“Welcome to Pemberton, you Lucky Bastard” 

Lucky Bastard

The Pemberton Chamber of Commerce went out on a limb during the Pemberton Music Festival and started a campaign called “Lucky Bastard.” The campaign offered a shuttle bus from the Pemberton Music Festival grounds into the heart of the village. They also set up a booth where they handed out the heart shaped “Lucky Bastard”  tattoos, offered tourism information and booking opportunities to capitalize on the influx of tourists.

Some individuals took issue with the fact that the Chamber was using explicit language in their campaign. We turned to Garth Phare, with the Pemberton Chamber of Commerce to clear the air:

“The whole campaign was based around the audience, the 20 year old’s and 24 year old’s… and they loved it! We didn’t have a single, not one single negative comment, came from anyone within the festival grounds…They loved that the community was relating to their age group, and accepting of their age group.”

Phare noted that the shuttle service was a great success; many restaurants sold out of food, retail stores had never seen such profit in single days, and McDonald’s had to bring in extra employees from the city.

The hope was that the age appropriate campaign would show festival goers that Pemberton has a vibrant business community that would welcome people even after the Pemberton Music Festival ended. Phare mentioned that this too was successful, as many people booked river boat rides, golf experiences and more, with intentions of returning to the village.