The Locals Know campaign was designed to incentivize Canadians to travel within their own country. When Canadians think of travel, their minds usually turn to the US, or other foreign destinations. Everything they know about their own country seems boring and predictable. We planned to change that.

Seven weeks in, Locals Know blasted past campaign targets and made an incredible impact on the Canadian tourism industry. LocalsKnow.ca attracted over 715,454 visitors, generated over 3.4 million page views and 5,134 pieces of unique user-generated content. The online campaign outperformed industry averages in English Canada, over-indexing by 57%, and 166% in French Canada. Before the campaign even reached the halfway mark, Forbes.com named Locals Know one of the ‘Top 10 Travel Campaigns of All Time’, alongside such iconic campaigns as Australia’s Paul Hogan, Tourism Las Vegas’ 'Whatever happens here, stays here' and the decades long 'Virginia is for lovers'.In the words of Gisèle Danis, Executive Director, CTC Domestic Program: “We have benefited enormously from the shared effort that has resulted in the CTC’s strongest-ever marketing campaign.”

The campaign was launched simultaneously with print ads in major publications across the country, banner ads online and 15 second television ads. These all drove to LocalsKnow.ca, where users could upload images and videos, share stories and do research on great unknown Canadian travel experiences, given from a locals perspective.