Showcasing Indigenous tourism opportunities in Canada
We worked with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) on their mission to “support the growth of Indigenous tourism in Canada” through a bold, impactful and comprehensive marketing campaign called Escape From Home. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage safe and responsible local tourism that would help keep Indigenous businesses running through the pandemic.
Considerations
Due to the rapidly changing COVID-19 restrictions, we had to be extremely cautious and flexible with this campaign which included hyper-local targeting, diplomatic and non-inflammatory wording in all of our content, as well as emergency messaging and communication of closures.
What we did
We executed an 8 week long Canada-wide marketing campaign highlighting Indigenous tourism businesses across Canada and encouraging people to explore their own back yards and immerse themselves in Indigenous cultures. All of the moving parts of the digital campaign were our responsibility including graphic design, social posts and ad copy, conversion tracking. and pay-per-click promotion.
Tools and Techniques:
- Worked with influencers across the country on social media and blog posts
- Coordinated social posts across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook including daily stories that showcased a list of Indigenous tourism businesses in each highlighted province
- Weekly posters and blog posts that highlighted an Indigenous road-trip itinerary in each province
- Weekly social media contests with prizes from Indigenous businesses
- Looked after all paid campaigns including Facebook, Instagram, Google (search, image, remarketing and retargeting) and Google Ads for nonprofits
“I’ve always been interested in the life of the first nation people of Canada… I want to learn, understand and then promote education about Indigenous life in Canada. I want more people, Canadian-born and non-Canadian born, to be aware of the Indigenous life and so that Canadian indigenous culture is not otherwise a foreign thing in Canada, the first nation’s homeland.” -DJENGCAREY, Consumer
Conclusion
Escape From Home really resonated with the target markets. The campaign resulted in 12.7 million impressions, over 202,000 engagements on social media, 4800 new followers, 36 earned media stories including in the Globe and Mail and Strategy Magazine, and 3600 leads for Indigenous businesses across the country.