(Originally published in TOURISM)
When selling Canada in key markets, the need to sustain momentum for 12 months of the year is what inspires the Canadian Tourism Commission's (CTC) UK team. Managing director Maggie Davison has high hopes for how this approach will impact Canada’s perception.
“We have been aggressive in anticipation of 2007. We are aiming to shed new light on Canada and certainly to intrigue the consumer with our marketing efforts. I love the radio ads; imagine somebody sitting in traffic, parked on the M25 and trying to get to work on a dull, overcast, rainy morning punctuated by the rants of other drivers wrestling with road rage. Imagine that setting – which is quite common here in the UK – and a radio announcer inviting this person to picture a soothing walk through a fresh pine forest while grabbing the air freshener, bringing it within range of one’s nostril with instructions to inhale deeply to feel like you have just entered a Canadian pine forest!”
This play on British humour is just one of the tactics the CTC‑UK has come up with to grow Canada’s appeal in a country where sustained presence is the only sure way to build awareness.
“We are on radio and on the Underground (subway). We just did a USB drop on the heels of our ice rink campaign at Canary Wharf, where 5,000 USB memory sticks featuring Canada were handed out to staff in office towers overlooking the ice rink. On the ice, we displayed the Canada Keep Exploring logo so they could see from their windows.”
Davison views the whole concept of nurturing familiarity with the Canada, in potentially high‑yield consumer clusters, as extremely powerful. “We imagine the first thing people did that morning at work was to plug the USB stick in their computer and just play the content. This might have provided some welcome relief and something to think about on a Monday after the weekend, when they really don’t want to be at work.”
Another tactic is expected to do very well is the gym poster campaign running nationally at selected health and fitness locations, a concept with a clever twist borrowed from the CTC‑Germany:
“These posters are a play on the muscle charts that are usually posted on exercise machines, except that in this case, if you see the tummy muscles being worked highlighted in red, it’ll indicate that these muscles are exercised while attending a comedy festival in Canada. If the biceps or lower calf muscles are highlighted, those might be targeted while engaging in shopping activities. We put a bit of a different spin on this concept to tie in with all the things Brits like to do when they are away on vacation. As they perspire doing their 15‑minute workout on the treadmill, they can enjoy the humour and realize they can do all these wonderful things in Canada.”
Add to this that Spotlight 2007 was totally revamped this year, and that Canada Day at Trafalgar Square on June 29 is now in the works:
“In conjunction with the Canada Media awards which happen the day before, we are really packing a lot into Canada's birthday weekend. We are hoping to secure a relatively well‑known line‑up, culminating in a big name here in the UK. We have added things like food and beverages promoting Canadian products with the pavilion concept – the idea being that people are attending the celebrations to experience Canada for the day.”
Davison hopes they will get so excited, they will ultimately get on a plane and come to Canada knowing the destination is a really cool place to spend time. “In the fall we’ll be running our Canada Specialist conference which took on a new format last year. Then we will open for the winter with the ice rink again.”
As we move closer to the Vancouver Olympics, that theme will be introduced in marketing activities. “Canada Day and the Ice Rink lend themselves as excellent platforms for that,” Davison notes. “Without the collaboration of all the CTC’s partners, the magnitude of these efforts would not be the same. The goal is to impart a Canada buzz to the UK, and I think we really are doing that. There are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things we’d love to do.”
When selling Canada in key markets, the need to sustain momentum for 12 months of the year is what inspires the Canadian Tourism Commission's (CTC) UK team. Managing director Maggie Davison has high hopes for how this approach will impact Canada’s perception.
“We have been aggressive in anticipation of 2007. We are aiming to shed new light on Canada and certainly to intrigue the consumer with our marketing efforts. I love the radio ads; imagine somebody sitting in traffic, parked on the M25 and trying to get to work on a dull, overcast, rainy morning punctuated by the rants of other drivers wrestling with road rage. Imagine that setting – which is quite common here in the UK – and a radio announcer inviting this person to picture a soothing walk through a fresh pine forest while grabbing the air freshener, bringing it within range of one’s nostril with instructions to inhale deeply to feel like you have just entered a Canadian pine forest!”
This play on British humour is just one of the tactics the CTC‑UK has come up with to grow Canada’s appeal in a country where sustained presence is the only sure way to build awareness.
“We are on radio and on the Underground (subway). We just did a USB drop on the heels of our ice rink campaign at Canary Wharf, where 5,000 USB memory sticks featuring Canada were handed out to staff in office towers overlooking the ice rink. On the ice, we displayed the Canada Keep Exploring logo so they could see from their windows.”
Davison views the whole concept of nurturing familiarity with the Canada, in potentially high‑yield consumer clusters, as extremely powerful. “We imagine the first thing people did that morning at work was to plug the USB stick in their computer and just play the content. This might have provided some welcome relief and something to think about on a Monday after the weekend, when they really don’t want to be at work.”
Another tactic is expected to do very well is the gym poster campaign running nationally at selected health and fitness locations, a concept with a clever twist borrowed from the CTC‑Germany:
“These posters are a play on the muscle charts that are usually posted on exercise machines, except that in this case, if you see the tummy muscles being worked highlighted in red, it’ll indicate that these muscles are exercised while attending a comedy festival in Canada. If the biceps or lower calf muscles are highlighted, those might be targeted while engaging in shopping activities. We put a bit of a different spin on this concept to tie in with all the things Brits like to do when they are away on vacation. As they perspire doing their 15‑minute workout on the treadmill, they can enjoy the humour and realize they can do all these wonderful things in Canada.”
Add to this that Spotlight 2007 was totally revamped this year, and that Canada Day at Trafalgar Square on June 29 is now in the works:
“In conjunction with the Canada Media awards which happen the day before, we are really packing a lot into Canada's birthday weekend. We are hoping to secure a relatively well‑known line‑up, culminating in a big name here in the UK. We have added things like food and beverages promoting Canadian products with the pavilion concept – the idea being that people are attending the celebrations to experience Canada for the day.”
Davison hopes they will get so excited, they will ultimately get on a plane and come to Canada knowing the destination is a really cool place to spend time. “In the fall we’ll be running our Canada Specialist conference which took on a new format last year. Then we will open for the winter with the ice rink again.”
As we move closer to the Vancouver Olympics, that theme will be introduced in marketing activities. “Canada Day and the Ice Rink lend themselves as excellent platforms for that,” Davison notes. “Without the collaboration of all the CTC’s partners, the magnitude of these efforts would not be the same. The goal is to impart a Canada buzz to the UK, and I think we really are doing that. There are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things we’d love to do.”
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