By Steve Gilroy, Smart Tan Canada VP and JCTA Executive Director

Canada, this is your NEW E-Newsletter which will be coming out every second month. Smart Tan Canada and the Joint Canadian Tanning Association (JCTA) are collaborating on this exciting new format to keep you up to date on the latest news pertinent to Canadian salons. We’ll give you exciting news that you may have missed as a member. Those that are non-members, this will be all new to you. The newsletter will go further than what you see in the weekly news updates you get as members from Smart Tan Canada and the JCTA. So, don’t forget to open it up and have a read.

As most of you know, I have several roles here in Canada. I’m the VP for Smart Tan Canada and have been part of the Smart Tan Network since the early 2000s, where I helped write the Canadian version of UV Tanning Certification as it is known today. This helped me show insurance companies they could reduce cost down from $500 per piece of equipment. An average 5 bed salon pays about $1300 today. The other part that reduced the cost was a set of guidelines that salons had to follow.

In Manitoba in 2000, I was asked by the government to create a provincial association, so they didn’t need to regulate us. Regulations did not come in for another 14 years. Why regulations then? We couldn’t show that the majority of salons were members. We may not have gotten everything we wanted, but the industry has a self-serve sunbed ban.

In 2004, Health Canada was looking at revising federal regulations. With the help of the Quebec and Ontario associations and every major supplier in Canada, we formed the JCTA to have one voice for the Canadian industry. In 2006, Uvalux and Tanning Depot asked me to become the Executive Director of the JCTA, and they would fund the rebirth of the JCTA to help increase the professionalism of the industry, along with being a media and government representative. We have taken this association from being a Trade Association to a Professional Association in the eye of the government and media. What’s the difference? Professional associations are proactive in protecting their clients.

History lesson over: It’s now 2017; regulations exist both on a federal and a provincial are complete, except Alberta. This is not to say the government will not go further. The JCTA continues to educate the government. We need to continue to show governments we are in control and that one body is overseeing the industry.

The JCTA in 2014 moved from guidelines to Professional Standards. This meaning if you don’t follow the standards, you can’t be a member. These standards came from the guidelines we created with the insurance companies. The standards are all about self-regulation. The JCTA has a complaint mechanism similar to what the government uses. Since most of my time is no longer defending the industry with governments or the media, the JCTA redirected its funding and my time in promoting the industry in a positive light.

The Positive Light for 2017, is a coordinated social media campaign that nowhere in the world has been done before. The JCTA has been told it’s a world leader in moving the sunbed industry forward. The campaign started December 2016 after months of prepation. This is a lifestyle campaign, just as the fitness industry and people like McDonald’s have done. Make sunbathing a weekly routine, just as a trip to Mcdonald’s or to the gym is. McDonald’s sells a whole new healthy menu and give you chooses. They serve breakfast all day now, you can design your own burger. This is what the JCTA is trying to do. Getting people back into salons, controlling the environment and showing them how professional we are.

In December, we started a campaign to promote pre-tanning and tanning to get ready for the holidays. This is part one and will run until February. This includes social media sponsored ads as well as Google search word ads. Ads will include images/videos of people on holidays, asking them if they’re ready. As salon owners, we need to educate the public about acclimatizing their skin for a tropical high UV Index. This is the same thing outdoor workers do every year to reduce their risk of sunburn with low UV Index in the spring, moving to the high UV index in the summer.

We have two more campaigns that will overlap each other, running all the way to the end of June; there will be more about these in the next newsletter. The JCTA will continue promoting our member salons from TanResponsibly.ca and Google. You’ve got to check out the revitalized websites, which changed to lifestyle orientated sites. Every site, including the new SkinType.ca, redirects the pubic to the closest JCTA professional salon in their area. The sites are mobile friendly, will redirect to your site and tell them what major services you offer.

Don’t be left out; become a member and help support the Canadian sunbathing industry.

Check out the “Why join the JCTA” video.

Have a D-lightful 2017