Outaouais Tourism is targeting Quebec and Ontario travelers with an ad campaign created by BleuBlancRouge.
The TV ad shows a tour guide telling obvious falsehoods about the region, with a voiceover inviting viewers to come see it for themselves.
“We wanted to go with absurd humour to draw attention and spark interest,” said Brigitte Cérat, director of marketing and communications for Outaouais Tourism. “In our industry, the usual approach is to showcase specific products such as a location or attraction. We wanted to set ourselves apart.”
The need to stand out was important. Studies conducted by Outaouais Tourism and BleuBlancRouge showed the region’s spontaneous awareness rating was almost non-existent.
“When we ask people to name a region in Quebec, only 1% mentioned Outaouais. Also, many have trouble locating us on a map, and some don’t know us at all. These results aren’t surprising; on the contrary, they confirm what we thought,” said Cérat.
By 2015, the tourism body wants to reach a 10% spontaneous awareness rating.
Given its proximity to Ottawa, the region is focusing advertising efforts on both sides of the Ottawa River.
“Quebec accounts for 70% of our customers, with the remaining percentage coming in large part from Ontario, but also the rest of Canada and England.”
According to Statistics Canada, in 2009 the Outaouais region welcomed more than 3 million visitors.
The region has also decided to focus on “experiences” rather than on socio-demographic data. For example, the site suggests visitors discover attractions according to their interests, such as urban life or outdoor recreation.
In addition to television commercials in French and English, the campaign features magazine ads, brochures (760,000 copies distributed in Quebec and Ontario) and poster advertising. Cérat said 21% of the campaign’s budget is reserved for online advertising, which is set to launch in a few weeks.
Well-known Quebec singer Luce Dufault will continue working with Outaouais Tourism, but will focus on media events and promotional brochures.
SĂ©bastien Deland, Guillaume Blanchet, Daniel Moisan and Dominic Faucher created the campaign.
