One day after MapQuest doubled down on its stance in the Lake Ontario naming row by placing a billboard in downtown Toronto with directions to the lake, the oversized printed map is nowhere to be found.
MapQuest general manager Doug Berger confirmed in an email Friday night that the giant ad in Toronto was removed, but didn’t know why.
“The poster may be gone, but Lake Ontario remains Lake Ontario on MapQuest and the route is still there whenever you need it,” Berger wrote.
The California-based map company said it installed six-foot tall billboards in Toronto and five U.S. cities this week featuring old-school printed MapQuest turn-by-turn driving directions from each location to Lake Ontario.
The billboards, which also went up in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C., feature the campaign line: “It’s still Lake Ontario. And we’re still here.”
Toronto’s billboard was at 43 Lower Jarvis Street, near Lake Shore Boulevard East, and fittingly needed just one page of directions to reach Lake Ontario. The U.S. versions stretch across two or three pages, reflecting the considerably longer drive to the lakes from cities south of the border.
The advertising campaign comes weeks after MapQuest made headlines when it said it won’t change the name of Lake Ontario after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27 to rename the large body of water to “Lake America” amid ongoing trade tensions.
“We’re not changing it,” MapQuest said in a social media post, displaying a map of the lake.
In a followup post, MapQuest joked that anyone determined to give the lake a new name could use an online generator, offering “Lake Are We Doing This Again?” as one possibility.
MapQuest reached No. 1 in navigation apps and overall apps in the U.S. App Store, surpassing two million downloads as usage rose to roughly 50 times its usual level.
Google and Apple have both changed the lake’s name to “Lake America” on their map apps in the United States, while the name remains unchanged outside the country.
MapQuest is now leaning even harder into nostalgia after developing a new campaign with independent creative agency Quality Meats “to remind people that the MapQuest you remember is still, in fact, the most trusted provider of navigation.”
The billboards include exit numbers, highway sign icons, a banner ad for discount printer cartridges a long URL running across the bottom of each page and in some cases, a random blank page at the end, recreating the look of a classic printed MapQuest route.
The Chicago board is in River North neighbourhood near State Street and Hubbard Street, Los Angeles’s is near MapQuest’s headquarters on Main Street in Santa Monica and New York’s board is down the street from Grand Central Station and the Canadian consulate on East 38th Street. All three went up Wednesday, a Quality Meats spokesperson told the Star on Thursday night.
Washington D.C.‘s board is in the heart of the northwest quadrant of the District at Dupont Circle, San Francisco’s board is a few blocks from other tech hubs at 490 Brannan Street and Toronto’s board is only a few hundred metres away from Lake Ontario. Those three boards went on display Thursday.
“While keeping the names that people know and trust, this campaign brings our commitment to life while tapping into 30 years of nostalgia, and puts it all right back on the map,” Berger said in an email Thursday.
Gordy Sang, co-founder and co-chief creative officer of Quality Meats said the company likes it “when challenger brands actually take on that bold challenger stance.”
MapQuest has also launched Lake Ontario merch, including T-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bag. One design includes the words “We’re not changing it” and an outline of Lake Ontario and another says “It’s Lake Ontario on MapQuest.”
