Subject: TRAVEL

Tourism commercials invite Canadians to Come to My Yukon

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 1, 2016) - The Government of Yukon today unveiled four new summer commercials to promote the territory as a year-round destination for Canadian travellers. The commercials showcase Yukon's rich First Nations culture, iconic drives, wilderness, heritage and Klondike Gold Rush.

"The commercials are an open invitation to Canadians to Come to My Yukon. Yukon is more accessible and affordable than ever with direct flights from Ottawa to Whitehorse on Air North, Yukon's Airline," Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor said. "With its diverse culture and natural beauty, Yukon offers Larger Than Life visitor experiences."

Several local actors and performers are featured in the commercials, including the award-winning Dakhka Khwaan Dancers, a traditional Inland Tlingit dance group based in Whitehorse. The Dakhka Khwaan Dancers joined Taylor, Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski, cabinet ministers, government officials and business leaders to help unveil the commercials during Yukon Days.

"We are happy to be in Ottawa for Winterlude and Yukon Days to share our indigenous culture with Canada and the world," Dakhka Khwaan dance group leader Marilyn Jensen said. "We strongly feel that it is our responsibility to bring forward our identity in an authentic and positive way which also gives us opportunity to do what we love most, dance and sing!"

Yukon Days, an opportunity to share the territory's rich culture with visitors to the capital's annual Winterlude festival, takes place January 29 to February 3 in Ottawa.

Two winter commercials have aired across Canada since October. Starting next month, four summer commercials will air nationally on 12 conventional channels, including CTV, Global and CBC as well as on 13 specialty channels, including BBC Canada, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Canada.

The television commercials are funded through the Yukon Now tourism marketing program, a partnership between the Yukon government and the Government of Canada (Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency - CanNor). The $3.6 million Yukon Now campaign is the single largest tourism marketing initiative in Yukon's history.

Learn more:

Yukon tourism: www.travelyukon.com and www.youtube.com/travelyukon

Backgrounder

Yukon NOW: Yukon government tourism marketing program

Overview:

--  Tourism is a strategic industry in Yukon and is a critical component of
    a strong and diverse economy. These television commercials are just one
    of the tourism marketing initiatives that will help maximize
    opportunities for increased visitation and tourism revenues for Yukon
    businesses. 
--  Yukon Now is a joint Yukon-Canada investment of $3.6 million over two
    years to increase marketing efforts and draw more visitors to Yukon from
    Canada and around the world. 
--  Yukon's largest ever new investment in tourism marketing was launched in
    response to a request from the Tourism Industry Association of the Yukon
    and the Yukon Chamber of Commerce to boost the awareness of Yukon as a
    travel destination. The campaign strategy and elements were supported by
    those two groups. 
--  The program also incorporates information from public meetings held in
    several Yukon communities and from discussions with key industry
    stakeholders. 
    --  The largest share of the Yukon Now investment (86 per cent) has been
        directed to the domestic market, which experienced significant
        growth in recent years and continues to show potential for growth. 
    --  Yukon Now integrates the television commercials with other marketing
        platforms such as online and social media, including digital
        storytelling and user-generated content. The Yukon Now marketing
        program has been fully integrated into the existing domestic
        marketing campaign, Destination Yukon, and features the following
        key initiatives: 

Television Commercials

--  The Department of Tourism and Culture produced six locally filmed
    television commercials - two winter-based and four summer-based. 
--  The commercials were created with the objective of raising awareness of
    Yukon as a travel destination for Canadians, with a desired long-term
    outcome to increase visitation from this market. 
--  The cost to produce all six commercials was $1,045,000. Over 75 per cent
    of the production budget was spent in Yukon. 
--  The first winter commercial aired in February 2015. Both winter
    commercials will air during the Destination Yukon 2015/16 domestic
    winter consumer campaign in October 2015 and January 2016.  
--  The four summer commercials will air in March 2016 as part of the
    2015/16 Destination Yukon summer marketing campaigns. 
--  165 Yukoners were involved in the creation of the Yukon Now commercials,
    from the creation to the filming and editing phases, including cast,
    extras, crew, voice-overs and photographers. 

Digital Storytelling

--  The Yukon Digital Storytelling project was coordinated with the Screen
    Production Yukon Association. 
--  In the first year, local teams participated in a contest to produce a
    three part "webisode" series to showcase Yukon-themed stories.  
--  For the second year of the digital storytelling project, five local
    producers are creating six video projects. All videos will be integrated
    into the Destination Yukon marketing campaign. 
--  The project has generated a first-of-its-kind partnership with a
    national television broadcaster. Video stories from the project will be
    aired over 700 times on specialty networks in Canada during a three-
    month period starting on December 21. The video episodes will be
    broadcast on the Travel and Escape, Cottage Life, RadX, Aux, and Love
    Nature networks. 

User-generated Content

--  The user-generated content project calls on Yukoners and visitors to
    share their Yukon by submitting favourite photos, videos or stories
    about their Yukon experience. 
--  In September, 2015, the Yukon Generated Content Project (composed of
    user-generated content and digital storytelling projects) won
    Destination Canada's 2015 Explore Canada Award of Excellence for the
    most innovative PR campaign.

Contact Information:
Elaine Schiman
Cabinet Communications
867-633-7961
[email protected]


Heather LeDuc
Communications, Tourism and Culture
867-667-8066
[email protected]


Ann Viau
Principal
Ouellet & Viau Communications
613-851-1656
[email protected]


News published on 1 february 2016 at 16:03 and distributed by: