An internal report by Canadas federal spy agency admitted to fumbles during its self-described outside the box sponsorship of the 2011 Vanier Cup at B.C. Place Stadium.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service sent four recruiters to the 99th Grey Cup festival, which included the first Vancouver hosting of Canadian Interuniversity Sports national football championship last Nov. 25. How much CSIS spent on sponsorship was not disclosed in response to an Access to Information request. Travel expense forms were censored. CSIS claimed it had to withhold names and dollar figures to protect personal information, third-party information and information that relates to the efforts of Canada towards detecting, preventing or suppressing subversive or hostile activities.
In the post-event report, under the heading What didnt work, CSIS admitted to brand confusion and communication breakdown.
Sharing a tent with CIS was not successful. Not only do the two organizations share a similar name, we lost prominence because we were told not to install our own tenttherefore many people assumed we were part of the university organization.
The tent was too white, large and did not look professional. Our setup is usually symmetrical with red tent, table, giveawayswe simply had two pop ups that looked out of place. The kicker herethere was plenty of room on site for our tentwhich is not what we were told.
The report said CSIS was originally told to set up at the Vancouver Convention Centre and B.C. Place staff initially shut the recruiters out on game night.
It was difficult getting hold of [name censored]. This was especially crucial when our two recruiters were refused entry to the Vanier Cup (to see our ads and to give out lanyards as planned). The recruiters felt a little uncomfortable at being treated as intruders by the B.C. Place security. Was B.C. Place security not advised?
Accreditation was eventually supplied. The report said 1,000 lanyards and 1,200 career cards were distributed.
The documents show the brand confusion was on CSISs mind 10 days before the game.
A Nov. 15, 2011 email asked can we bring our own tent? Not sure if CIS will be confused with CSIS.
CSIS was, however, pleased with the attention it got at Terry Fox Plaza and during the Vanier Cup game at B.C. Place, the video commercial was quite impactful, clear and loud. It could not be missed. The [public address] announcements were also clear and ran during the scheduled times.
Two 30-second video ads and English and French announcements promoted the Intelligence Matters recruiting website. Several fans and reporters commented on Twitter about the dark, menacing tone of the advertising.
Recruitment information packages were also supplied to coaches and athletes at the Vanier Cup and its semifinals, the Uteck Bowl and Mitchell Bowl. The McMaster Marauders beat the defending champion Laval Rouge et Or 41-38 in an overtime thriller before 24,935 fans at B.C. Place.
The sponsorship was part of a three-year plan to fulfill new mandates, replace retiring employees and meet diversity benchmarks. CSIS spent $511 million in 2009-2010 and counted 3,104 full-time equivalent staff, up from 2,091 in 2000-2001.
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