Aligning a brand with an experience

Challenge

Tourism Tofino needed to drive visitation numbers. They asked us to conduct a deep dive analysis into their brand, conducting a strategic analysis and interviewing visitors, hospitality industry business owners, community leaders and other stakeholders. Our work led us to an important finding: in its current expression, the existing brand wasn’t telling the story of Tofino in the way its visitors actually experienced it.

Approach

From the start, our goal was to re-focus the brand on the essence of Tofino: the sense of “oneness” or connection visitors experienced with the sea, sky and land. Visually, we added space and airiness to the brand, expanding the colour palette and simplifying the typography with intentional nuances like a thinner font weight, the use of lower case and organically justified headlines so that it echoed the openness of Tofino’s natural spaces and seamlessly integrated with scenic photography. We also paired this elevated visual identity with a new immersive brand voice that better reflected the almost spiritual way that visitors felt about the destination.

Results

The co-ordinated brand was rolled out across all channels and touchpoints in the consumer journey from Tourism Tofino’s stationery to social channels. From the start, reception to the new brand was overwhelmingly positive, with visitors and would-be-visitors engaging with the brand in increasing numbers. Since the brand was re-introduced, visitations have gone up steadily and Tofino has protected its reputation as one of Canada’s premiere destinations to reconnect, revitalize and reconsider.