On June 15, 2011, riots broke out in downtown Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins. At least 140 people and nine police officers were injured in the riots, and 117 people were arrested during and afterward.

Vancouver Stanley Cup riots

It’s kind of a big deal because Canadians are perceived to be a very nice and polite society which looks down on its brash neighbors south of the border.

So there’s a worry that this riot will change peoples’ perceptions not just about Vancouver, but Canada and Canadians in general.

Jimmy Kimmel hit a raw nerve with a section on his show (see video) where he says “I like angry Canada…It makes me feel less bad about our behavior.”

Kimmel then played a fake Canada tourism ad, which shows video footage of the riot with a narrator saying, “Canada… Where the people aren’t nice anymore.”

On the other hand, there has been an outpouring of emotion and love for Vancouver from the locals, who turned up to clean the streets and scrawl their thoughts and regrets about the riots on downtown storefronts.

This is where Tourism Vancouver comes into the picture, with a new online platform (www.thisisourvancouver.com/) for channeling these emotions and allowing people to share the pictures and videos online.

Vancouver Stanley Cup riots message

“Last Wednesday Vancouver was reeling from a blindside,” said Tourism Vancouver president and CEO Rick Antonson. “Today, Vancouver’s integrity shines again. ‘This Is Our Vancouver.com’ is our way of helping the world know that Vancouver’s greatest asset is its people.”

The site, set up by Tourism Vancouver and its creative agency DDB Canada; plenty of users have posted items and photos directly connected to the riots.

“As a creative agency, our world is about harnessing emotion. We mobilize people around sentiments that hold real meaning for them,”  explains Lance Saunders, executive vice president and managing director of DDB Canada’s Vancouver office. “This is about celebrating Vancouver and restoring its image to where it deserves to be.”

It’s also, clearly, a good opportunity to kick-start a social media aggregation site where citizens and visitors can share their thoughts and media about the “real” Vancouver, on an ongoing basis.

Photos: Elopde; Clayton Perry

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The Philadelphia Flyers are down two games to nil against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final, but that hasn’t stopped Visit Philly’s play to combine support for the Flyers with tourism promotion for Philadelphia .

Visit Philly got off to a good start before Game 1 by branding Chicago as losers with a bit of gentle ribbing in an online ad issued via their “With Love, Philadelphia XOXO” campaign, published on Facebook and their uwishunu blog.

Visit Philly Stanley Cup ad 1

The ad refers to the Flyers’ series wins earlier over the Devils, Bruins and Canadiens, with the implication that the Chicago Blackhawks are about to join the ranks of the teams vanquished by the Flyers.

New Jersey had some more salt rubbed into their wounds before Game 2, with a Memorial Day weekend ad.

Visit Philly Stanley Cup ad 2

This ad implies that they’d rather spend the Memorial Day weekend in Philly watching Game 2 on TV than visit Jersey Shore.

But it’s not just about internet snark against rival cities. Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), which runs VisitPhilly.com, is printing 750 posters and 400 t-shirts before Game 3.

Also, Visit Philly has been in touch with Chicago Tourism officials, and they’re promoting both cities. Visit Philly put out a press release titled “A Tale of Two Cities: Philadelphia and Chicago” that lists sports curses on their teams along with tourist attractions and things to do for visiting fans in both cities.

So they’re not only offering tourism advice to Blackhawks fans visiting Philadelphia for the three Games at Wachovia Center, but also helping Flyers fans camped out in Chicago for Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 with pointers about what’s good in Chicago. 

With five games to go, it’ll be interesting to see how far Visit Philly intends to take this, and how much it benefits them by the time the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.