To help bring people up to the Northern Ontario we decided to bring a little bit of Northern Ontario down to them. By wrapping the ceilings of transit shelters with beautiful skyward views of Northern Ontario’s ancient red pine forests, we helped those in grey, urban areas imagine how peaceful it would feel to walk among such a pristine wilderness. Then to further heighten the realism and make the experience complete, we placed hundreds of pinecones and pine needles on the floor of each of the shelters. We then placed traditional posters on each side of the transit shelter that featured a QR code that instantly directed our target to our branded Facebook page. This branded page allowed individuals to learn more about this beautiful region, see photo albums, an events calendar and, of course, it would link people directly to sites where they could book a vacation.

This initiative did exactly what we hoped it would. Busy urban commuters were caught off guard when they entered the shelters and were forced to take a moment and notice our communication. Traffic to our Facebook page through direct QR link and more importantly, through word-of-mouth, increased exponentially. Our initial community of only a few hundred fans grew to over 6,000 advocates. And as a further signal of its success, our client has asked that nearly half of our 2012 Northern Ontario marketing budget be set aside for more non-traditional initiatives like this one.