Representing Ontario fairly means showing all of it, not just the destinations people already have on their list.
"We want to inspire travel across all regions, not just the well-known destinations, which means we need a high volume of high-quality, relevant content."
For a long time, photos filled that gap well enough. Video, however, was a different story.
As short-form video became increasingly central to growth and engagement on social media, the team found themselves needing something they couldn't easily produce on their own.
"While we had access to a huge range of photo content, developing video content was a challenge, particularly as this became more important to growth and engagement on key social channels."
Though, what it turned into was bigger than expected.
"What started as a way to fill content gaps quickly evolved into a more strategic part of our content ecosystem."
As the program matured, briefs got sharper, creator relationships deepened, and shoots aligned more intentionally with campaign goals. The more they ran it, the more efficient it got.
Along the way, they stumbled onto something they hadn't necessarily expected. As the Creators program grew, regional partners across Northern Ontario started asking if they could tap in.
Destination Ontario opened access through partner licensing, and the ripple effect was immediate: local experts began shaping shoots in corners of the province the central team barely knew, surfacing some of the lesser-known experiences in the process. Those partners could edit and post the content for their own channels, while Destination Ontario kept full access to every asset.
In two years, the team completed 126 creator shoots and edited the footage into over 200 short-form videos shared across Destination Ontario's channels. A holiday campaign built around creator content from the Toronto Santa Claus parade doubled their YouTube subscriber base on its own.
"Creators helped bring a fresh, authentic perspective that resonated strongly on social platforms and helped drive engagement."
What began as a fix for a bandwidth problem grew into the connective tissue of a content strategy that now reaches across an entire province.
Hop on a 30-minute call and we'll walk you through real content from brands like yours: brief, shoot, and delivery, before you commit to anything.
