The province of Nova Scotia is hitting the road to encourage its residents to participate in a tourism marketing campaign.
The “My Nova Scotia” campaign launched in mid-March with a television spot in which Percy Paris, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, asks residents to upload 60-second videos explaining what they like about the province to the NovaScotia.com website. (The provinces’ Progressive Conservatives had criticized Paris for his direct involvement in the campaign.)
Twenty-one user-generated videos will be selected for use in a television campaign that begins May 9 and runs through late September.
To spur additional video “auditions,” the tourism division of Nova Scotia’s Economic and Rural Development and Tourism ministry today began a two-week bus tour through the province. The bus, which begins its trek in Yarmouth, is equipped with video equipment to capture the testimonials of locals at each stop.
Halifax-based shop Colour is spearheading the campaign, which is geared to consumers in the Maritime region.
“The idea is that average Nova Scotians get to tell people in the Maritimes about experiences that they can take part in in Nova Scotia this summer,” said Larry MacEachern, managing partner at Colour.
John Somers, executive director of the provincial government’s tourism division, believes Maritimers will respond to the personal testimonials from citizens.
“[Viewers] will see people who are like them and hopefully relate to that,” said Somers. “On a deeper level, a lot of our brand has to do with culture and the spirit of our people, so this is very consistent with the message we’re trying to put out in that regard.”
Somers added that the bus tour raises the geographic reach and the overall profile of the campaign.
“It’s a visual reminder that we’re doing this, and it’ll provide a good regional balance as well, because the bus is going all over Nova Scotia,” he said.
According to MacEachern, more than half of visitors to Nova Scotia annually come from the Maritime region.
