Travel advertising has a familiar recipe: sweeping landscapes, happy travellers and a voiceover explaining why you absolutely need to visit. Expedia’s latest Canadian campaign takes a more playful route, letting the destinations reveal themselves through a guessing game.
Created with Voyager and Destination Canada, the latest chapter of See Yourself in Canada features four films exploring New Brunswick, Kelowna in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. A fourth film highlights Canada more broadly.
A Holiday With a Question Mark
Each film follows two women travelling through one of the featured destinations. As they explore, they play a simple guessing game based on what they see around them.
The clues come naturally from the journey. Vineyards, mountains, lakes, coastlines and local landmarks gradually reveal where the women are. The format gives the films a sense of discovery while allowing the destinations to remain the stars.
That approach also fits the wider See Yourself in Canada platform. Rather than presenting Canada as a checklist of attractions, the campaign focuses on character-driven stories and the experiences that make each destination distinctive.
Canada, Naturally
Voyager director Charles Frank describes the experience as both a filmmaking opportunity and a chance to experience the destinations as a tourist. He says the finished films capture the mood on set: “awestruck, silly and connected.”
The campaign takes a broader collaborative approach, too. Destination Canada worked with provincial tourism partners to create four videos that showcase the diversity of Canadian experiences. The initiative brings those stories together under the Canada, naturally. strategy while moving beyond a traditional media model toward a more integrated, commerce-driven approach.
Running from June through September, the campaign targets engaged travellers in the US and UK. Its creative strategy is refreshingly simple: instead of telling people what they should see, let them discover it.
The best destinations don’t need to shout. They just need better clues. — Julian Vega
