If imagery reigns supreme in tourism, what if we flipped this convention to market Québec? What if we found a way to showcase the destination without relying on sight alone? These questions led us to invite Danny Kean, an American tourist who’s been blind since birth, to share with us the experience of his first trip to Québec. We envisioned that, without the one sense considered essential for travel, but with four other more acute senses, Danny could make us see Québec in a powerfully original way.

A film crew followed Danny as he discovered Québec from his completely original viewpoint. In the Blind Love video, the campaign’s centrepiece, Danny experiences river rafting, piloting a helicopter, paddling with whales, zip lining, guessing the shape of landscapes and meeting with inspiring locals. Danny lived the best vacation of his life while surrounded by breathtaking panoramas that everyone but him could see.

Implemented from 2016/03/30 to 2016/06/30, Blind Love is a digital, social and content campaign rolled out mainly in France, the United States and Canada.

After mobilizing the Québec tourism industry, we reached out to hundreds of influencers who shared the video organically upstream of media investments. This strategy allowed us to lower the cost of paid views and to position the hero video as content rather than advertising. The qualified audience who viewed the video was also retargeted and directed to partners’ content.

- Contribution to border entry increase: 8.2% from the U.S. and 9.7% from France

- Interest for the destination: +7.993% (USA), +4.287% (France), +520% (Ontario)

- Intentions to visit Québec generated by the campaign: 76% (France), 74% (USA), 49% (Ontario)

- Campaign appreciation: from 60% (Ontario) to 81% (France)

- 2016 top 5% tourism campaigns according to Google

- 15% organic views (including 1 million views before media investments)

- $0.10 per view (75% less than projected)

- +84% campaign reach compared to 2015 market-specific campaigns

- +100% social media mentions of the brand

- Local and international coverage in major media outlets: BBC Travel, Ads of the World, National Post, AdWeek, Huffington Post, MSN, CBC/SRC, The Globe and Mail, La Presse, TVA, Évasion, Stimulant and Little Black Book