Destination Canada embraces unique ways of pushing new brand ambition with a first‑of‑its kind partnership with TED
VANCOUVER, BC - February 23, 2023: Destination Canada, the national tourism organization, introduced its new global brand strategy to put Canada on the map as the destination that inspires openness. This new brand strategy will be unveiled through a series of traditional and unconventional marketing initiatives that aims to increase Canada’s competitiveness as a destination and drive international high value guests to visit Canada.
The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced bold choices and new ways of marketing the destination. Canadians represented 8 out of 10 tourism dollars spent last year, a formidable contribution to the recovery. With these domestic travellers set to exodus this Spring for international travel, Canada needs to fill the gap and bring back international travellers, especially from the US, Canada’s largest inbound market and biggest opportunity for revenue recovery.
“Our valued guests want more than a travel experience - they want a space for growth, enrichment and true transformation," says Gloria Loree, Destination Canada’s Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy & Chief Marketing Officer. “In a world that makes us feel trapped, Canada’s unique blend of openness helps us break free. It’s Canada’s open spaces, open hearts and open minds, that offer the space that travellers crave and will help us as a nation brand stand out in the fiercely competitive travel marketplace.”
This bold brand ambition is pushing Destination Canada to embrace unique ways of engaging a global audience. Through a first-of-its kind partnership with TED, Destination Canada is creating a global conversation about openness. Through masterful storytelling by remarkable Canadians, they are encouraging new conversations about the destination, and pushing people to rethink what they already know about Canada. These TED Talks were filmed today in New York City and will be published on TED.com starting in the Spring. Destination Canada will share with its key leisure markets, as well its Business Events markets.
"TED's mission of Ideas Worth Spreading is perfectly aligned with Destination Canada's theme of Openness - we are thrilled to offer the TED stage as a place for extraordinary Canadians to share their ideas with the world,” says Lindsay Levin, Head of Partnerships + Impact, TED.
“From breathtaking outdoor landscapes to authentic Indigenous experiences to incredible urban and culinary journeys, Canada’s openness and inclusiveness make possible the memorable experiences that people carry with them for the rest of their lives,” says the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance. “There’s no doubt Canada is the place to visit, any time of the year, and we welcome you with open arms!"
Destination Canada unveiled its new brand positioning with a campaign that invited Americans to take a new kind of leave - a Maple Leave and escape for a stress-free vacation to Canada. Destination Canada also launched its Open If You Are campaign in the US which challenges certain myths and misconceptions that are stopping guests from thinking about Canada as a long-haul travel destination and aims to inspire, surprise and immerse travellers in Canada’s experiences, as well as its unique blend of openness.
Additional brand campaigns will be launched throughout 2023 as Destination Canada finds new ways to invite guests to experience Canada’s open spaces, open hearts, and open minds.
Notes to Editor
Maple Leave
- On January 17, also known as “Blue Monday,” Destination Canada launched its Maple Leave campaign inviting Americans to take a new type of leave and visit Canada for a stress free vacation.
- The campaign launched with a new 60 Hero Spot and microsite aptly titled: www.MapleLeave.com to help Americans combat “the saddest day of the year.”
- Creative execution included a series of spots airing across broadcast, digital and social, running for four weeks.
- Campaign assets are available here.
Open If You Are
- On February 20, Destination Canada launched its Open If You Are campaign, which challenges certain myths and misconceptions that are stopping guests from thinking about Canada as a long-haul travel destination and aims to inspire travellers to surprise themselves and get hooked on Canada’s experiences, as well as its unique blend of openness.
- The first part of the campaign will run till April 30
- Campaign assets are available here.
Canada’s Tourism Sector by the Numbers
- One in 10 Canadian jobs is tied to tourism (9.8%).
- Small and medium-sized enterprises make up 99 per cent of businesses in Canada’s tourism sector, significantly contributing to Canadian livelihoods.
- In 2019, Tourism directly contributed to more jobs (696,000 direct jobs) across Canada than jobs directly generated by agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas industries combined (620,140 direct jobs).
- Tourism also added $45.2 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2019, a contribution that was on par with the GDP from agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting combined.
To book interviews or for more information, please contact:
Jennifer Peters or Anita Berthier mediarelations@DestinationCanada.com
About Destination Canada
At Destination Canada, we believe that tourism enhances the wealth and wellbeing of Canadians and enriches the lives of visitors. Our mission is to influence supply and build demand for the benefit of locals, communities and visitors through leading research, alignment with public and private sectors, and marketing Canada nationally and abroad.
Knowing that diversity is our greatest asset, we promote Canada as a premier four-season leisure and business tourism destination around the country and world in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, our Business Events team leverage in-depth global market analysis to target international clusters aligned with Canada's priority economic sectors.
Destination Canada is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of TED Talks are published to TED Talks Daily, available on all podcast platforms.
TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which licenses thousands of individuals and groups to host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; The Audacious Project, which surfaces and funds critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives; TED Translators, which crowdsources the subtitling of TED Talks so that big ideas can spread across languages and borders; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also offers TED@Work, a program that reimagines TED Talks for workplace learning. TED also has a growing library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Steven Johnson, WorkLife with Adam Grant, Am I Normal? with Mona Chalabi and How to Be a Better Human.
Follow TED on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
