A once-in-every-700-years kind of campaign
On April 8, 2024, Kingston experienced a total solar eclipse. Something the city hadn’t experienced for nearly 700 years.
The celestial event captured attention near and far, beginning at 2:09 pm and ending at 4:34 pm. Complete coverage only lasted three minutes between 3:22–3:25 pm. How did Tourism Kingston make the most out of being in the path of totality?
By activating local businesses and partners, turning a once-in-lifetime event into something beyond a few hours the day of. By hosting events, information sessions, and entertainment leading up to and during the eclipse. And by working with Alphabet® to develop a campaign to attract travellers, educate them about programming, and stimulate longer visits.
Client
Tourism Kingston
Sector
Tourism
Services
copywriting
Creative Execution
creative strategy
graphic design
media strategy
Web Design + Development
From getting more heads in beds and extending stays to attracting an audience interested in more than astral events. From bold branding and compelling creative, including digital ads and a custom landing page, to a meticulous media strategy. Here’s how we helped Tourism Kingston launch a campaign visitors will be talking about for another 700 years.
Creative strategy:
The colourful city
Tourism Kingston asked for a unique look and feel for the campaign. They wanted something different from other destinations in the path of totality. Something exciting and reflective of the event’s irregularity.
For the creative concept, we drew on Kingston’s essence as a youthful, vibrant city. Then harnessed the opposite of what most expect from a solar eclipse—an explosion of colour versus the contrast of light and dark. Finally, we leaned into our Digital Age, adding a tech twist to the design, like a glitch in the simulation.
The branding needed to be easy to execute. For Tourism Kingston, their partners, and local businesses. It needed to be flexible, adaptable to digital assets, merch, and signage.
So we eclipsed the “o” in the Kingston wordmark and created a simple yet striking motif. It was easy for Tourism Kingston to swap the wordmark in existing assets, and a motif toolkit for the organization and its partners allowed for efficient execution.
Media strategy: aligning the sun and moon
Kingston wasn’t the only destination in the path of totality. But Toronto, Ottawa, and places along the 401 corridor weren’t. The media strategy targeted these markets, informing the primary audience of the solar eclipse and the festivities hosted in Kingston.
We focused on digital media to maximize reach. This also provided creative flexibility to the landing page and in-market ads. Following the campaign launch, programming, accommodations, and partner events continued to be updated—creative assets needed to quickly follow suit.
The campaign was aimed at two audiences:
- Potential visitors (primary), including those interested in astronomy and Kingston’s general target market. Messaging informed travellers that Kingston was in the path of totality and the city was hosting events leading up to and during the eclipse. It also encouraged potential visitors to book accommodations in advance.
- Kingston residents (secondary). Messaging focused on viewing areas around the city, all the events taking place, and the solar swag available. It was about taking pride in living in the destination and taking part in this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Finally, we recommended a funnelled approach to the user journey. Digital ads and emails directed traffic to the solar eclipse landing page. Once there, the audience could learn about prime viewing areas in the city, events and programming, accommodations, and unique merchandise.