Ontario Tourism’s Regional Tourism Organization Four (RTO4) has rolled out a multi-platform campaign targeting Ontarians based on their weekend interests.

The campaign promotes the provincial tourism brand’s new web properties Ilikeoutdoorsing.ca, Iliketheatreing.ca, Ilikemtnbikeing.ca, and Ilikebeaching.ca.

The idea behind the advertising and websites is to interest consumers in travelling to areas such as Huron, Kitchener and Waterloo by providing an array of weekend ideas targeted to specific interest subcultures within Ontario, Andrew Shortt, founding partner and CCO, Huxley Quayle von Bismark (the agency that handled both media and creative for the campaign), tells MiC.

“The whole notion of the campaign was to get away from destination-based tourism marketing. What we decided to do is go after people’s passions and interests,” he says, adding that another four or five sites will launch in the coming weeks.

The TV creative showcases imagery of people enjoying weekend activities such as mountain biking or going to the theatre with copy that reads, “ilike hitting the trail as hard as it hits me” for the former and “ilike it when my heart stops for a second or two” for the latter.  The idea is to remind people that “great experiences and great weekends are just outside of Toronto, much closer than people think,” Shortt explains.

The campaign includes TV commercials airing on Global, as well as print ads in the National Post, online placements on Canada.com and radio spots on CBS radio. Out-of-home billboards and wild postings have also been placed throughout downtown Toronto.

Shortt says that the outdoor ads are in areas where consumers who enjoy relating activities are likely to be found. For example, Iliketheatreing.ca creative aimed at theatre-goers are dotted across Toronto’s entertainment sector.

“We’re not trying to get people to a place; we’re addressing them based on things to do. When people plan their weekends, they don’t say ‘where are we going to go?’ they say, ‘what are we going to do this weekend?’ We approached it in a totally different manner than most tourism marketers,” he adds.