As the entity responsible for the health and success of Canada’s internet, CIRAs

primary mandate is to convince Canadian small business owners to register with a .CA

when putting their business online.

The problem is while most Canadian small business owners are passionate beyond

belief when it comes to their business. But when it comes to choosing a top-level

domain (a .CA or a .COM) for it, they’re apathetic at best. Why? It is simply perceived

as a small and innocuous choice that couldn’t possibly have any real impact on them or

their business. The result of this widely held belief is that when the time comes to

choose a top-level domain for their business most small business owners’ default to the

runaway category leader, .COM – a brand so well-established and ubiquitous, that it is

virtually synonymous with the internet itself.

Considering these challenges, the question was clear: how do we get small business

owners to snap out of simply defaulting to .COM and choose .CA?

The answer lied in leveraging the persona of one of Canada’s most recognizable icons,

a Canada Goose. A proud symbol of the country, they’re also complete jerks.

Aggressive, pushy and rarely take no for answer. So, it’s no surprise that like most

Canadians, a Canada goose is going to prefer a .CA domain. It’s also no surprise that

when he gives that advice, it’s a little bit terrifying.

Leveraging this idea in video we illustrated a small business owner making a domain

choice for their business under the watchful, judgmental pushy eye of our Goose.

Fearing its wrath, they ultimately make the right choice for any Canadian business and

choose a .CA. We carried this idea into digital banners and social posts with aggressive

in your face style of headlines like ‘Choosing a .COM?’ That’s going to honk someone

off” by way of example.

Early indications tell us Canadians are, in fact, listening to the goose. From our

September launch to the end of 2022, claimed preference for .CA over.COM increased

by 8% and purchase intent by 13% amongst our all-important audience: Canadian small

business owners. These positive sentiments translated into actual registrations, with

.CA domains rising by 37, 743, clearly at the expense of .COM, which declined by 9,930

over the same period.

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