• Victoria/Vancouver Times Colonist, Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:30 AM

Victoria and Vancouver are testing branding on parking meters. Victoria's parking pay stations will be billboards touting "Tectoria" as the new name for the area, and those who work in its growing high-tech industry Tectorians.

"What we do is we tie our tech sector with things that people already know about Victoria," said Dan Gunn, executive director of the Victoria Advanced Technology Council (VIATec.) "We're not about to change what people know about our city but by doing things like saying: 'Welcome to Victoria home of 100 killer whales and 1,500 killer apps,' we're kind of letting them know before they leave our city that, by the way, there is an opportunity for you to get a job and there is an opportunity for you to invest," he said.

The three-year project, with a budget of $150,000, began with the organization getting 50% of backlit poster advertisements at Victoria International Airport's baggage carousels. VIATeC is getting use of the parking pay station space free but is covering all the costs.

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