By David Brown of The Message
Who: Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, with Target Marketing and Communications for strategy, creative and media.
What: New print creative for the latest iteration of the long-running and very successful “Find Yourself” campaign. There is no new TV creative this year, but there is a TV buy using some of Tourism’s most successful spots going back to 2005, along with digital elements.
When & Where: Print ads are running now as full-page, full-bleed newspaper ads on the back page of travel sections in The Globe and Mail and other major dailies.
Why: The print ads have to be both evocative and complement the other creative, while also doing some additional “heavy lifting,” said Target president Noel O’Dea. “We are trying to change perceptions of ‘It’s expensive to fly to Newfoundland.’”
How: The Target playbook for Newfoundland Tourism since winning the business in 2005 has been about the sheer beauty of the land and the charming unpretentiousness of its people—their creativity, storytelling, music and art.
Target started doing “authenticity” well before the word worked its way into every creative brief out there. This campaign stays true to that strategy, rerunning some of its most effective TV ads while introducing the new print.
“These ads are like visual billboards with unusual but true headlines—there is truth and humanity in the headlines—and they don’t rely on 130 words of copy to try to give you reasons why you should come,” said O’Dea. At the same time the pricing is prominent and relevant for each market to drive bookings.
But isn’t print dying? It’s been very effective for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, said O’Dea. “It’s a highly educated group of travellers that come to Newfoundland, and they index very high against newspapers,” he said. Newspapers also retain the added benefit of being distributed widely by hotels and airlines.
What about digital? Digital elements are already running to help with the price messaging, and the Iceberg Finder—a mobile-optimized site that plots icebergs on a map of the province in real time—will be back. There’s also a new digital component designed for younger travellers rolling out in a few weeks.
Quote: “This is Newfoundland, not Disneyland.”—Target president Noel O’Dea, succinctly capturing the essence of the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism ethos.
