Explore the Bruce Plan Ahead Campaign Video
The Plan Ahead campaign was designed to encourage visitors to Bruce County to plan and book their trips in advance, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable travel experience. By promoting early planning, the campaign aimed to reduce congestion and vehicle turnarounds at popular sites that require reservations, such as the Grotto Bruce Peninsula National Park and Lion’s Head Lookout. The goal of the campaign was to drive traffic to the dedicated Plan Your Visit landing page, to connect visitors with trip planning resources like maps, reservation booking pages and blog posts that feature things to do and attractions, to assist in their trip planning process.
Key performance indicators of this campaign included website traffic to the landing page, engagement metrics on social media platforms, and a reduction in vehicles being turned away at reservation-only locations. While the dedicated social media ad campaign ran from March 5 – May 14, 2025, the plan ahead messaging will continue throughout the summer. Metrics from the ad campaign indicate strong engagement with 5,228 ad link clicks, 300, 979 ad views and 9,133 landing page views.
Addressing the gap between visitor awareness and the need to book reservations, particularly for high-demand destinations like the Grotto in Bruce Peninsula National Park, has been a key challenge. Despite outreach, many still arrive without booking and are turned away, leading to disappointment and traffic congestion. In response, the Plan Your Visit campaign emphasized reserving not only attractions, but also accommodations, rentals, and activities. Progress has been made, but continued messaging is still needed.
The campaign targeted five distinct audience groups:
- Nature Lovers: Couples aged 35–54 with children seeking outdoor adventures and family activities.
- Memory Makers: Couples aged 35–50 with kids prioritizing experiences that create lasting family memories.
- Mellow Vacationers: Working couples aged 55+ looking for relaxing, rejuvenating getaways.
- Knowledge Seekers: Women aged 55+ with grown children, valuing educational and cultural travel experiences.
- New Canadians: Couples aged 25–34 with kids exploring and connecting with their new community.
Geographically, the focus was on residents of Bruce County’s surrounding regions, including Huron, Perth, Grey, Simcoe, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, London, Sarnia, the GTA, and Southwestern Ontario.
A key component of the Plan Ahead campaign was to create targeted videos encouraging visitors to plan and book ahead, especially popular spots like the Grotto and Lion’s Head Lookout. The tagline “Plan Ahead. Explore More.” highlighted benefits like securing accommodations, avoiding disappointment, and reducing stress for visitors and tourism operators. Shared across digital platforms, the videos also promoted sustainability by balancing visitor flow and protecting natural attractions from overcrowding.
Sustainability was central to educating visitors on the need to plan trips to Bruce County in advance. With the growing popularity of key natural attractions like the Grotto in Bruce Peninsula National Park and Lion’s Head Lookout, reservation systems are in place to protect these sensitive environments from overcrowding and overuse.
The campaign addressed this by clearly communicating the need to book reservations for high-demand locations and secure accommodation ahead of arrival, especially during peak travel periods. Through targeted messaging on the campaign landing page and across social media, the initiative emphasized thoughtful planning to reduce environmental impact, protect natural spaces, and ensure a smooth, enjoyable visitor experience.
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
Plan Your Visit – Explore The Bruce | Bruce County
