Overview

The Owen Sound Transportation Company approached us with an unprecedented challenge. Their beloved ferry, the MS Chi-Cheemaun had been showing steady declines in ridership every year since 2008. The nearby Highway 400 expansion had made the ferry the slower, more expensive and less convenient travel option. With summer fast approaching, we needed to help the OSTC reposition the Chi-Cheemaun as more than just transportation.

So we embarked on the OSTC’s first ever brand platform and launch campaign to rebrand the MS Chi-Cheemaun as an exhilarating travel experience. We recommended embracing the rich First Nations tradition of the region and developed a tagline, “Travel In Good Spirits”, that became both a promise to consumers and the compass that guided our new creative.

Inspired by Woodlands style art, we created a new logo for the Chi-Cheemaun ferry, as well as a new visual language of illustrations and graphics. The client so embraced it that it lived far beyond advertising on to the boat itself and even the merchandise the gift shop offered.

We integrated the campaign across multiple platforms, from mobile apps to billboards to the ship experience. There were 130 unique elements created for the brand.

Results

In our first season we stopped the persistent decline since 2008, and showed an overall shift in business of almost 15%
Daily website sessions doubled
Our client was able to achieve their 3 year forecast in the first year alone.

2017 – 2018
Full Steam Ahead

Our latest campaign for Owen Sound Transportation Company’s Chi-Cheemaun Ferry continues to position the ferry service between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island as a more rewarding way to travel to Northern Ontario than by car alone. The latest campaign features leisure travelers interacting with a classic object of nautical travel – an engine room telegraph. Now in its fourth year the Chi-Cheemaun campaign, Travel in Good Spirits, has helped transform the venerable ferry service into a tourism destination in and of itself.