Recently tagged tourism

This is one of the newest in the Newfoundland and Labrador tourism ads, with the spotlight on some of the names you won’t find on any other map.

When I saw this ad for Newfoundland and Labrador’s much-acclaimed tourism campaign appear on its YouTube feed, I had assumed it was brand new. I’ve been told it’s a few years old. You can see the rest of the spots here, if you like.

All the same, it got our eye here in the newsroom. This spot is about the whales that can be seen off the province’s coastlines, and the tourists who come to see them.

All well and good … although that whale in the end? Well, while digital touchups and enhancements in the advertising business trickery in advertising are routine business, this one creates a leviathan and then some. This humpback of Notre Dame (Bay) is surely the largest whale the folks in our newsroom have seen.

Meanwhile, for an extra chuckle, don’t forget to look for the name to call at the tourism line. Ishmael and Ahab must have been on another line.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s tourism ads of the last few years have been quite successful, if only in getting people to talk about them.

The campaign, managed by Target Marketing & Communications of St. John’s, has been extended with two new, minute-long spots just hitting the internet. Like the rest, the colours are drenched and the pacing is key.

The first is called Half Hour. The tag line: “When you’re always a half-hour ahead, you never feel the need to catch up.”

The second is also time-related. It’s called 500 Years, and it focuses on history, particularly in St. John’s. The tag line: “A place that’s been captured by the Dutch, the French and the English is no stranger to holding people captive.”

What do you think?