Nanaimo’s tourism marketer is showcasing the city’s eclecticism, while eschewing carefully curated travel content.

Tourism Nanaimo, which handles marketing duties for the Vancouver Island city, which is roughly 100 kilometers from Victoria, has rebranded and launched a campaign to show off the region’s vibrancy. Its hero spot includes locals interspersed with quick cut nature images.

The work is all about providing an alternative to hyper-perfected and curated content that’s typical not just of the travel sector, but in people’s daily social media feeds, explains Tourism Nanaimo executive director Carly Pereboom. She tells strategy the campaign is really about encouraging people to open their minds and see things from a different perspective.

“We’re a big city and we’re diverse, and it’s really important for us to showcase that,” Pereboom says.

Given Nanaimo’s industrial past, Pereboom says there’s a misconception that the city is a bit rough around the edges. But instead, she says Tourism Nanaimo wants to show it has more to offer than just being a gateway to Vancouver Island, and that there’s a strong arts and culture community alongside the area’s scenic beauty.

The new campaign includes OLV, social ads and OOH. Nanaimo Tourism is focusing on the British Columbia and Alberta markets, with a “hyper focus” on Vancouver Island so locals will become stronger advocates for the city. The City of Nanaimo also attracts Vancouverites looking to get away for the weekend, and with the ferry from downtown-to-downtown, it’s a different type of market but one which it is developing.

In order to help tell those local stories, the organization is planning to do outreach with street interviews asking people talk about what they love about the community.

Pereboom says the campaign is for travelers who want to explore and would be interested in peeling back the city’s layers. She adds that Nanaimo’s ideal visitor is one who wants to experience how locals live and not necessarily just what the tourism community is.

The work is a slow-burn, Pereboom says, and it’s the organization’s second biggest campaign for the year.

Outreach to the U.S. Pacific Northwest is coming in the fall, and Tourism Nanaimo collaborates with Destination British Columbia to handle visitors further afield like Europe, she explains.

Vancouver marketing consultancy Partners & Hawes leads creative direction and Vancouver’s Kin handled public relations.