2022 Winner

Canadian Tire has been carrying pet products for over 40 years, but is not a go-to for pet needs. Awareness remains the main issue and the campaign goal was to drive top of mind awareness and sales, and remind Canadians that Canadian Tire is a destination for pet care essentials.

Pets as important family members has been on the rise. With the pandemic, they saw an unprecedented increase in pet adoption as existing pets and these new family additions helped to hold everyone together. After all, our pets aren’t just pets, they’re our four-legged babies.

Due to their importance in our lives, Canadians are increasingly spending more time, money and energy to ensure their pets are happy, healthy and maybe even a little indulged. And let’s be honest, pet owners do not refuse anything to their animals.

The target was therefore the pet owners, who buy the products, but also, and above all, the pets themselves, who love and consume the products.

Thus, pet products represent a must-win category for Canadian Tire. The mission was to capture more pet customers and demonstrate their breadth of assortment, quality products and top brands in a fun and easy way.

It needed to declare loudly and proudly its love for pets and back that up with the proof that showed Canadians that pets are not only cared for in their aisles, but in their hearts as well.

It started off with a research phase where it learned that dogs possess a sense of smell 40 times greater than humans and that blue and yellow are the only colours they see. It then proceeded to design a campaign with pets at the heart of it, making it impossible for their core audience of pets and their owners to miss the message.

This led it to create advertising that could speak to not only the owners but the pets themselves, such as posters that were scattered across 25 locations in Toronto and 12 in Montreal near parks. These posters were sprayed with bacon scent at the height level of dogs to grab the attention of pets and their parents. Beyond this, it also created lawn signs in blue and yellow for the dogs.

Brand ambassadors were hired to ride a CT branded bicycle, dressed in Canadian Tire gear, and handed out thousands of toys and treats at the locations over the course of four weekends.
The four-week campaign was further extended to Yonge and Dundas Square with a takeover of all digital boards which led to 25M total impressions, alongside a CT branded six-foot tennis ball that was placed in the middle of the square.

To really hone in on its commitment to thinking outside the box and overall innovation, it leveraged a first-to-market opportunity in Union Station by utilizing a 3D cube that depicted a cat playing with a giant CT branded bowl of food. It also placed video ads on the column network within Union station.

To top it all off, the campaign was anchored by video formats, as well as social media, along with search ads to further amplify their messaging and make sure they were present to gain share over competitors. Owned channels were also incorporated to ensure maximum exposure.
The secret of the campaign: it always puts the pet first. With blue and yellow ads, adding bacon scent to the mix, it made sure to attract both dogs and their parents.

By focusing the bulk of its investments in out-of-home executions, it knew that it would be able to connect with not only owners but pets themselves as they enjoyed the outdoors with their parents and had some influence - whether it be through the bacon spray, six-foot tennis ball or toys/treats being handed to them.

The campaign saw above norm results across all metrics, including a 26% increase in brand identification. In addition to this, the campaign led to a 15% increase in sales and a 9% increase in average basket size year over year. And most importantly - endless happily wagging tails.

Credits

Touché!
Canadian Tire Corporation
TAXI Toronto