Ottawa’s bankrolling a $3.5-million pan-northern ad campaign over the next four years.
Clad in her personalized Nunavut hockey jersey, Federal Minister for the North Leona Aglukkaq announced the funding in Whitehorse on Friday.
“What we’re investing here today will result in interest in coming to visit our region,” she said. “It’s about opening the doors to people to see what the North’s about. This is exciting.”
Yukon Senator Dan Lang along with the territory’s Tourism Minister Elaine Taylor were also there for the announcement.
The idea for the three territories to partner for promotion came about five years ago, with the 2007 Canada Winter Games, said Taylor.
And it happened again last year at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The template for this latest ad buy will be 2007’s Look Up North campaign.
In fact, some of the cash will go towards re-mastering and re-airing these old ads.
National television will be the main focus, Taylor said.
Each territory will have individual ads made, and some of the spots will promote all three territories at once.
Previous ad campaigns have been successful, prompting this latest investment.
The government of Nunavut is taking the lead on this campaign (as Yukon did in 2007 and the Northwest Territories did in 2010), but no territory should worry about losing their unique character, said Taylor.
“Research has showed, time and time again, that what is good for Nunavut is good for the Yukon as well,” she said, mentioning that when someone visits one territory they become more likely to return and visit the others.
“It just makes sense with our resources,” she said, noting this federal investment is in addition to existing territorial budgets.
Neither minister provided a detailed breakdown about how the millions would be spent, but “outdoor adventurists” and “cultural explorers” in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary will be targeted, specifically.
National commercials are expected to start airing in March.
Contact Roxanne Stasyszyn at roxannes@yukon-news.com