Canada’s Heart is Calling

As Travel Manitoba looked to recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic in 2021, the organization knew its seven-year-old brand, Manitoba, Canada’s Heart…Beats, needed to evolve.

Travel Manitoba engaged Stormy Lake Consulting to assess the brand’s equity, determine how it resonates with customers in our target markets and evaluate the relevance of its mission, vision and promise. The research showed that the current brand was very appealing but not necessarily distinct in its tourism offering. What came to light is that the portrayal of our iconic experiences needed an emotional connection—something that moved our travellers to feel part of the place they are visiting and to carry a piece of that place with them long after they leave.

These findings led Travel Manitoba to engage with a local marketing agency—UpHouse Inc.—to refresh and evolve the brand. On January 9, Canada’s Heart is Calling was announced at a local industry event and to the world through print, digital and social advertising.

The brand harnesses the emotional impact of Manitoba’s most awe-inspiring assets and focuses on our target audiences’ preferred experiences and activities. Through UpHouse’s research, it was clear that the way we reached consumers also needed to evolve, leading us to invest significantly in video to communicate the refreshed brand.

Working with UpHouse’s public relations team, Travel Manitoba embarked on a campaign that garnered over $1,114 million in online and print publicity and reached nearly 150 million people through online and print and an additional 7,500 through radio.

At Travel Manitoba’s brand launch event, over 20 reporters attended the in-person media scrum and joined via online live stream.

Media releases in English and French were distributed to local, national and international media to spread the word about our new slogan and the evolved brand. Through Cision Newswire, we reached a 56.6 million total potential audience and 34 clippings. Overall, the news sentiment was highly positive!

A new merchandise line, website refresh and visual update continues at the Travel Manitoba Visitor Information Centres.

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