The Canadian Tourism Commission is giving international travelers a close-up of Canada with a unique new online ad strategy.

Created by DDB Canada, with media by OMD Vancouver and OMD International, the online display-ad campaign melds Google Maps and Street View with DoubleClick Rich Media technology.

When clicked, the interactive ad zooms into a Canadian city and allows the user to see the location at street level and navigate around while staying within the ad environment. At the ‘end’ of the ad (in which the Street View remains navigable) an overlay appears directing users to the CTC’s geo-targeted Keep Exploring site for more tourism information.

The display ads are part of a multimedia campaign running in Germany, France and the UK, which also includes broadcast, print and QR codes.

‘With the vast majority of people researching their travel online, the objective of these online ads was to give people a real and authentic glimpse of Canada, bringing our city streets directly to interested travellers,’ Ernst Flach, executive director, global marketing, CTC, said in a statement.

‘What makes this execution so effective, is that it utilizes a technology that the target audience already uses to research destinations, but it introduces this technology within a new context to offer inspiration in a whole new way,’ Cosmo Campbell, creative director, DDB Canada, added.