Winter Inside and Out

The City of Kenora is located on the shores of Lake of the Woods and its 14,522 islands in the Northwest corner of Ontario, 50 kilometres from the Manitoba border and 2 hours east of Winnipeg. It is iconic Canada – granite, pines and water. Situated on Treaty 3 territory, the City of Kenora was originally the land base of one collective First Nation community, which was separated into three communities now known as Wauzhushk Onigum Nation, Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation, and Washagamis Bay First Nation. Kenora now sustains many others, all of whom have been welcomed to peacefully share and care for these ancestral Lands and Waters. The City’s location on Lake of the Woods attracts many seasonal residents, doubling the population of the community during the summer months.

The City of Kenora delivered the 2021 Five Year Tourism and Economic Development Strategy, which identifies the objective to enhance four season visitor experiences and the tactic to deliver off-season focused programming which includes the development of a comprehensive Winter City Strategy.

In 2023, the City of Kenora engaged Wake Marketing to deliver the Winter City Strategy. Through engagement of community members, City staff and industry stakeholders, the strategy outlines three key areas – attractions and activities, marketing and promotion and events.

In January 2024, the City of Kenora worked once again with Wake Marketing to implement the strategy and initiate a campaign to showcase winter activities to residents in Manitoba. The purpose of the “Inside and Out” campaign was to profile activities that take place indoors in Kenora like the award winning Lake of the Woods Museum as well as outside opportunities for visitor experiences such as Mount Evergreen Ski Hill. Campaign deliverables included print advertising, social media content as well as collaboration with two influencers – Kimdoes807 (Kenora) and Leroy and Leroy (Winnipeg) – who partnered to develop content that demonstrated the various activities profiled across mediums.

Print collateral was delivered to over 13,000 households in Manitoba to invite them to Kenora over the winter season with a call to action to see www.visitkenora.ca. Social media content targeted to Manitoba profiles accompanied the printed mailouts. The campaign was successful in meeting its objectives. Engagement on social media reached a wide audience across multiple profiles.

Key metrics:
Total print material distribution: 13,333 households
Total Instagram view: Kimdoes807/Leroy and Leroy partnership – 269,400
Total increase in website visits: 36% over previous month

Project delivery timelines needed to be adjusted to account for unprecedented mild temperatures in the winter season and materials were delivered later than originally anticipated. The campaign is sustainable over time as it can be revised in later years under the same tagline to continue to deliver consistent messaging annually.