Consumer Marketing Campaign

Overview

Building the tourism sector in Newfoundland and Labrador is an enormous collective effort. All marketing campaign initiatives require close cooperation with stakeholders, including the NL Tourism Board, partners from Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador, the five regional Destination Management Organizations, and a multitude of public, non-profit, and private organizations (including heritage and cultural groups). Strategic marketing partnerships are also established with transportation providers, including Air Canada and Marine Atlantic, to address travel barriers, increase ‘ease of access’ awareness, and to help bring our stories to market.

Given the ambitious goal of Vision 2020, all marketing campaigns need to deliver on Newfoundland and Labrador’s unified tourism vision that “supports the development of authentic and unique experiences, attracts travellers, and provides local employment opportunities”. 

Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism launches a unique Find Yourself campaign each year to build on our differentiated brand, position the province as a distinct destination for travellers looking for authentic experiences, and to attract non-resident visitors.

StayHomeYear 2020 Campaign Overview

2020 has been full of obstacles, especially for a tourism destination like Newfoundland and Labrador. Travel restrictions meant that the best opportunity to generate income for the provincial tourism industry was right here at home, with residents. But convincing residents to vacation at home would require some romancing. We had to rekindle their love of home. And demonstrate that it’s overflowing with things to see and do. So how could we appeal to residents’ desire for unique travel experiences, while also supporting the industry and promoting local tourism operators?

Creative Direction

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Home is much more than a place where you grew up. It’s a feeling. So much so, that residents have a longstanding annual tradition called “Come Home Year’, where expats are encouraged to return home for summer festivities. It dates back all the way to 1966. Knowing this, we decided to flip Come Home Year on its head. We launched ‘Stay Home Year’, a fully integrated campaign that asks Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to consider vacationing at home.

Stay Home Year Summer Resident Campaign Summary and Results

Stay Home Year Fall Resident Campaign Summary and Results

The 2019 campaign helps elevate Newfoundland and Labrador from a list of “must visit” places and connects at a more personal level to those willing to journey here, far off the beaten path. It also strategically aligns with Destination Canada’s new brand ‘For Glowing Hearts’, that promotes the country as a transformational destination – where connecting with local people and their culture underpins the traveller experience.

While our landscapes are iconic, the people, culture, and stories make this destination truly stand apart. The campaign comes to life using narrative to encourage travellers to explore places and attractions across Newfoundland and Labrador, including in lesser-known areas. It transcends all areas and regions of the province, growing Newfoundland and Labrador’s tourism industry beyond top visited places and it supports industry development efforts because it makes it easy for destinations and attractions to take part. Further, unlike activity-based themes like whale watching or hiking, storytelling is a platform that promotes Newfoundland and Labrador across all seasons, helping address the key tourism sector issue of seasonality.

2019 Consumer Marketing Campaign

The 2019 Consumer Marketing Campaign focused on creating a destination of stories that comes alive through our people and places.

Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool; a story has the potential to capture the imagination of travellers seeking personal connection and inspires them to act. Newfoundland and Labrador has a unique advantage when it comes to marketing this way as storytelling comes so naturally to our people and each place comes with a bit of history that’s different from anywhere else.

Storytelling is deeply woven into Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural fibre. Here, travellers find stories in the most unexpected places: from kitchens to coves, pubs to tour boats, and everywhere in-between. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the stories are as varied as the tellers that tell them. It’s not just what the stories say, but the emotional connection established because of how they are told, with warmth and wit, that reflects the personality of this place and our natural-born storytellers. 

Campaign Highlights: A Place of Stories   

Canadian Market

The 2019 fully integrated multi-media storytelling campaign targets visitors from Canadian markets (including Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia) and the Northeastern United States. 

Television Campaign

The campaign includes national and specialty television ads that showcase two of the provinces most famous attributes – its stunning natural beauty and proud storytelling tradition. Through a creative platform based in storytelling, our 0:90 ‘A Tangled Tale’ TV ad was designed to ignite the imagination of experienced travellers, encouraging them to interact with our creativity brand, while, at the same time, conveying a sense of urgency to visit a place that’s overflowing with stories. The TV ad brought storytelling to life through a recitation that romances our natural ability to spin a yarn and throughout you’ll see local filmmakers, visual artists, poets, musicians, and actors.

Versions of the ad extended into Air Canada’s in flight entertainment system and a digital buy with digital video, online display, search, social media, and direct marketing.

Newspaper Campaign

Full-page, full-colour national newspaper ads on the back page of travel sections in The Globe and Mail and other key regional dailies – Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, St. Catharines Standard, and London Free Press – reinforced Newfoundland and Labrador as a wellspring of stories. The four-month print-led campaign is timed to coincide with trip planning for peak travel season and the ads feature region-specific prices for Air Canada flights to Newfoundland and Labrador, with the goal of driving bookings.

Digital Marketing Campaign

To position Newfoundland and Labrador as a place overflowing with stories, we launched TallTrueAndTangled.com. This content-heavy hub is a curated collection of 60 original stories ranging from video, articles, digital audio, and eBooks. Travellers find inspiration and reasons to visit in stories steeped in history, culture, food, off-kilter words/phrases, and storytelling festivals.

Social media and paid display – including geo-targeted mobile ads featuring downloadable eBooks – amplified the storytelling narrative, engaging the audience and driving traffic to the site.

The Story Exchange was launched as an online platform where travellers could create digital books to share their own personal stories about visiting our destination and travelling throughout the province. And the ‘Second Chapter’ contest ran for 6-weeks – inviting travellers to create a digital book about their adventures here. More than 1,500 custom travel books with stories and pictures about travel itineraries, favorite moments and places, and the hospitality of our people, were created by travellers and shared online. The ability to comment on traveller stories via Facebook comments generated significant social word of mouth among other travellers.

At its core, the 2019 campaign is an invitation for travellers to visit, create their own stories, and leave with their own tales to tell.

Storytelling video

United States Market

Marketing efforts in the United States include the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. These travellers are seeking adventure and cultural experiences in new, authentic destinations. To maximize efforts, Newfoundland and Labrador works cooperatively with the Atlantic Canada Agreement on Tourism (ACAT) – a nine-member, pan-Atlantic partnership comprised of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the four Atlantic Canada Tourism Industry Associations, and the four provincial departments responsible for tourism.

Digital Marketing 

Year-round, ACAT marketing efforts include paid display advertising, custom content creation with select travel partners, social media marketing, and influencer programs, bringing the US audience from awareness, to putting Newfoundland and Labrador on the bucket list, to cultivating intent to visit.

Come From Away  

To cultivate and capitalize on the travel intent created by the Broadway show Come From Away, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism maintains a year-round presence at the show in New York, highlighting the experiences travellers can have when they visit the province.

Contact:

Andrew Weir
Advertising Officer, Tourism Advertising and Communications
Tel:  709-729-5260
Email: andrewweir@gov.nl.ca