SUCCESS STORY:
DESTINATION CANADA’S U.S. LEISURE CAMPAIGN: “CONNECTING AMERICA”
Managing Destination Canada’s largest and most important market campaign, leading an innovative content strategy with major U.S. publishers and providing leadership to a cross-functional team, industry partners and agencies.
Outcomes of the three year campaign:
Over 1 million attributable arrivals and $688 million revenue to Canada.
18% increase in U.S. overnight arrivals.
Campaign performance surpasses targets and industry benchmarks.
Award-winning tactics and content.
CONTEXT
In 2016, Destination Canada’s restarted efforts to attract US leisure travellers to Canada after a 5-year absence with “Connecting America”, a bold three-year campaign rooted in audience data and new technology that faced fierce competition in an already crowded media landscape.
I joined Destination Canada in 2015 as the US marketing manager to support the development of the campaign strategy, lead the planning and execution of campaign and ensure message cohesion and integrity across all activities.
Editorial content with GQ
Winifred Collier
Brand Expert
Mittie Steele
Developer
OPPORTUNITY
Qualitative and quantitative research revealed the U.S. traveller type with the highest likelihood to visit Canada was a “learner”. They were aged 25-45, living in one of seven major US cities and seeking experiences that are authentic, off the beaten path and allows them to immerse themselves in local culture.
We also confirmed many Americans have negative perceptions and stereotypical views of Canada, seeing the country as boring, too cold, too far and too expensive.
Our opportunity was to reach, inform and inspire our audience by countering these perceptions and show relevant, meaningful ways our target US traveller could have a deeper, enriching travel experience in Canada.
Docu-series Vacations of the Brave on Amazon Prime Video created by Destination Canada.
Winifred Collier
Brand Expert
Mittie Steele
Developer
SOLUTION
The Connecting America campaign integrated paid, earned and owned channels with tactics across the path to purchase. While high impact display ads gained attention and personalized re-targeting ads invited travellers to plan and book, the majority of our efforts on centered on storytelling – guided by a content strategy that understood our audience’s mindset and connected to a core message: Canada offers transformational travel experiences.
Data told us what our audience was interested in and what digital platforms they were spending their time on. So, we forged new partnerships with major U.S. publishers who had credibility, reach and influence for our audience. Their role was to inspire Americans to plan/book a trip to Canada by co-creating and distributing authentic content about Canada in their own editorial voice.
Brand Partnerships with major U.S. Publishers
Winifred Collier
Brand Expert
Mittie Steele
Develope
Key elements of the strategy:
Curate a portfolio of publisher partnerships across multiple titles and categories to reach more of our audience through different angles including white space with non-travel publications.
Create content based on the topics and themes most relevant for our audience, blending Destination Canada’s audience data with that of the publishers’.
Ensure content can be digitally tagged, providing data to understand performance and optimize future content. First brand to negotiate third-party content tagging for many US publishers.
Keep Canada top of mind with a regular cadence of relevant, seasonal content published throughout the year.
Find more reach and scale by distributing content in new channels, platforms, formats and outside of the US supporting awareness for Canada globally.
CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS
Amazon Prime Video
VACATIONS OF THE BRAVE
In this scene from episode two of Vacations of the Brave, elder and knowledge keeper Dee Dee shares her ancestral wisdom with Angela & Autumn in this special moment.
The New Yorker
POETRY & PAINT
American writer, poet and activist Cleo Wade experiences Toronto through the eyes of a local, visual artist Bareket Kezwer. Together, they both create art in their own discipline: poetry that inspires a mural.
Mashable
DISCOVERING CHURCHILL, MANITOBA
With a population of 899, this little Manitoba town is best known for the number of polar bears that congregate during the fall — something that’s earned the town the nickname the “Polar Bear Capital of the World.”
The Washington Post
A TASTE OF HISTORY IN NOVA SCOTIA
How a Cajun chef rediscovered his culinary roots on a trip that explores Acadian culture in Atlantic Canada.
The New York Times
FINDING TWO-WHEELED JOY AND FREEDOM IN OTTAWA
As a teen, Maria Rasouli wasn’t allowed to ride a bicycle. In 2002, she immigrated to Canada’s capital city where she was inspired to open her own guided bike-tour business.
GQ
ADVENTURES IN FITNESS: FERNIE, BRITISH COLUMBIA
GQ Insider Gary Williams hikes, paddles, golfs and more, sharing how a visit to Fernie, B.C. offers visitors adventures in this stunning and photogenic mountain town.
RESULTS
Connecting America was a success, surpassing performance and visitor arrivals/spend targets.
Over the course of the three-year campaign, US overnight arrivals increased by 18%, reaching nearly 15 million overnight arrivals in 2019.
New advanced marketing attribution data showed the campaign generated over one million attributable arrivals, contributing $688 million into the Canadian economy.
The content (some award-winning) surpassed the campaign’s content engagement targets and regularly surpassed publisher’s performance benchmarks. With access to performance data, we consistently optimized and adjusted our approach.
We learned a lot, sharing key insights with industry along the way, and ensured continuous improvements across our tactics with a focused performance measurement process.
Co-branded video with RollingStone
Winifred Collier
Brand Expert
Mittie Steele
Developer
CONTACT
For courageous leaders, agencies, destinations, B-Corps and communities in need of experienced communications support with heart, lets connect.