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August 2007 - Strategy Magazine
Creative

Newfoundland and labrador rub gridlock, smog in Toronto's face

by Annette Bourdeau
page 42

Tired of gridlock and smog? Newfoundland doesn't have either. Jealous?

The latest campaign from St. John's-based Newfoundland and LabradorTourism, by agency Target, also of St. John's, taunts Toronto commuters with a superboard on the city's busy Gardiner Expressway depicting a clothesline blowing freely in the clear, crisp air against a blue-sky backdrop. The headline reads: "No. I'd rather sit in traffic."

"After kicking around a bunch of ideas (some, like a mechanical whale in Lake Ontario, not so practical), we thought about bringing a piece of our landscape to Toronto in the way of a clothesline," explains Tom Murphy, CD at Target. "The clothesline idea represents freedom, expression and creativity."

The target audience is sophisticated travellers looking for destinations off the beaten path. The campaign also includes newspaper ads and a unique radio effort, with Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism sponsoring daily air quality alerts in the Toronto area, bragging about the province's smog-free status.

"The [smog alert tags] idea was born out of a group of agency people who travel back and forth to Toronto for work. On one of those trips in the dead of summer, someone came back and was almost shocked getting off the plane at how clear and clean and fresh the air really is out here," says Murphy.

The campaign is taunting Torontonians throughout the summer, and wrapping up in August.

client: Carmela Murphy, director of tourism; Andrea Peddle, manager of

advertising & communications;

Brett Thornhill, advertising officer,

Department of Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, Culture & Recreation

agency: Target

CD: Tom Murphy

copywriters: Jenny Smith, Terri Roberts, Jim Francis

AD: James Jung

photographer: Alex Spraetz

production manager: Maggie Keiley

account director: Catherine Kelly

account manager: Danny Smith

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