2023 Winner
BronzeBest in Audio Platforms
BronzeBest in Travel and Tourism
Air Canada
"Vibes From Down South"
Cossette Media
"Vibes From Down South"
Cossette Media
Several public relations fiascos at the end of 2021 caused continuing negativity and positive brand erosion for Air Canada in Quebec through early 2022. Air Canada’s CEO lack of bilingualism, major luggage and delay issue at the Montreal airport resulted in the biggest dip recorded in overall positive impression of the brand, a 17% point loss from the first to second quarter of 2022, and a 24% drop in brand trust.
There was no more important time to communicate to Quebecers personally to show their care and understanding of their needs and emotions. Quebecers travel south in the winter more than any other Canadians, and the weather and all its related issues really affects their mood when at home. Air Canada decided to offer Quebecers a musical journey to the South. Through an innovative, integrated, campaign, four famous Quebec singers collaborated with four artists from sun destinations to reinvent 4 classic Quebec winter songs with a tropical flair.
They incorporated media that could best magnify the musical experience across all adult age sectors. Radio and audio streaming were at the core, out of home shelters with music was used to surprise and delight, social teased and amplified the songs and enabled complimentary interactive experiences such as karaoke. This entry will focus on the audio elements of the campaign.
They partnered with Cogeco Media to integrate their songs into the musical programming and host ‘chat’ of four specifically targeted radio stations – Rythme; CKOI, WKND and The Beat. Each selected singer/influencer and their music matched specific stations: Soran’s R&B style spoke to the younger English and French audience – 77k followers on Instagram and over 250k on TikTok - The Beat Mike Clay, a more niche AfroSwing artist, expanded his profile from Montreal adults through the province due to the campaign – 14K on Instagram and 17k on TikTok - RYTHME & WKND. Alicia Moffet’s pop-soul style attracts a strong female 18-24 base and has huge followers on social - 434k on Instagram and 382k on TikTok – WKND & CKOI. Roxanne Bruneau has a pop-folk sound that appeals to quite a wide audience, including a skew to the LGBTQ2S+ community – 225k followers on Instagram and 465K on TikTok – WKND, CKOI & RYTHME.
They complemented this content with Air Canada brandsell spots on sun destinations.
The cherry on top ? Their songs were actually plane tickets, thanks to 6 unbelievably successful contests that sent the first people, who heard them on the radio, on vacation. These contests were also promoted on the radio stations’ social platforms, website and newsletter.
An earned media push secured a further four shows on two non-commercial stations Radio-Canada ici Première & ici Musique and on one talk station 98.5FM.
This audio escape was magnified further by their innovative use of Spotify to bring attention to the campaign. They created a twenty song playlist prominently featuring their four artists and their southern collaborators. Spots also aired to drive to the playlist.
They replicated a unique experience on social, with TikTok, Instagram and Facebook by incorporating karaoke lyrics into their singing messages. They also used social to tease the consumer via short video clips and behind the scene footage of the making of the songs inviting people to discover the whole playlist on Spotify.
Four highly trafficked and visible bus shelters were selected to become ‘musical experience’. They were often used like a dance or ‘recording’ studio by people when they were having a respite from the chill. Replicating album launches, their ‘album cover’ and QR codes were plastered on wild posters, metro stations, transit shelters and drove people to the Spotify playlist.
This radio content integration was a first of its kind, and was unique to each station as they needed to negotiate with each Station Director individually. And innovation was deployed throughout all their touch points – through interactive karaoke-like social deployment, turning bus shelters into inspirational musical escapes, and driving to the Spotify album with street QR codes.
The campaign, just like their beloved and requested songs, was a hit! They aired over 100 times as content on the radio, across the four stations for almost a month. There were over 7,000 participants per contest, accumulating to 42,504 participants overall.
The average Spotify user listened to the playlist for close to ten minutes, accumulating over 36,000 minutes with all the interactions.
The campaign was so unique that they were able to secure 3,7M impressions in earned media (beyond their radio station airings).
Most importantly, Air Canada saw brand measures increased dramatically: +12% for positive impression of the brand and a gain of 12% on trust.
Those who were exposed to the campaign had 16% higher intent to travel with Air Canada and 33% of them felt better about Air Canada.
“Our ‘Vibes from Down South’ campaign was really unprecedented on the radio, the feedback we’ve received has been tremendous. As has our rebound in brand positivity.” Martine Boulerice - Air Canada
There was no more important time to communicate to Quebecers personally to show their care and understanding of their needs and emotions. Quebecers travel south in the winter more than any other Canadians, and the weather and all its related issues really affects their mood when at home. Air Canada decided to offer Quebecers a musical journey to the South. Through an innovative, integrated, campaign, four famous Quebec singers collaborated with four artists from sun destinations to reinvent 4 classic Quebec winter songs with a tropical flair.
They incorporated media that could best magnify the musical experience across all adult age sectors. Radio and audio streaming were at the core, out of home shelters with music was used to surprise and delight, social teased and amplified the songs and enabled complimentary interactive experiences such as karaoke. This entry will focus on the audio elements of the campaign.
They partnered with Cogeco Media to integrate their songs into the musical programming and host ‘chat’ of four specifically targeted radio stations – Rythme; CKOI, WKND and The Beat. Each selected singer/influencer and their music matched specific stations: Soran’s R&B style spoke to the younger English and French audience – 77k followers on Instagram and over 250k on TikTok - The Beat Mike Clay, a more niche AfroSwing artist, expanded his profile from Montreal adults through the province due to the campaign – 14K on Instagram and 17k on TikTok - RYTHME & WKND. Alicia Moffet’s pop-soul style attracts a strong female 18-24 base and has huge followers on social - 434k on Instagram and 382k on TikTok – WKND & CKOI. Roxanne Bruneau has a pop-folk sound that appeals to quite a wide audience, including a skew to the LGBTQ2S+ community – 225k followers on Instagram and 465K on TikTok – WKND, CKOI & RYTHME.
They complemented this content with Air Canada brandsell spots on sun destinations.
The cherry on top ? Their songs were actually plane tickets, thanks to 6 unbelievably successful contests that sent the first people, who heard them on the radio, on vacation. These contests were also promoted on the radio stations’ social platforms, website and newsletter.
An earned media push secured a further four shows on two non-commercial stations Radio-Canada ici Première & ici Musique and on one talk station 98.5FM.
This audio escape was magnified further by their innovative use of Spotify to bring attention to the campaign. They created a twenty song playlist prominently featuring their four artists and their southern collaborators. Spots also aired to drive to the playlist.
They replicated a unique experience on social, with TikTok, Instagram and Facebook by incorporating karaoke lyrics into their singing messages. They also used social to tease the consumer via short video clips and behind the scene footage of the making of the songs inviting people to discover the whole playlist on Spotify.
Four highly trafficked and visible bus shelters were selected to become ‘musical experience’. They were often used like a dance or ‘recording’ studio by people when they were having a respite from the chill. Replicating album launches, their ‘album cover’ and QR codes were plastered on wild posters, metro stations, transit shelters and drove people to the Spotify playlist.
This radio content integration was a first of its kind, and was unique to each station as they needed to negotiate with each Station Director individually. And innovation was deployed throughout all their touch points – through interactive karaoke-like social deployment, turning bus shelters into inspirational musical escapes, and driving to the Spotify album with street QR codes.
The campaign, just like their beloved and requested songs, was a hit! They aired over 100 times as content on the radio, across the four stations for almost a month. There were over 7,000 participants per contest, accumulating to 42,504 participants overall.
The average Spotify user listened to the playlist for close to ten minutes, accumulating over 36,000 minutes with all the interactions.
The campaign was so unique that they were able to secure 3,7M impressions in earned media (beyond their radio station airings).
Most importantly, Air Canada saw brand measures increased dramatically: +12% for positive impression of the brand and a gain of 12% on trust.
Those who were exposed to the campaign had 16% higher intent to travel with Air Canada and 33% of them felt better about Air Canada.
“Our ‘Vibes from Down South’ campaign was really unprecedented on the radio, the feedback we’ve received has been tremendous. As has our rebound in brand positivity.” Martine Boulerice - Air Canada
Credits
Advertiser : Air CanadaClients : Martine Boulerice, Maya Khoury
Intergrated Plus Compagny team
Media Agency : Cossette Media
Planning team : Laurence Laperrière, Jean-Sébastien David
Activation team : Élodie Dubrulle, Anaïs Yahiat, Loick Le Corvec
Creative Agency : Cossette
Creative Team : Anne-Claude Chénier, Marc Lessard, Souléman Diallo, Mehdi Sedira, Guillaume St-Hilaire
Account Team : Marie-Claude Lachance, Axelle Nau, Hnia Alaoui
Strategy : Hugo Fournier
PR Agency : Citoyen
PR Team : Fanny Laurin, France-Michèle Thomas, Rosalie Lavoie, Francesca Jacob-Thibault, Samuel Cyr, Clémence Lecoq
Production Agency: Septième
Production team: Alexandrine Perras, Katia Pellerin, Natalie Desmeules, Marie-France Cypihot, Daniel Cartier
Media partners : Cogeco Media, Quebecor, Bell Media, Affichage Sauvage, Spotify
Production company: Colossale
Post Production: Arketype
Music & Sound studio: Studios Cult Nation