2023 Winner
SilverBest Launch/Relaunch
SilverBest Integrated Campaign - Budget Over $250,000
Vachon
"Mash Up"
Starcom
"Mash Up"
Starcom
2021’s ‘Best Duo’ Campaign, empowered Vachon’s fans to determine the ultimate product mash-up. It made it clear that voters loved Vachon cakes, but were hungry for a refreshed line up.
To expand their fan base among older Gen Z and younger Millennials that had grown up with Vachon’s cakes in their lunch boxes, they needed to reignite interest in their delicious product line-up within a highly competitive impulse-driven category.
The 2022 mash-up product launch became a make-or-break opportunity to get snackers to rekindle their love for Vachon and stand out amongst a wide range of products and snack fads that satisfy a range of cravings.
The older Gen Z and young Millennials have entered their newfound adulting reality and are constantly looking for ways to escape, looking for ‘bingeable’ serialized content to help them unwind. After a long day of “being on”, they’re looking for ways to “turn off”, and nothing does that better than leaning back and being entertained with their favourite snack in hand.
However, this group has proudly pegged themselves as the ‘anti-brand generation’, not buying into traditional advertising methods, and being hungry for authentic and memorable brand experiences.
So they needed to be clever in their communication to launch their new line-up and be noticed among consumers who are quick to skip and scroll by.
To stand out, they launched a saga worthy of a Netflix; The heist of the century!
The campaign was executed in 4 phases, each centered around an episode that would promote the new products in a different way.
The official new product launch announcement was shared with the public. They launched with PDOOH, targeting places frequented by their Gen Z and Millennial snackers. Digital takeovers on entertainment websites popular with 18-34s, as well as a social to get the initial word out.
The cakes are so irresistible and popular that they staged an actual heist executed by their less than resourceful Quebecois burglars, who broke into the Vachon warehouse at night and stole a truck full of cakes. Luckily the theft was captured on surveillance cameras and the video was largely circulated and shared on different social media platforms.
The Vachon heist investigation kicked off. The Quebecois TikToker superfan, Etienne Moore, went to great lengths to find the precious delicacies by creating his own series of videos for his followers, tracking his investigation and declaring his love for the new line up of products. They got more Vachon lovers involved by launching a contest on Meta to help in finding the thieves. Their media partnerships with pop culture content hubs like Narcity, Petit Petit Gamin, and le Sac de chips also promoted the investigation through branded editorial content with a newsworthy hook.
The saga came to an end when the truck was found on the roof of an iconic Montreal building. The video of the unveiling was broadcasted on multiple online platforms as well as the top
Quebec morning show.
Vachon needed to stand out in the crowded snack space to ensure visibility to their new products, with genuine content, that wouldn’t feel like traditional advertising.
That is how ‘this saga worthy of a Netflix series’ was born! They created a riveting “who done it?” four-part episodic series, introducing their innovative new flavors of Vachon cakes, then immediately playing up the dramatic notion of scarcity by providing a glimpse into a future without cakes after their subsequent theft. The campaign included all of the right ingredients to peak intrigue and capture the attention of viewers who craved more at the end of each video.
Their Saga series became the corner stone of their communication. The majority of tactics were negotiated with partners to be integrated organically within the editorial content of their platforms or developed by creators themselves for social.
The new Mash-up products launch by Vachon became the talk of the town in the Quebec market! Generating 12.5MM+ videos views and 31MM targeted impressions, +50% higher
than original projections.
They were able to reignite the love for Vachon, generating more than 107MM engagements on social media, and a whopping 6,000 followers of the investigation on their campaign TikTok account.
Finally, the launch exceeded initial forecasts with double-digit sales growth for Vachon in the first 3 months following launch. With the category is growing at a rate of 4.8% they consider this
a solid success!
To expand their fan base among older Gen Z and younger Millennials that had grown up with Vachon’s cakes in their lunch boxes, they needed to reignite interest in their delicious product line-up within a highly competitive impulse-driven category.
The 2022 mash-up product launch became a make-or-break opportunity to get snackers to rekindle their love for Vachon and stand out amongst a wide range of products and snack fads that satisfy a range of cravings.
The older Gen Z and young Millennials have entered their newfound adulting reality and are constantly looking for ways to escape, looking for ‘bingeable’ serialized content to help them unwind. After a long day of “being on”, they’re looking for ways to “turn off”, and nothing does that better than leaning back and being entertained with their favourite snack in hand.
However, this group has proudly pegged themselves as the ‘anti-brand generation’, not buying into traditional advertising methods, and being hungry for authentic and memorable brand experiences.
So they needed to be clever in their communication to launch their new line-up and be noticed among consumers who are quick to skip and scroll by.
To stand out, they launched a saga worthy of a Netflix; The heist of the century!
The campaign was executed in 4 phases, each centered around an episode that would promote the new products in a different way.
The official new product launch announcement was shared with the public. They launched with PDOOH, targeting places frequented by their Gen Z and Millennial snackers. Digital takeovers on entertainment websites popular with 18-34s, as well as a social to get the initial word out.
The cakes are so irresistible and popular that they staged an actual heist executed by their less than resourceful Quebecois burglars, who broke into the Vachon warehouse at night and stole a truck full of cakes. Luckily the theft was captured on surveillance cameras and the video was largely circulated and shared on different social media platforms.
The Vachon heist investigation kicked off. The Quebecois TikToker superfan, Etienne Moore, went to great lengths to find the precious delicacies by creating his own series of videos for his followers, tracking his investigation and declaring his love for the new line up of products. They got more Vachon lovers involved by launching a contest on Meta to help in finding the thieves. Their media partnerships with pop culture content hubs like Narcity, Petit Petit Gamin, and le Sac de chips also promoted the investigation through branded editorial content with a newsworthy hook.
The saga came to an end when the truck was found on the roof of an iconic Montreal building. The video of the unveiling was broadcasted on multiple online platforms as well as the top
Quebec morning show.
Vachon needed to stand out in the crowded snack space to ensure visibility to their new products, with genuine content, that wouldn’t feel like traditional advertising.
That is how ‘this saga worthy of a Netflix series’ was born! They created a riveting “who done it?” four-part episodic series, introducing their innovative new flavors of Vachon cakes, then immediately playing up the dramatic notion of scarcity by providing a glimpse into a future without cakes after their subsequent theft. The campaign included all of the right ingredients to peak intrigue and capture the attention of viewers who craved more at the end of each video.
Their Saga series became the corner stone of their communication. The majority of tactics were negotiated with partners to be integrated organically within the editorial content of their platforms or developed by creators themselves for social.
The new Mash-up products launch by Vachon became the talk of the town in the Quebec market! Generating 12.5MM+ videos views and 31MM targeted impressions, +50% higher
than original projections.
They were able to reignite the love for Vachon, generating more than 107MM engagements on social media, and a whopping 6,000 followers of the investigation on their campaign TikTok account.
Finally, the launch exceeded initial forecasts with double-digit sales growth for Vachon in the first 3 months following launch. With the category is growing at a rate of 4.8% they consider this
a solid success!
Credits
[Credits Media Agency]ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Valérie Jolivet MEDIA PLANNER: Roxane Guibert ASSISTANT MEDIA PLANNER: Mahikan Scalabrino
[Credits Creative Agency]
SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, CREATION: Anne-Claude Chénier
SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, STRATEGY: Michel-Alex Lessard
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Patrick Michaud COPY-WRITTING: Jean-François Perreault, Marc-André Vigneault
ARTISTIC DIRECTION: Éric Bouchard, Christian Jomphe
LEAD ACCOUNT DIRECT: Sophie Couvrette
ACCOUNT MANAGER: Rachel Demers, Laurence Campeau
PRODUCTION: Émilie Meunier
[Credits Client]
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER: Maryna Shcherbyna, Mariève Lepage MARKETING MANAGER: Annick Rousseau
MARKETING ASSISTANT: Lisa Pelham