By Chris Powell of The Message
Who: Target Marketing & Communications, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism.
What: A new campaign promoting the province’s longstanding reputation as “Iceberg Alley.”
When & Where: Timed to coincide with peak season for “Iceberg Alley,” which runs from April until the icebergs drift or melt away (usually around late July), the campaign includes national print ads, as well as Target’s award-winning IcebergFinder.com tracking tool. It is targeting key international markets including the U.S., with paid media in targeted Canadian markets.
Why: It’s peak season for iceberg viewing in Iceberg Alley, with literally hundreds of 10,000-year-old Arctic icebergs drifting past the province’s 29,000 kilometres of coastline. Icebergs are a significant tourism driver, with people frequently flocking to the towns that dot the province’s coastal regions to see them.
How: Target created a series of print “billboards” featuring these so-called “majestic cathedrals” in their natural glory. “Some pieces just won’t fit inside the Guggenheim” is the headline accompanying one of the full-page ads, which are appearing in travel sections of major daily newspapers including The Globe and Mail.
The campaign is also bringing back the award-winning IcebergFinder.com, a mobile-optimized site that uses data from NASA and the European Space Agency—as well as users and tour operators—to plot icebergs on a map of the province in real time. The site identifies icebergs by size and shape (blocky, pinnacle, tabular). As of Monday afternoon, there were 309 icebergs drifting past the province’s shores.
The results: IcebergFinder.com generated more than 500,000 map interactions in 2018, with users tracking over 500 icebergs and uploading hundreds of photos. This year, visitor traffic, unique visitors and interactions are all up over the same period last year. IcebergFinder.com was a big winner at the HSMAI /Adrian Awards for hospitality marketing in New York earlier this year.
And we quote: “We target sophisticated and experienced travellers seeking to discover unusual places and experiences as an antidote for the stress and plastic composition of ordinary urban life. I love the tension and contrast between the poetic artistry of the photographs and the tongue-in-cheek humour of the headlines. Life is too short not to embrace fun.” —Noel O’Dea, director of strategic and creative planning, Target.
