You might call it a double-feature.

Starting this week, anyone who goes to see smash-hit movies such as Dreamgirls or Norbit at box offices across southern Canada will also get a sneak peek at a little place we like to call the Yukon.

On Thursday afternoon, the Government of Yukon officially launched a multimillion-dollar national marketing campaign, in partnership with the governments of Canada, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as the 2007 Canada Winter Games Host Society.

'Canada's North is certainly diverse in economic opportunity,' said Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor. 'We want to promote the North as a great place to live, work and invest.'

The Yukon government has contributed $2 million to the Games host society for the development and implementation of the $5-million marketing campaign. Nunavut and the N.W.T. provided the remaining $3 million, with $1.5 million each.

A joint initiative involving both the Departments of Tourism and Culture and Economic Development, the marketing campaign includes promotional spots for national television and movie theatres, along with national print advertising and magazine supplements.

There are 30-second Pan-Northern spots as well as specific sports for each of the three territories.

A new website, www.lookupnorth.ca, was also created to support online advertising and to centrally manage interest generated by the advertising. The website links to territorial tourism and economic development sites.

Dee Enright, the senior marketing manager for the national campaign, said it's taken about three years of planning for everything to come together.

In fact, Enright began working on the campaign before she even moved to the territory, trying to secure funding, the first of which was received from the Department of Indian And Northern Development, to get everything off the ground.

'This is a huge investment from all three territories and a lot of man power,' she stated.

More than $1 million has been spent within the North for the campaign, she said. Most of it went to production costs, such as film crews, research and public relations.

Thirty-second spots began running in movie theatres across southern Canada on Thursday of last week.

Starting Monday, Feb. 19, the spots will air during the commercial breaks on some of the country's most-watched shows C.S.I., Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Oprah and Hockey Night in Canada, for example.

In fact, said Enright, the group spearheading the initiative was even able to get a spot during the Feb. 25 telecast of the Oscars Awards on Global relevision.

'Part of the reason for that, is movie-viewing goes up right before the Oscars,' explained Enright.

But the head-on approach doesn't end with television and movie ads. On March 1, freestanding inserts will go into major dailies across the country and on-line banner ads, featured on websites such as yahoo.ca, started last week.

With the Canada Winter Games just a week away, some people might wonder why the big push for the territory is starting now, instead of a couple of months ago. But Enright said they weren't aiming to get more people here for the Games. There wouldn't be any room in the hotels, she pointed out.

'Part of it is to take advantage of the attention Canadians are already paying to the Games. It's not unlike what Sydney did with the Olympics.

'We want to have people watch the Games on television, get an assessment of the culture and the North, and then have them come visit us.'

The spots will be especially heavy during the Games running every half-hour on TSN, and as part of major packages with CBC and APTN but they will run right through May.

And on March 6, CTV's Canada AM will show live telecasts from the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse throughout the entire three-hour segment. That day will mark the official kickoff to the Pan-Northern adventure promotion.

It's a contest which will give entrants the choice of three separate northern adventures, one from each territory: a Tatshenshini River trip in the Yukon, provided by Nahanni River Adventures; a fishing expedition provided by Peterson Point Lodge in the N.W.T.; and a wildlife viewing/ecological vacation provided by Bathurst Inlet Lodge in Nunavut.

The trips are all-inclusive, including round-trip airfare for two from one of Air North's gateway cities.

'The North is an emerging and vibrant region. We believe we've captured the essence of that experience as it relates to economic and tourism opportunities by building positive brand awareness through this campaign,' said Taylor, who gave a huge nod to the Games host society for all their work on the campaign.

The host society has gone beyond just putting on an athletic event, she said, adding they had the energy and foresight for a long-term vision.