Last week Tourism Saskatchewan launched a new campaign that embraces who we are in Saskatchewan, and what we offer for vacationers.
Traditional tourism campaigns rely on traditional sales techniques to convince the viewer to vacation here. A jingle. Beautiful places & events that bring smiles. A list of the usual attributes, often at a youthful, energetic pace. These days this has a name:
Conformity.
But vacation experiences aren’t transactions stored in the ‘logical’ left brain. They are emotional experiences, stored in the right brain, where the imagination dwells, and where, perhaps ironically, purchase decisions are made.
A vacation is not merely a space whose list of attributes are ballyhooed and shortcomings mitigated, like a car or a hamburger. It’s an emotional experience, unique and personal.
But it’s only as special as the idea we attach to it.
New visitors will not be courted by ‘arguing’ against preconceived, negative perceptions. It woos them by identifying its symbols (vast flatlands, seas of wheat and enormous skies), and imbuing them with powerful, positive, resonant ideas.
How powerful? Our friends ‘judge’ our vacations. The ideas we attach to flatlands, big skies, small towns and wheat fields must be big enough, imaginative enough, to turn “We vacationed in Saskatchewan” from a confession to a boast.
Over the past year we’ve worked with the marketing team at Tourism Saskatchewan and looked deeply into what is unique about a Saskatchewan vacation. Following perception research we held focus groups across Saskatchewan and Alberta, hearing from people who have vacationed here and people who have not vacationed here.
These first two spots introduce the idea, It’s the biggest places that bring us closer together by exploring some pillars of the Saskatchewan Tourism brand; community, land & sky and, time and space.
Posted by David Bellerive. David is Vice President of Creative and Interactive for the Phoenix Group.
