The campaign has already started. Every JCTA Member that renewed so far this year has or will receive Dr. Marc Sorenson’s NEW book “Embrace the Sun” from either Tanning Depot or Uvalux Tanning and Support. Hopefully at this time of the year everyone will have a chance to read the book. The book is full of sharable information for your clients and friends, backed up by thousands of references from research papers. Members are encouraged to have the book in the salon; it makes a great coffee book! To help out everyone in the industry, the JCTA purchased books to sell at a reduced price, and proceeds will be donated. The book price is normally $26.95US ($35 CDN), and while quantities last, can be purchased at Uvalux and Tanning Depot for $19.95, with free shipping if you include in a lotion order. I would suggest you buy a few copies; you won’t want to miss reading the section on sunbeds.

The main social media campaign will start even earlier this year thanks to memberships being up this year and our expenditures being down from last year (travel and lobbying). The JCTA has increased the funding for the marketing campaign by 30%, and we’ll be testing new ads in the first weeks of October. Both Facebook and Google Ads have added new way to run ads and new ways to find the right audience. The JCTA has been working all summer to funnel down our audience to hopefully send more people to our consumer website www.TanResponsibly.ca.

The website will be updated by December with some new information about sunburn prevention: the latest research on calculating time outdoors without sunburning. This will include information on acclimatizing your skin (pre-tan) for high UV index tropical vacations — preventing sunburns by dual protection.

The campaign will be in full swing around the middle of October, starting off with information about preparing for that winter sunny vacation and those snow birds jetting off to their winter homes down south. This will include a checklist and making sure everyone knows to properly pre-tan you need to start a month ahead of time (10 sessions). After doing some research, we found that a lot of people were coming in a week before their holidays and not getting the pre-tan they require for photoprotection. Just because you see color on your skin doesn’t mean you’ve created your natural protection. This will move in to the PreTan campaign which will include “Save a Canuck” (Sunburning), having a great holiday by not sunburning, and of course all our campaigns will be including finding the right salon via the JCTA Member Salon Finder. The Pre-Tan Campaign will continue in to January with an overlap of our Lifestyle campaign.

Before I get into the Lifestyle campaign, we’ve got some exciting news. The JCTA, with the help of it members, is going to do the first Canadian demographic study on indoor tanners and their habits both at home and on vacation. It will also ask how they perceive their tanning experience at a salon. We’ll start with an in-store/online survey and create a complete report with analytics, charts and graphs, which will hopefully help you understand your clients and how to market to them. JCTA Members are encourage to patriciate in the survey process.

On a side note, salons to should be following the JCTA Professional Standards. Health Canada will be doing their own survey some time in 2019. This is part of an on going check-up on our industry – every 5 years. The last survey was done in 2014, and a research paper was published in 2017. This was presented at the Skin Cancer Conference in Toronto in May, which I attended.

The Lifestyle campaign will start around the end of January, promoting feeling good and looking good with a golden glow, no matter by a cosmetic tan (spray) or a natural UV tan. It also deals with how important it is to improve your health – the beauty inside – with photoproducts you need in the winter. Sunbeds are a great surrogate for the sun in the winter. More to come in future updates on the Lifestyle, Sunburn Prevention and Sunless segments of the campaign. Wait ’til you see what we’re going to do with the tanners survey.

When we look back at the last 5 years of “Please Tan Responsibly,” we’re not seeing media attention in Canada, while other countries are still getting hit. We believe the JCTA campaign has resonated with the public and media. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been able to talk with people about sunbathing this year in a positive light. They’re interested and seem to understand the risk is about sunburning and excessive exposure. They’re coming back to the realization that a suntan is protective  and the sun has more benefits than just vitamin D.

Can you change perceptions about a product? The egg producers did with “Get Cracking” and the alcoholic beverage industry with “Please Drink Responsibly.” It just takes a united group, and JCTA members are doing just that. Is it time for you to become a member? Check out www.TanCanada.org and Why Join the JCTA.