Success stories

Destination Toronto

Fueling curiosity with Creator partnerships, In-Feed Ads and TikTok Out of Phone

DT Hero banner DT Logo
44 %
higher DOOH impressions vs. projections
296 %
higher CTR vs. benchmark
3.4 M
unique reach
The objective

Driving wanderlust for the city of Toronto

Destination Toronto, in partnership with Destination Ontario and Air Canada, not only facilitates the marketing and promotion of Canada’s largest city, but helps to maximize opportunities for the visitor economy. With a mission to make Toronto the top tourist destination in Canada, Destination Toronto looked to TikTok to reach affluent audiences aged 25+ in the US, with high spending power, disposable income, and an eagerness to explore new places.


The solution

Boosting consideration with upper-funnel solutions

Destination Toronto teamed up with TikTok to tap into the platform’s massive scale and unveil the myriad of activities and attractions Toronto had to offer for everyone! The brand wanted to work their way through the funnel from creating awareness to engagement, and ultimately drive consideration for visiting the destination.


On platform, the month long campaign was activated by leveraging two of TikTok’s upper-funnel solutions, Top Feed and Traffic Ads. The latter included Interactive Add-On: Story Selection, which is a unique feature that allows viewers the option to physically select a story’s outcome or next steps within the video ad content. Additionally, Destination Toronto was the first Canadian advertiser to spotlight their campaign on a DIVE billboard at Times Square, NYC with TikTok’s Out of Phone solution. This factored in another touchpoint to capture interest and spark discovery.


The key message of the campaign ‘You Gotta See What We See’ centred around celebrating the diverse perspectives about Toronto through captivating visuals and auditory storytelling. For the creative, a series of videos was built for TikTok, following the journey of various creators visiting Toronto hotspots and nearby areas in Ontario like Niagara and Muskoka. With Creator Led Story Selection, viewers were able to choose between options such as Dining or Activity, Arts or Culture and much more, providing a unique and personalized ad viewing experience.



The results

Exceeding benchmarks and jet-setting to success

Destination Toronto was able to see a true return on investment with the campaign’s unique reach of 3.4M. The videos piqued the interest of viewers with a 296% higher CTR compared to benchmarks, proving that the ‘choose your own adventure’ creative resonated, and had viewers hooked! Lastly, the digital Out of Phone component of the campaign surpassed projections as impressions were 44% higher than predicted and had New York City’s Times Square buzzing with stories of Toronto’s hidden gems! The campaign also picked up a prestigious excellence award for Best Implementation of TikTok in a Marketing Campaign at the 2024 eTourism Summit. Now that’s how you capture both flights and feelings!



This is a TikTok case study and is solely for informational purposes. Past performance does not guarantee or predict future performance. All claims regarding the effectiveness or quality of products are brand-reported and not endorsed or verified by TikTok.
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TikTok has been a great collaborative partner. As a newish platform in our suite of social media content channels, we’re still listening, learning and refining our strategy. TikTok has provided ongoing insights and in seeing our interest in experimenting and testing new engagement strategies, have shared innovative opportunities like Story Selection and the Out of Phone offering in Times Square, both of which felt like a good fit for the You Gotta See What We See campaign.

Paula Port, VP of Global Marketing
Destination Toronto

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