2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Winter has a perception problem. Across North America, it’s widely framed as something to endure rather than enjoy. For the Québec Tourism Alliance, this posed a real business challenge: the winter tourism season lasts several months, yet it struggles against these negative cultural narratives around cold weather, darkness, and discomfort.

The objective of the “Winterapy” campaign was to reframe the cold winters of Québec not as a barrier to travel, but as a benefit in itself – positioning it as a form of wellness with real physical and mental upsides. The campaign targeted experience-seeking travelers who value health, culture, and meaningful escapes, and who are already receptive to wellness messaging but may not naturally associate it with winter travel.

The primary challenge was overcoming the deeply ingrained perception that a cold winter is a barrier to travel, rather than a benefit. While Québec’s winter tourism season lasts several months, it constantly battles negative narratives about cold weather and discomfort. The objective was to reframe winter to appeal to experience-seeking travelers who value health, culture, and meaningful escapes, but who do not naturally associate wellness messaging with winter travel.

In tourism cold is a negative, but in wellness it’s a huge positive.

Across wellness and wellbeing communities, cold is rapidly gaining traction as a remedy for the soul, body and mind. People are actively seeking freezing temperatures to recharge and reset. Whether it’s with cold plunges, ice baths or cryotherapy, cold exposure is becoming something to seek rather than to avoid. That revealed a powerful contradiction: while winter in Québec is being framed as something harsh to avoid, millions of people are actively seeking cold temperatures in pursuit of health benefits.

The insight became clear: In tourism cold is a negative, but in wellness it’s a huge positive.

The cold was no longer an obstacle to overcome. It became the main reason to visit.

Reposition Québec winter vacations as a wellness treatment by introducing “Winterapy”: a pharmaceutical-style wellness campaign that subverted traditional tourism advertising by "prescribing" Québec's winter as a natural wellness treatment with proven benefits.

Instead of trying to overcome the cold, the strategy was to embrace it and redefine its meaning. The campaign would reframe Québec winter from a perceived barrier into a powerful benefit. Rather than presenting winter as something travelers had to tolerate, the agency positioned it as something that could improve their wellbeing. In other words, Québec winter would be presented not as harsh weather, but as a natural form of therapy. This strategic pivot transformed the role of winter within Québec’s tourism narrative.

The cold was no longer an obstacle to overcome. It became the reason to visit.

By aligning Québec’s climate with the rapidly growing cultural interest in cold exposure and wellness, the strategy turned the province’s greatest perceived weakness into its most compelling tourism advantage.

To execute the strategy, the campaign borrowed the visual language, tone, and strict structure of pharmaceutical advertising. Instead of standard scenic tourism shots, cold weather and outdoor activity were positioned as ingredients in a wellness solution.

The campaign spanned film, digital, out-of-home (OOH), and influencer content. OOH placements featured lengthy legal disclaimer copy, digital banners mimicked wellness ad formats, and video executions showcased exaggerated “before and after” patient testimonials. Crucially, the campaign subverted expectations by replacing the typical negative medical side effects with humorous, aspirational outcomes like joy, relaxation, improved mood, and a sudden desire to stay longer, and of course, the sudden urge to speak French.

Strategic planning's distinct value was to lean into what seemed a barrier to overcome and make the most distinctive reason to visit.

Thus, shifting the brand away from the crowded travel category.

Most importantly it made the connection between a growing cultural trend amongst the target audience and one of the most unique compelling attributes (cold weather) to reposition Québec tourism promise.

This aligned winter travel with the wellness behaviours consumers already value, fundamentally changing how the destination went to market.

The strategy successfully reframed Québec’s winter as a wellness experience, changing perceptions and driving tangible economic impact.

The campaign achieved a total reach of 102 million video impressions and a total of 34 million completed video views, proving sustained audience attention. Overall engagement was three times higher than Québec’s previous winter campaign. Long-form 90s video achieved a 57% completion rate, which is nearly three times the industry norm. 59% of people who were not previously considering a trip to Québec changed their minds after seeing the digital-first campaign.

From December to February, visitor spending from Ontario increased by 9% YoY which translates to an estimated 45M$ compared to 2024-2025. And if they look at the whole winter season (November-March) this number goes up at 60M$. Internationally, the campaign contributed to the first increase in U.S. tourism to Québec since tariffs were introduced, successfully reversing a long-standing downward trend.

Credits

AGENCY: Cossette
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Les Enfants
SOUND STUDIO: Cult
CLIENT: Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec

CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, COSSETTE EAST: Michel-Alex Lessard
VICE-PRESIDENT PRINCIPAL, STRATEGY: Judikaela Auffrédou
STRATEGIC PLANNER, PRINCIPAL: Anne-Sophie Vachon
CONTENT STRATEGY: Octavie Albert
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, COSSETTE EAST: Anne-Claude Chénier
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTION: Patrick Michaud
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Magalie Samson
COPYWRITING: Andrew Lord, Jean-François Perreault
ART DIRECTION: Éric Bouchard, Fabio Verdone
PRODUCT: Marie-Lou Sévigny, Mélanie Desjardins, Ève Ste-Marie, Kayla McCaig, Mathilde Acosta
MEDIA: Hearts and Science

EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Visant Le Guennec
AGENCY PRODUCER: Catherine Richard (Septième)
PRODUCTION COORDINATION: Viviane Luu
DIRECTION & DIRECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Maxime Giroux, Olivier Gossot
POST-PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT: Camille Julien (Postmoderne)
OFFLINE EDITING: Paul Jutras
ONLINE EDITING: Hugo Mazo
COLOR GRADING: Ismael Outtara-Baldé
AUDIO COORDINATION & ORIGINAL MUSIC : Melissa Hassing
MUSIC SUPERVISION: Alexis Charpentier
COMPOSITION: Francis Duchesne
PERFORMANCE: Aiza Ntibarikure, Thomas Vallières
AUDIO MIX & SOUND DESIGN: Gino Visconti, Tanguy Meunier

CLIENTS: Véronique Dumas, Sabrina Belisle, Catherine Garand-Leduc