The Canadian Tourism Commission wants to convert interest in Canada into action and is targeting travelers in Germany, France and the United Kingdom with a spring television, print and digital campaign.
The online elements of the campaign, by DDB Canada, integrate Google Maps and Street View to transport consumers directly to their area of interest via their desktops or mobile device.
Should a potential visitor be interested in Montreal, for example, they can zoom down to a street view of the city and look at examples of local nightlife or see the top 10 “cool things” to do in the city. (An example of the ad unit can be found here.)
The ads end with a call to action to “explore more of Canada” where people are directed to a microsite which has detailed information on each destination as well as special deals on partner sites.
The idea, said Ernst Flach, CTC’s executive director of global marketing, is to create a movie in people’s heads of what a Canadian vacation can be.
“People have a good sense of what Canada is, and they like the idea of coming to Canada. But there’s often a challenge of getting them to understand what you can actually do when you are in Canada,” said Flach. “The objective of these online ads was to give people a real and authentic glimpse of Canada, bringing our city streets directly to interested travelers.”
