Distributing a brochure to market your business or product might seem commonplace today, but for the Whistler Chamber of Commerce in 1976 the production of a pamphlet was a significant decision and undertaking.
At a speaker event in June, Drew Meredith, who joined the Chamber shortly after getting his real estate licence in 1975 and was later appointed as president in 1978, recalled operating the Chamber on a very small budget and even said, “I think it had a bank balance of 27 cents.” Meredith may have exaggerated, but in the late summer of 1976 the Chamber was reported to have a bank balance of $592 (adjusted for inflation that would be just over $3,000 today), which was not a lot of money with which to promote a ski resort.
Prior to 1977, the Chamber had produced rate cards for accommodation and services as well as other informational materials, but had so far only talked about creating a ski-area pamphlet. At a November 1976 meeting the production of a Ski Area Map was discussed and a committee was formed to look into it further ahead of the 1977-78 ski season. The Chamber was also working to promote Whistler as “a nice place to come to, with friendly people,” by hosting special events such as WinterFest and May Day Madness, and had a special committee to encourage all the businesses in the valley to participate in the Chamber and work together.
On May 19, 1977, the brochure committee held a public meeting to promote the Whistler Area Brochure. The brochure was going to be designed for both summer and winter, and plans were to include a ski-trail map, Valley Trail map, subdivision layouts, and general information about Whistler, alongside advertisements for businesses who chose to pay between $225 and $450 for a space.
About 20 people attended the meeting and it was made clear the brochure could only go ahead if enough businesses chose to advertise. The committee planned to print 200,000 brochures; one half would be distributed by the lift company, hotels, and at the Information Centre, while the rest would be distributed at various ski shows and tours throughout North America. The committee described the project as “the only real multi-purpose and multi-season brochure to ever be attempted here.”
By mid-June, the committee was still chasing down businesses to advertise and was considering contacting businesses in Squamish and Vancouver in order to fill about 25 per cent of the space that was not yet spoken for. The Chamber also reached out to businesses for photos for the brochure, asking for “scenic and action shots” depicting Whistler in all four seasons as well as images of lodges, restaurants and other buildings.
At the August Chamber meeting, the committee drew advertising layout positions for those who wanted to be included in the brochure and floated the idea of an insert that would include advertisements for services available in the Whistler area. The insert, however, had very little interest from local service businesses, who told the brochure committee they “were so busy that they did not need the advertising.”
The goal of the committee was to have the brochures printed and ready to go for Sept. 17, when the first ski show of the season was held in California. In total, 20,000 copies were sent by CP Air for distribution in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, with distribution at ski shows in Portland and Seattle following soon after.
In October, the Chamber attended the Vancouver Ski Show, sharing a booth with the Cheakamus Inn/Christiana Inn group, where they gave out 6,000 of their new brochures. Unfortunately, we do not currently appear to have a copy of the brochure in the archives, but would love to take a look if anyone were to come across one!
