.

“There’s a really great opportunity out there to provide broadcasters—especially ones coming in from foreign countries—with video footage and story packages to fill up air time,” says Dave Stewart, newly-appointed CTC director of 2010 media relations.

With the advent of the internet and cable TV specialty channels, the sports world never sleeps. Case in point: CTV recently announced it will broadcast an unprecedented 22 hours of television coverage every day during the 2010 Winter Games.

But events and action aren’t taking place all the time. Indeed, when you look closely at Olympic coverage on TV, a significant amount of time is devoted to what’s known in the industry as “colour”—profiles of individual athletes, their hometowns, where they train and what they do in their spare time. There are also larger human interest stories to tell about Canada. And it’s not just about TV.

“Many of the core broadcast rights-holders—that’s the term we use to describe international TV networks that have purchased the rights to broadcast the Games—own other media properties as well, such as websites, magazines and newspapers,” Stewart says. “They may not know much about Canada right now, so our job is to provide them with story themes, images and videos that make their job easy. In some cases, it’s jaw-dropping high-definition video footage. Or it might be an interview with a fisherman in Newfoundland, or a First Nations elder in Haida Gwaii, BC.”

By the time the 2010 Winter Games are over, international viewers should have a nice little movie, or even a series of clips, to inspire a trip to see Canada first-hand.

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