The cost for a BC Transit commercial that caused a stir in Squamish earlier this year has been revealed.
The ad shows a pair of rock climbers, with climbing gear in tow, boarding a bus after spending the day on the Stawamus Chief – even though it’s not possible to take transit to the popular climbing and hiking spot.
Concerned with the price of the ad, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation obtained the cost of the production from BC Transit through a Freedom of Information request.
The 30-second commercial, which was shot by Whistler’s Sherpas Cinema in the spring of 2015, cost $40,511 and is part of a four-part campaign that features other extreme sports accessible by transit. The total project has a price tag of $162,046.
Jordan Bateman, the B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is concerned about how much money was spent in comparison to the attention the ad received through social media.
“They only got 852 likes on the video, 57 shares and 98 comments,” said Bateman, referring to the Stawamus Chief video.
He said the cost to produce the videos, $162,046, and to promote it through social media, $4,082, wasn’t worth how much traction they got. According to his calculations, it works out to $195 per like, $2,914 per share, $1,695 per comment, 54 cents per view and 17 cents per impression (the number of times the ad was displayed).
“It’s no doubt that the video is beautiful and stunning but, as you can see by the numbers, we think the commercials were completely ineffective,” Bateman told The Squamish Chief. “They spent a lot of money to look hip, and in the end, they have three videos that didn’t really go anywhere.”
In addition to the cost, he thinks it’s false advertising to show that people can climb the Chief and then board a bus afterwards.
But BC Transit spokesman John Barry said the commercial was effective and was seen in 130 communities throughout B.C., including Nelson, Prince George, Victoria and Nanaimo.
“The stats used are from several weeks back,” said Barry, adding the number of “likes” and “shares” has gone up in the meantime, but the updated numbers aren’t yet available.
“We’re showing that transit can be used for recreational activities, and that appeals to this demographic.”
He said the commercial’s price is average for producing a video of this quality, and the ad was only shown on social media, rather than TV, which kept the cost down while reaching the target demographic.
The ad is meant to appeal to a provincial audience, not taken literally as a local ad showing a bus going to the Stawamus Chief, Barry said.
“It is part of a provincial campaign, and that got lost when people took it literally that it was a local production.”
However, a new bus route to the Chief is now in the planning stages for 2018.
On Tuesday during its committee of the whole meeting, Squamish council agreed to sign an expansion Memorandum of Understanding with BC Transit that would tentatively see a seasonal South Squamish Parks bus service from downtown Squamish to Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls parks in April of 2018.
