A video promoting the City of Langley and the surrounding region, hosted by NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, cost the City and its partner, Tourism Langley, just under $25,000 to produce.
The City of Langley paid two-thirds and Langley Tourism the remaining third of the $24,800 fee to shoot the nearly five minute promotional video.
The City’s approximately $16,370 share was taken from the council enterprise fund. The fees were paid to cover production costs, not for air time, Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender said.
“Council felt the value of the exposure, by the time we get all the airings — I don’t even know what the cost would be if we bought that time.”
The video will be aired once each nation-wide in the U.S. and in Canada on an American travel channel and its Canadian affiliate. In addition, it will air 30 times throughout the coming year in markets chosen by the City — these include northern U.S. states and provinces in Western Canada.
“The real value from a tourism point of view is to have it air closer to home,” Fassbender said.
The City also gets unlimited rights to the video as well as to nearly two hours of raw footage that was taken during the one-day shoot, but did not make the final cut.
When he presented the video at the March 20 Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting, Fassbender made no reference to the payment, but the omission was not deliberate, he said.
“There was no attempt not to disclose the fact we paid for it. I didn’t feel it was germane to the context of the presentation,” said Fassbender.
Since the video has gone online, Fassbender said, he has received calls from communities in the Maritimes, Manitoba and Northern B.C. asking about the process and whether he believes it is good value.
The video was shown on CNN Headline News in the Seattle, Portland and Spokane markets last week and will air in other markets as well.
