Service · Make & Do
Place marketing
Getting a district, town or region in front of the people who might visit it, move to it, or open a business in it — and giving them a reason to choose it over somewhere closer.
Full-service · 53.5461°N 113.4938°W · Edmonton AB
01 · What it is
Not advertising a place.
Place marketing is often sold as tourism advertising with civic photography. It isn't. A place has no single owner, no marketing department with authority, and no product that can be changed to suit a campaign. What it has is a set of real assets, a reputation formed mostly by other people, and a limited number of reasons someone would make the trip.
The work is deciding which of those reasons is strongest, saying it consistently enough that it sticks, and building the practical path — a page, a schedule, a booking, a route — between hearing it and acting on it.
One claim the place can defend, and the practical means for a stranger to act on it this weekend.
A season of ads that ends leaves nothing behind. Places compound; the work should too.
02 · Included
What you're buying.
Who realistically comes, from where, and what they're choosing between. Usually narrower than expected.
Seasonal and always-on campaigns built from the position rather than invented fresh each quarter.
Paid, earned and owned. Transit, out-of-home, print, search and social, bought and reported honestly.
Documentary images of the real place, and stories that survive being retold by someone else.
The site, calendar and booking path a visitor uses. Without it, a campaign has nowhere to land.
Agreed before launch, reported after, in language a board can act on.
A calendar with owners and dates, assets to fill it, and a report at the end saying what worked and what we'd stop.
If there isn't an agreed position yet, marketing amplifies confusion. That work comes first.
03 · Process
How it runs.
Confirm there's one claim to work from. If there isn't, we say so before spending media budget on it.
Audiences, channels, calendar and budget — with the measures agreed in writing before anything runs.
Assets produced, platform readied, media booked. The landing place is built before the campaign points at it.
In-season adjustments, then an honest report including what underperformed.
04 · Proof
Where it's worked.
1,064 people across 73 tours and 11 workshops in the 2025 season. Winner of the Culinary Tourism Award at the 2026 Edmonton Tourism Awards.
District marketing Edmonton Chinatown BIADistrict brand, festival communications and merchant tools across a district of independent businesses.
Platform & comms Chinatown Transformation CollaborativeBrand, digital platform and ongoing communications, with a client-reported rise of over 100% in online engagement and volunteer signups.
05 · Questions
The ones we're always asked.
[Place marketing engagements start at $X for a season, or $X monthly on retainer. Media spend is separate and goes directly to the platforms — we don't mark it up.]
[Confirm and answer plainly. It's the first question a treasurer asks, and a clear answer either way builds more trust than silence.]
Usually yes. We'll check first that the brand says something specific enough to market. If it doesn't, we'll tell you rather than spend a season proving it.
Yes. We brief them directly and hold the direction, so nothing gets lost in translation.
06 · Start here
What's the season you're planning for?
Tell us the place, the season and the budget you're working with. We'll tell you what we'd run, what we'd skip, and whether the position is strong enough to market yet.
Full-service destination branding · Churchill Strategy · Edmonton AB