Department of Tourism, Culture & Recreation
The Challenge
Applecore is currently under contract with the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation as the Interactive Agency of Record. This partnership started in 2006 with the development of an extensive internet strategy that aligned with existing tourism database structures and at the same time supported and enhanced the existing brand and advertising already developed by the advertising agency of record. The redeveloped website and internet marketing needed to be structured to strengthen relationships with key audiences and facilitate travel planning to ultimately helping increase tourism activity to and within the province.
The Execution
Strategy development included industry, stakeholder, web and technical research, as well as in-depth analysis of existing technical platforms. The development of a substantial tourism site followed, which incorporated the brand personality and positioning of the provincial advertising plan already in place.
The new site was launched early in 2007. It is rich in information and imagery and also includes a shopping cart-style Travel Bag for trip planning. Ongoing interactive marketing includes quarterly e-newsletters, a social networking page, interactive mapping and search engine marketing.
The Results
The site www.newfoundlandandlabrador.com has received well over 1 million visits since launch. Recent enhancements include an official Facebook page, a Virtual Scrapbook and condensed versions of the site in French, German, Dutch and Japanese. Development is underway on several other large enhancements, including interactive mapping and a travel blog. With an average of 70,000 visitors per month, and an increase in site visitation of over 70% from 2006-2007, newfoundlandandlabrador.com was also awarded the Canadian Tourism Commission's Best Public Sector Website Award in November 2007 and a 2008 IABC Pinnacle Award for electronic communications.
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- newfoundlandlabrador.com
- Category: Web
