Destination Ontario
Ontario+
Challenge: On average, Canadians spend around 520 hours (or 21 days) on streaming services every year. Meanwhile, Ontario tourism still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic.
Insight: Many places around Ontario are featured in the very programs that people are streaming.
Idea: Ontario+, an IRL easter egg hunt involving the dozens of locations that’ve shown up in major Hollywood productions.
In partnership with Google, Discover Ontario has uploaded dozens of Ontario locations featured in Hollywood productions directly into Google Maps.
Just like regular landmarks, these locations will be displayed when scrolling the app, but users can also toggle several features to get the full Ontario+ experience. When receiving directions to a location that has a point of interest nearby, users will be prompted for a detour to see it firsthand.
Ontario+ is also curating special ‘on-foot’ playlists in larger cities like Toronto and Ottawa, where users can follow a single route to see multiple featured destinations in short succession.
Ontario X Google Maps
At some of the province’s most notable locations, Discover Ontario has placed QR codes available to scan.
Once scanned, users will be taken to a page which provides more details on the Movie or TV show that was filmed there, as well as an Augmented Reality Rendering of the location as it appeared in the final production, allowing users to experience that TV Show or movie in a multi-dimensional fashion.
Scanable QR Codes
Many Ontario travellers, seasoned by years on the 401, turn off directions once they get on the highway. Moreover, if they make any detours at all, they’re usually at one place — On Routes.
To catch the eye of people who otherwise wouldn’t be using maps, Destination Ontario is leaving physical pamphlets available at all On Route locations. These pamphlets provide a full map of the Ontario+ location list, with special emphasis on areas along the highway, to encourage detours in smaller locales.
En Route
As the saying goes, Ontario is yours to discover, and we want to reward the individuals that discover the most through Ontario+.
Users who scan a certain number of QR codes will be automatically eligible for an Ontario Provincial Parks pass, so the free streaming can continue — albeit, with real streams this time.
