The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is taking good-natured potshots at Australian institutions like vegemite and Koala bears in a social media campaign developed by digital agency Tribal DDB.
In a promotion that is part of a larger program that puts Canada on the radar of potential visitors from Australia, the CTC developed a Facebook campaign that pits the two countries’ landmarks, foodstuffs and sports against each other.
On a custom tab of the CTC’s Facebook page, the “Up North vs. Down Under Challenge” sees distinctly Canadian icons like maple syrup, grizzly bears and hockey square off against their Australian counterparts–vegemite, Koala bears and Australian rules football–inviting users to vote for their favourite.
The challenges have attracted more than 4,500 votes to date, and while hockey is clobbering Aussie rules football 395-91, maple syrup is taking a beating from vegemite, 1,239-735.
“I’m always surprised at the amount of participation,” said Josh Fehr, creative director for Tribal DDB in Vancouver. “You’re always hopeful when you put something out there that it’s going to resonate and get a reaction, and [social media] is a great channel for that.
“Everyone has a voice, everyone is a contributor, everyone can participate; it’s not a one-way monologue, it’s a dialogue.”
Each of the six challenges pokes gentle fun at Australia, likening vegemite to licking pavement for instance, or dismissing a Koala as a “poser bear,” since it’s not actually a bear but a marsupial.
“When we started [developing] the creative, the illustrations were the thing we were most excited about, but in the end it’s the descriptions that are pretty awesome,” said Fehr.
“Australians and Canadians have a lot of similarities in the personality of the nation. They’re able to be self-deprecating, they don’t take themselves too seriously and they’re up for a good laugh, and we thought that through these challenges we could resonate a bit.”
Each of the six challenges features the message “Canadians love company,” and invites Australian visitors to click on a link that takes them to a web page detailing travel experiences within Canada.
