2021 Winner
BronzeBest in OOH/Ambient/Place-Based Media - Budget Under $100,000
Danone
"Bee Hotel"
Wavemaker
"Bee Hotel"
Wavemaker
Over the past few years, the global bee population has drastically declined. Bees need somewhere safe to lay eggs and produce their offspring but due to factors such as parasites, diseases, pesticides, and the lack of floral diversity, available spaces are decreasing. As such, bee populations are at risk.
For SILK in the plant-based food world, the problem is that a wave of new brands and products are flooding the market making various claims about their commitment to the environment to try and quickly win over consumers.
SILK has long-standing sustainable behaviours and by 2025 is committed to sourcing 100% of its almonds from growers who follow the best practices of the Bee Better certification, as we know that the more we help bees, the more they help us.
With a bee in their bonnet about this, they wanted to make sure they stood out in the marketplace by doing something to help, instead of just talking about it. With bees’ natural environments for reproducing becoming inhospitable, SILK wanted to help.
When thinking about the physical spaces advertising occupies, SILK saw an opportunity to use OOH billboards for the benefit of both biodiversity and SILK. While the billboard itself is used for advertising messaging, the support pole that holds the billboard in place is not fully utilised and is empty space that can be used for other purposes. Could they re-imagine the OOH network to help bee wellbeing?
Introducing “Bee Hotels.” SILK installed Bee Hotels on OOH billboard support columns to create spaces for bees to reproduce, a first of its kind, and a crucial assist for bees in the ever-creeping urban environment they find themselves living in. To bring credibility to this idea, they worked closely with entomology professors from the Université de Montreal who could study the impact the Bee Hotels had on bees, and ensure they were promoting biodiversity. Instead of consulting footfall traffic statistics, they let the professors choose their billboard locations to ensure that they were accessible for their team of scientists to document the program and its impact on the bees.
This re-purposing of traditional OOH boards for Bee Hotels would transform an advertising vehicle into something that helps the environment. Once locations were identified that allowed for good access for the research team, the bee hotels were constructed from locally sourced cedar wood by Atelier Zabie, a Quebec-based millwork shop and bee hotel manufacturer. The entomologists had final approval on the design and production of the hotels and made sure everything followed the best scientific protocol.
Native flowers were planted at the base of the OOH billboard columns and were specifically chosen, as they attract bees to the area and would encourage them to check into the hotels. Once the bee hotels and flowers were installed, their OOH messaging was used to showcase Silk's products and make a nod to the bee-friendly initiative: “the taste that has your buds buzzing,” “we bee-lieve in helping the planet,” and “it’s more than just our delicious flavours that’ve got people buzzin.’”
In a second phase, an OOH extension was added to call public attention to the Bee Hotel Initiative in a stingingly attention-grabbing way: “Psst! We're housing bees ? on this billboard ?.” The Bee Hotel OOH campaign started with select locations across Montreal only, to make sure their version of Bee Hotels was successful for the bees, as defined by the entomology professors. The campaign was supported with social and PR initiatives to spread further awareness of SILK’s commitment to the
biodiversity of bees.
The main KBI (Key Bee Indicator) for this campaign was for SILK to promote biodiversity within the bee population. Success is defined simply by the professors: they wanted the hotels to be used, given that bee populations are declining. Happily, the hotels are in use by bees, and there will be more results in the Fall as the hotels cannot be disturbed until bee season is over.
They would like to expand the program on a national scale over the coming years.
The billboards themselves delivered over 25 million impressions, and their social campaign promoting the program received a ton of love and honey from Quebeqers. The campaign created buzz as national news outlets shared the story, and news of the Bee Hotels garnered 19,000,000
Earned Media impressions.
The campaign drove sales in Quebec as SILK’s refrigerated beverages grew +20% in sales, and SILK’s plant-based yogurts grew at +37% in sales during the campaign period.
For SILK in the plant-based food world, the problem is that a wave of new brands and products are flooding the market making various claims about their commitment to the environment to try and quickly win over consumers.
SILK has long-standing sustainable behaviours and by 2025 is committed to sourcing 100% of its almonds from growers who follow the best practices of the Bee Better certification, as we know that the more we help bees, the more they help us.
With a bee in their bonnet about this, they wanted to make sure they stood out in the marketplace by doing something to help, instead of just talking about it. With bees’ natural environments for reproducing becoming inhospitable, SILK wanted to help.
When thinking about the physical spaces advertising occupies, SILK saw an opportunity to use OOH billboards for the benefit of both biodiversity and SILK. While the billboard itself is used for advertising messaging, the support pole that holds the billboard in place is not fully utilised and is empty space that can be used for other purposes. Could they re-imagine the OOH network to help bee wellbeing?
Introducing “Bee Hotels.” SILK installed Bee Hotels on OOH billboard support columns to create spaces for bees to reproduce, a first of its kind, and a crucial assist for bees in the ever-creeping urban environment they find themselves living in. To bring credibility to this idea, they worked closely with entomology professors from the Université de Montreal who could study the impact the Bee Hotels had on bees, and ensure they were promoting biodiversity. Instead of consulting footfall traffic statistics, they let the professors choose their billboard locations to ensure that they were accessible for their team of scientists to document the program and its impact on the bees.
This re-purposing of traditional OOH boards for Bee Hotels would transform an advertising vehicle into something that helps the environment. Once locations were identified that allowed for good access for the research team, the bee hotels were constructed from locally sourced cedar wood by Atelier Zabie, a Quebec-based millwork shop and bee hotel manufacturer. The entomologists had final approval on the design and production of the hotels and made sure everything followed the best scientific protocol.
Native flowers were planted at the base of the OOH billboard columns and were specifically chosen, as they attract bees to the area and would encourage them to check into the hotels. Once the bee hotels and flowers were installed, their OOH messaging was used to showcase Silk's products and make a nod to the bee-friendly initiative: “the taste that has your buds buzzing,” “we bee-lieve in helping the planet,” and “it’s more than just our delicious flavours that’ve got people buzzin.’”
In a second phase, an OOH extension was added to call public attention to the Bee Hotel Initiative in a stingingly attention-grabbing way: “Psst! We're housing bees ? on this billboard ?.” The Bee Hotel OOH campaign started with select locations across Montreal only, to make sure their version of Bee Hotels was successful for the bees, as defined by the entomology professors. The campaign was supported with social and PR initiatives to spread further awareness of SILK’s commitment to the
biodiversity of bees.
The main KBI (Key Bee Indicator) for this campaign was for SILK to promote biodiversity within the bee population. Success is defined simply by the professors: they wanted the hotels to be used, given that bee populations are declining. Happily, the hotels are in use by bees, and there will be more results in the Fall as the hotels cannot be disturbed until bee season is over.
They would like to expand the program on a national scale over the coming years.
The billboards themselves delivered over 25 million impressions, and their social campaign promoting the program received a ton of love and honey from Quebeqers. The campaign created buzz as national news outlets shared the story, and news of the Bee Hotels garnered 19,000,000
Earned Media impressions.
The campaign drove sales in Quebec as SILK’s refrigerated beverages grew +20% in sales, and SILK’s plant-based yogurts grew at +37% in sales during the campaign period.
Credits
Danone: Jeremy Oxley, Genevieve Bolduc, Janick Couture-Houle, Arthur Sylvestre, Audrey-Ann Fortier, Julie BernierWavemaker: Sandra Cardoso, Andreanne Gagnon, Ryan Normandin
Pattison: Antoine Vaillancourt-Dutil, Pamela Hebert-Poudrier
CARL: CARL
PR: Anne Dongois