Relaunching Alberta to the world: putting people and personality at the heart of Alberta’s brand

As we look toward a very busy summer for Alberta’s tourism industry, there has never been a better time to relaunch Alberta to the world.

After ten years, Travel Alberta’s award-winning brand (remember to breathe) is evolving to respond to the shifts in our world, the travel industry, traveller desires, and our new mandate as a destination management organization. At the heart of this brand evolution is a renewed focus on Alberta’s people and personality because that is part of our unique, competitive advantage.

What we learned

In 2021 Travel Alberta surveyed over 5,000 people, locally and in key markets including Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and London (U.K.). We also ran a series of focus groups, interviewing more than 200 people from Alberta, B.C., Ontario, London, China, Japan, Germany, U.S. and Mexico.

We learned from our brand perception research that while landscapes continue to be our biggest draw, combining people plus landscapes is a stronger draw. We also learned that visitors think Canada first if they even think of Alberta at all.

Our engagement efforts surfaced five distinct attributes about Alberta:

• Distinctively Canadian: Everything iconic you love about Canada, with a twist. We’re an outlier among Canadians; bolder, louder, less in-line.
• Spirited: We work hard and play hard. Albertans are brave, bold, and courageous; we approach life with unbridled energy and a glint in our eye.
• Independent: Born of our western roots, we don’t always conform. We have a fierce belief in ourselves and aren’t afraid to go it alone and try new things.
• Welcoming: The ultimate hosts, we love gathering and bringing people together. Warm, hospitable, and refreshingly down-to-earth.
• Freeing: Full of open spaces and opportunity; a liberating escape from what holds you down and holds you back. Who you are and where you came from doesn’t matter here.

People plus landscapes is stronger

The competition for visitors has never been greater as destinations compete to leverage pent-up traveller demand. To regain and grow our market share, we must differentiate ourselves.

While landscapes are our strongest draw, a broader understanding of our people and culture resulted in greater intent to travel.

Think Canada first

The further away the traveller, the less familiar they are with Alberta.  Leveraging the global awareness of Canada will help attract international travellers by highlighting iconic Canadian experiences we’re famous for.

We are Canada, but different

Alberta’s attributes rang through loud and clear throughout our brand research and fueled the creation of a new manifesto that brings the brand to life:

There's one in every family.

The non-conformist. 

The one who doesn’t always fall in line.

Unapologetically against the grain.

These are people formed by a place that is both majestic and rugged.

True to the wild roses that flourish here: 

Beautiful. Resilient. Not without a few thorns.

It’s where truly Canadian meets truly independent.

Where the great plains meet the great divide.

Where sacred places hold stories passed forward for thousands of years.

This is an open invitation to the bold and adventurous.

A place where the free spirited are always welcome

– for a moment, a week, or a lifetime.

This is CANADA’S WILD SIDE

This is CANADA’S ALBERTA.

As we relaunch Alberta to the world, we will leverage Canada’s strong, positive reputation. We will continue to draw visitors with the iconic visual landscapes we are known for, and we will celebrate our unique people and cultures which make us a little different than the rest of the country. We are distinctively Canadian, spirited, independent, welcoming and freeing. We are proud to be Albertan.