Explore Edmonton is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about Edmonton, Alberta and all that Edmonton has to offer.

Their team puts our city on the map, showcasing to the world, the best things to do, the people, the festivals, and the places that make our city unique.

The Challenge

To show the world that there's more to Edmonton than West Edmonton Mall and the Oilers, while breaking the mold of traditional tourism videos and repetitive cliches.

In order to so, however, Edmonton Tourism needed to adopt a change in brand voice and look towards emerging distribution channels beyond traditional ones such as TV, radio and print.

Explore Edmonton’s team and ours recognized this is going to be a long-term brand building effort to raise awareness and engage people. The ultimate result is to drive local economic growth in tourism.

That’s how we se out to produce an online video series highlighting the least-known gems in the city. Everything from food, coffee shops, walkable streets, winter activities, festivals and more.

With this campaign idea we aimed to accomplish objectives such as:

• Establish credibility by having local figures present the audience with something they're knowledgeable and passionate about

• Build long-term brand recognition by providing consistent, frequent and recognizable content over an extended period of time

• Leverage each influencer's network to encourage organic online views and shares

• Focus advertising dollars on online distribution where the majority of the target audience consumes this type of content

The Results

What started as a 6-part series grew into 30+ short videos covering hundreds of attractions across the Edmonton region. The series achieved a massive combined viewership of over $15M+. It ignited thousands of organic shares, likes and comments—and counting.

While it was primarily produced for online distribution, this series has also been distributed province-wide through broadcast, hotels, Edmonton International Airport, Rogers Place, Cineplex theatres and Tims TV.

The series has also been captioned in other languages such as Chinese and Dutch for further distribution in those foreign markets. 

It’s truly become a gift that keeps on giving. As a bonus, the production helped Explore Edmonton amass a huge library of 10K+ high-quality video clips covering hundreds of locations. Explore Edmonton uses this footage weekly to create global awareness of tourist attractions in Edmonton.

The icing on the cake is catching the attention of local and national media for its sense of authenticity and its work to promote Edmonton.

Media Coverage

• Global News
  You Think You Know Edmonton? Video series highlights best the city has to offer

• Much.com
  You Think You Know Edmonton? Check Out Their Winter Lights

Awards

• IABC Capital Awards — 2 prizes awarded for Digital Communication and Social Media Programs.

• IABC Silver Leaf Awards — Award of Merit, Audio Visual

• CAMP Awards — Amongst the top 3 finalists for Video Marketing

• Alto Awards — Winner in the $10-$50K Marketing Excellence category