When Your Heart Needs Travel 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.

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.

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

In order to evoke the emotions we want travellers to feel when they visit Manitoba, UpHouse developed a new heart-messaging framework for all Travel Manitoba’s advertising and marketing. The framework ties the new tagline together with a strong emphasis on how we feel when we travel. For each “heart word”, a brand video was developed (race, sing, quiet, and reflect) to support the overall new promise of Travel Manitoba’s brand video.

The Canada’s Heart is Calling video series brings our refreshed brand to life by showcasing the culture, experiences and reasons to visit Manitoba.

On January 9, this new brand was announced at a local industry event and to the world through print, digital and social advertising.

The videos were aired as part of a Brand Refresh Campaign that utilized both paid and organic media channels. Paid advertising helped us push the video as traditional TV commercials, digital connected TV/OTT and movie theatres in Manitoba aimed at residents aged 25 to 64. Specific channels targeted included Rogers Sports Media, Bell Media, CBC, Global, CTV and City TV. The videos played in theatres in Winnipeg (Manitoba’s capital) and major rural centres in Brandon and Winkler.