Tourism Saskatchewan US Fishing Campaign

The main audience for Saskatchewan's far north fishing expeditions are US residents. Each year Tourism Saskatchewan runs a full campaign to attract this audience for both fly-in and and drive-in fishing experiences.

For this campaign we wanted to take a different approach where we focused on the idea of challenge and toughness rather than relaxation and luxury. Many of these visitors are out to catch trophy-sized fish and the rest of the experience is a bonus, not the reason for the visit. We jokingly referred to the direction as the Ford Truck approach - tough, but top-of-the-line.

For the copy, I drew out the sensations of chapped hands and sore muscles, the anticipation of a trip where each and every day is dedicated only to fishing, and the fact this isn't a vacation - it's the fishing trip of a lifetime. We spoke to the remoteness of the lodges, how it's not easy to get there, and how if you've heard stories about fishing in Saskatchewan, they're all true.

We leaned into the gritty feel in our video ads by casting a rough and rugged older man as our voice talent and choosing music with country-rock edge.

Our client and audience loved this campaign so much that we're actually looking to simply update it and run it again.