LITTLE CURRENT—‘This is Manitoulin’ holds the honour of being one of the oldest magazine titles in the province and the popular tourism lure publication is once again enticing visitors to Manitoulin Island’s shores with its 2023 edition.
This year’s print run is 68,500 copies, including 40,000 copies being distributed through direct mail by Canada Post to households in the Chatham-Kent region with incomes in the $150,000 to $300,000 range.
“Last year we distributed 52,000 through the Globe and Mail to households in the Golden Horseshoe area, excluding the Greater Toronto Area,” said publisher emeritus Rick McCutcheon. “We are very grateful that, thanks to a partnership with Destination Northern Ontario (DNO), we can enhance our marketing this year to the Chatham-Kent region. This is the third year working with DNO to target southern markets and it has proven to be very positive.”
Mr. McCutcheon added that concurrent with the targeted distribution through Canada Post, ‘This is Manitoulin’ launches a Facebook campaign aimed at the same region advising residents to watch out for the magazine as it will soon appear in their mailbox.
“We bombard the area with promotion for Manitoulin Island,” said Mr. McCutcheon, “also highlighting the tourism website ExploreManitoulin.com.”
Sometimes the magazine distribution and Facebook campaigns have proven to be too much of a good thing. “It was so successful last year that our website crashed,” laughed Mr. McCutcheon. “There was so much traffic it overwhelmed the servers. Of course, we had things fixed and up and running again in no time.”
“Through a partnership with Wiikwemkoong Tourism, 1,200 copies were distributed this past weekend at the Outdoor Adventure Show at the International Centre in Toronto,” said Mr. McCutcheon. “Luke Wassegijig and his team have put magazines in the hands of people looking for vacation destinations.”
The magazines are also being sent out to information tourist booths across the province. “We canvas each of those locations every year to find out how many copies of ‘This is Manitoulin’ they think they will need,” said Mr. McCutcheon. “This year 16,000 copies are going out.”
Some 3,000 copies also go to Tobermory’s information booth and more are distributed by the Welcome Centre in Little Current.
‘This is Manitoulin’ was founded in 1960, making it possibly the oldest magazine title in the North, and it is a tradition that Manitoulin Publishing took over in 1979.
“We are proud to do it,” said Mr. McCutcheon. “It has proven itself to be a useful magazine for the tourism industry on Manitoulin and we continue to receive a lot of positive feedback about the magazine and its content.”
‘This is Manitoulin’ is what is called in the industry a “lure” magazine, aimed at enticing visitors to the region. A sister publication, ‘Manitoulin’s Magazine,’ is aimed at tourists who are already here and highlights the many things to do and see on Manitoulin and is published later in the spring.
For more information on ‘This is Manitoulin’ or ‘Manitoulin’s Magazine’ contact expositor@manitoulin.com.
