A new ad campaign is set to break Dec. 7 to promote EcoDek, a new attraction atop Toronto’s CN Tower.

Joe Palombo, marketing director for the wholly owned Canadian National subsidiary, says the radio and transit card parts of the campaign break first for three to four weeks.

Palombo says the tv component will follow in late December or early January for a month.

Palombo says no firm decision has been taken about print.

DM piece

He says a direct mail piece was sent to teachers across the province in June, and another piece went out a month ago.

He says the campaign is mostly directed at schools and families with children in the greater Toronto area.

According to Palombo, the CN Tower decided on EcoDek because the structure needed to add value for its visitors and give them a reason to return.

Entrance to EcoDek is free with the ride to the top of the 1,815-foot tower.

The elevator ride costs adults $12.50; children 12 and under go to the top of the world’s tallest freestanding structure for $6.50.

As its name suggests, Palombo says EcoDek teaches visitors what is happening around them, using the perspective of the tower.

Three theatres

EcoDek, on the tower’s observation deck, has three theatres to present a global view of water, land and air, with the films in each ending with the local perspective on these parts of the Earth’s ecology.

As well, EcoDek has ‘ecoscopes’ which, says Palombo, ‘make the invisible visible.’

These ecoscopes allow visitors to see what is left of Toronto’s Humber River and Don River wetlands; scan the pollution made by traffic along the Gardiner Expressway, one of Toronto’s busiest throughfares; and, using digital maps, video imagery and computer simulations take visitors on a ‘green’ tour much farther than the eye can see.

Other exhibits

Other exhibits offer instruction about water, energy, Boreal, Carolinian and Rain forests, and Ecocourt, an interactive opportunity to investigate and judge environmental concerns.

Sponsors of EcoDek are Canadian National Railway, Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lever Bros., Thomas J. Lipton, Chesebrough-Pond’s Canada and Popsicle Industries.

Palombo says there are still sponsorship opportunities available for EcoDek, including lead sponsor, associate sponsor and supplier.

He will not disclose the cost of sponsorship.

Broadcaster and scientist David Suzuki is a consultant and spokesman for EcoDek, designed by Design Workshop 2.

Toronto’s Capital C produced and executed the ad campaign.