Regina Place Brand Campaign

1. Purpose

Following the failed Tourism Regina rebrand (Experience Regina) and its sexist marketing slogans, Regina experienced negative sentiment in the news media. Aspects of the rebrand gained global attention and left residents questioning the judgement of the tourism organization and brand development process. Many Regina residents were embarrassed to call Regina home.

Regina’s Place Brand narrative and visual platform softly launched in June 2022 via a media event (8 months prior to the Tourism Regina rebrand) and is the foundation of Economic Development Regina’s (EDR’s) promotional strategy for the city to attract business investment and workforce talent into the area. Many city residents were unaware of this place branding work led by EDR – which is rooted in stakeholder engagement and reflective of the community’s values – and were publicly calling for the development of a new community place brand.

Given the current state of affairs – both the negative city reputation and lack of awareness of EDR’s place brand – EDR identified an opportunity to activate a multi-faceted brand campaign within the city limits to equip Regina residents with the place brand narrative and instill a sense of pride to live and work in the city.

2. Effectiveness

The brand campaign included a mix of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, digital ads (within city limits), website (homegrownregina.com), organic social media posts and stakeholder communications, and was supplemented by place brand visuals installed at Regina’s airport. It launched June 5, 2023 and ran for 4 weeks.

Key marketing metrics included:

• 6,768,587 OOH impressions (4 weeks)
• 2,876,965 digital ad impressions, 392 clicks (3 weeks)
• 427% increase in traffic to our Homegrown Regina website (homegrownregina.com) during the campaign period
  • 8 organic social media posts (Facebook and LinkedIn) generated a total engagement of 518 (likes, shares, comments, clicks)
  • 161 new followers gained on LinkedIn during the campaign timeframe, and 29% increase in link clicks

3. Challenges 

Given the low awareness of the existing Place Brand, EDR anticipated questions arising from city residents and the news media regarding a competing place brand in market (and why the tourism organization did not leverage the original Place Brand).

To prepare, EDR developed a set of key messages for use by stakeholders, briefed its board members, partners and stakeholders on the campaign, and monitored news channels and social media.

4. Target Audience 

The campaign targeted Regina residents, equipping them with the brand pillars through a series of messages. The audience included working professionals, small business owners (entrepreneurs), skilled trades, families, post-secondary students, faculty and staff, Indigenous peoples and immigrants (new Canadians).

6. Details

Regina’s Place Brand was created to provide a homegrown, authentic, and consistent narrative for the city – one that speaks to who the people are and what makes the city special. The Place Brand promise is not a tagline. It’s the essence of Regina’s positioning and story – Regina is a place where businesses and people, locally and nationwide, are finding ingenious ways to grow sustainable futures.