Nova Scotia Tourism is taking to the streets of Toronto to promote its differences with OOH ads placed beside other billboards and landmarks.

With media from Margot Walsh Media and creative from Extreme Group, this year’s spots are the second around the “Take yourself There” tagline and Denis Aucoin, account director at the creative shop, says it worked with vendors to get placement like the one beside the billboard for Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada alongside the Gardiner in Toronto.

The billboard beside the aquarium’s spot says “Our aquarium is 7,600 km long,” with another spot that says “We heard you have an aquarium. That’s nice.” accompanied by a photo of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shelley MacKenzie, senior media strategist, Margot Walsh Media, says another example of the cheeky humour in the campaign is a billboard by the CN Tower featuring a family standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean with the copy “We heard you have an observation deck. That’s nice.”

Aucoin says the marriage between media placement and creative was prevalent this year, with the brand going for more billboard OOH spots with a smaller emphasis on indoor walkway faces.

“We are inviting people to go see the natural habitat rather than the aquarium,” he says. “The tongue-in-cheek approach isn’t always used, but it is about marrying the platform with the message.

The campaign is aimed at 35- to 64-year-old residents of the GTA, who are the most likely to visit Nova Scotia. After the first year of the campaign Nova Scotia Tourism saw a visitor lift of 3% from the province, with web and mobile visits from Ontario and Quebec residents up 39% during the campaign.