Discovering Ontario report - Ministry of Tourism

16. Redesign Marketing Role
Recast Ontario’s approach to tourism marketing so that one agency becomes
the provincial marketing lead for promoting the provincial tourism brand in
partnership with the new tourism regions.
“There is a need for better coordination of marketing efforts among government and industry
marketing organizations. A single Ontario promotional theme through all the various tourism
organizations…will achieve a healthier penetration when targeting markets.”
Context
Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association
Written submission
To stay competitive in the tourism market, Ontario must become top-of-mind to the potential consumer
through increased marketing efforts of a consistent brand.
While we recognize the need for a strong parent brand for Ontario, the truth is that the province is huge
and diverse and people come here to do a wide variety of things across all our regions. We need to
recognize that and identify and market those things that interest the consumer, in a way that meets his or
her needs.
In leading jurisdictions, provincial and national tourism marketing organizations set the ’parent’ marketing
brand. The parent brand needs to be strong and consistently communicated to create recognition and
knowledge in the consumer (potential visitor). Regions then tailor their marketing to highlight their
unique identity. In Ontario, the model makes sense. Regional marketing should align with other provincial
branding, but also reflect the uniqueness of local product offerings.
British Columbia and New South Wales, Australia have established clear two-tier marketing roles for the
province/state and regions. Tourism BC does not play a direct role in regional marketing initiatives. Instead,
it supports DMOs by providing funds and marketing tools that help to ensure a consistently branded
message.
“[There]...is significant overlap in marketing roles: the provincial marketing agency promotes Ontario
domestically and internationally, and regions and cities promote themselves to both markets. The
provincial marketing agency, regions, and cities are not communicating and coordinating, and as a result,
there is inconsistent branding of Ontario.” Ontario Tourism Industry Structure Assessment Research Study.
60 discover ing o n t a r i o — a re p o r t o n t h e f u t u r e o f t o u r i s m