Vacation Intervention Website

Looking for ways to take Canadians to bold new places, Tourism Saskatchewan recently launched the tongue-in-cheek Vacation Intervention website, www.vacationintervention.com. The site, created by Strategic Direct Marketing Group (SDMG), is designed to engage users in a fun and interactive way, while making Saskatchewan top-of-mind when it comes to vacation choices.

 

The strategy behind the site taps into a simple consumer insight – people are taking the same vacation over and over rather than exploring new places. Quite simply, they become hooked on the same destination year after year. Vacation Intervention uses humour, clean design and smart writing to hammer home the big idea – it’s time to get out of your vacation rut.

 

The site starts off with a video featuring Jim, a habitual vacationer, and Dr. Daysoff, a professional Vacation Interventionist who helps Jim make his vacation breakthrough.

 

A unique and fun feature of the site is the ability for users to create their own customized vacation intervention video. It’s a “point of view” video that addresses users by name, and can be customized to the user’s name or sent to a friend with the friend’s name in the video.

 

“The entire team at SDMG is very pleased to bring Vacation Intervention to life,” says Mike Allan, CSO at SDMG. “The innovative use of personalized video, combined with a fun and compelling storyline helps draw visitors in to the conversation, while at the same time encouraging them to pass along invitations to their friends and colleagues.” The site features more interactive “self-help” elements, including positive affirmations, motivational wallpapers as well as a survey to see if the user requires an intervention. “These features round out the offering and create even more reasons for visitors to stick around and learn about what Saskatchewan has to offer,” adds Allan.

 

“We at Tourism Saskatchewan are excited about this approach to marketing Saskatchewan as a travel destination, an approach that is quite different from our usual marketing initiatives,” says Grant McDonald, Manager of Online and Information Technologies at Tourism Saskatchewan. “Hopefully, Dr. Daysoff will help us introduce Saskatchewan to a whole new audience.”

 

Vacationintervention.com is not only a breath of fresh air in its look, feel and messaging; it also includes imagery of Saskatchewan, links to the remarkable Tourism Saskatchewan website, and direct links to live chat with travel counsellors.