— SOLUTION —

When choosing a destination for an international trip, research showed consumers are increasingly turning away from traditional media campaigns towards personal, trusted recommendations. In order to succeed, the campaign had to connect with individuals' specific interests in an authentic way, showing real enjoyment in an aesthetically rich way.

To bring Canada to life, TCO used its global network of journalists to source local influencers from the campaign's key markets. We created a mix of micro-influencers like rock climbers and designers, through to mainstream influencers like UK food vlogger, John Quilter and Channel 4 'First Dates' celebrity Fred Sirieix.

Careful to suit each influencer's video style, TCO ensured our creative slotted effortlessly into their existing content collection. We followed each of them on an authentic journey of discovery, showcasing the incredible beauty of Canada. Across 100 films, our content has spanned food, sport, fashion and adventure. 

Data usage in the consumer path-to-purchase delivered valuable learnings in the content’s creative approach. Historic data showed British travellers were passionate about food discovery in their research process, which aided influencer selection and seeding environments for the content. The selected influencers then simply shared and promoted the content directly to their social followers. 

A paid media spend, coordinated by OMD, used a combination of YouTube advertising and key media partnerships with the likes of The Guardian, Daily Mail, Huck and Die Ziet, encouraging consumers to view multiple pieces of content. In this way we met the target audience at crucial points in their decision making journey, within trusted environments, to positively influence each consumer's path to purchase.

A Google retargeting strategy served additional content to those who were engaging with the campaign and drove them towards our content hub. In this way the campaign was able to track numbers driving through to the site, and ultimately to final bookings.

— RESULTS —

For the first time in a decade Canada's growth outpaced global travel growth by 80%. 7.5% vs 4.4%, which means Canada is growing its market share.

We inspired the audience with exciting content:

• 3,000 miles travelled on production

• 100 pieces of content produced

• 205k + viewing hours

• 200M reach

• 30M video views - of which 6M were organic

• 50 million+ content views on Facebook (including stills)

• 520k+ visited our content hub , including 30% return visitors.

• Doubled Instagram audience from 250k to 500k

The campaign successfully drove travellers to Canada:

• Generated $231M+ in additional tourism revenue (67:1 ROI)

• 190k content viewers booked trips to Canada

• A further 40k travellers converted via trade partners

• YOY Q4 searches relevant to Canada increased by 26%

• 7.9% increase in visitor growth from marketed countries

• 15% brand lift

Awards to date: 

• Winner M&M Global Best Growth Strategy

• Winner M&M Best Use of Data,

• WARC Media Awards Gold, Best Use of Data

• Travel Marketing Awards Silver Best Use of Content Marketing

• Currently shortlisted for best Travel at the CMA International Content Awards.