2024 Winner
GoldBest in Audio Platforms
SilverBest in Branded Content
BronzePlanning with Purpose
BronzeBest in Finance and Services
BMO
"Business Carols -
Move Over Mariah"
UM / FCB
"Business Carols -
Move Over Mariah"
UM / FCB
During the holiday season, BMO maintains a long-standing initiative supporting underrepresented small businesses – focused on those owned by women, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC entrepreneurs. It is an opportunity to shine a light on businesses that provide just as much value, but would otherwise be drowned out by the weight of big-box retailer competitors during the season.
The challenge was finding unique and impactful ways to amplify these options within the Holiday shopping experience. BMO couldn’t outshout the competition, but in the spirit of scrappy entrepreneurialism, they sure could out-work-them all!
This year, the agency narrowed in on a singular driving insight: Seasonal music and carols are heard in every mall orshop leading up to the holidays. They are repeated at nauseum (sorry, Mariah Carey.) So much so, that it becomes background noise; wallpaper that shoppers tune-out, despite the nostalgic mass appeal. What if, in their efforts to sneak underrepresented businesses into consideration, they hacked that background noise to have purpose, beyond just kitschy expectations of the season?
The agency set out to rewrite and record popular Christmas carols, with carefully crafted, new lyrics that incorporated the essence (and products) of the underrepresented businesses they sought to profile. They would transform traditional holiday songs, long taken for granted and ignored, into a powerful and innovative tool for small business promotion. With that, “Business Carols” was born; a reimagined, innovative twist on classic carols in the public domain.
BMO hacked the big-box shopping experience by playing their “Business Carols” on radio stations, like CHFI in the GTA, that businesses would be likely to have on or consumers may be tuned into on their shopping journey. Further, they extended their reach into streaming properties like YouTube to ensure our presence was unavoidable during the Holiday listening experience.
Then, the agency ran the “Business Carols” playlist on repeat on Spotify in over 800 BMO branches across North America. This helped them cleverly "hack” Spotify's recommendation algorithm to organically push the playlist into more recommendations for more Canadians. Experiential activations saw the carols performed live at the Eaton Centre, North America’s busiest shopping mall. This delivered another effective way of connecting shoppers with our message and seeding an earworm with both heart andpurpose.
Finally, to help round out the journey and drive sales for these businesses, BMO created a unique functionality in Shazam, so that Shazaming the songs would transform the listening experience into a shopping experience. In each event, this action would trigger a link out to the e-commerce platforms of the business that each respective carol featured. The result of these collective efforts led to the “Business Carols” playlist being added to the list of popular holiday playlists.
“Business Carols” was a small but powerful media innovation that delivered massive reach and profile for the underrepresented businesses sought to champion. This industry-first approach delivered on its objectives of generating visibility for these businesses, while highlighting BMO's commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
The campaign harnessed the familiarity of popular holiday jingles, creatively influencing the algorithm of Spotify, the top listening platform, and organically drove awareness of “Business Carols”. This led to “Business Carols” streams in big-box retailers, precisely the competition BMO was up against, driving awareness of underrepresented small businesses in the very moments that consumers
were actively shopping.
Further, incorporating the Shazam experience transformed basic consumer intrigue and mobile functionality into an opportunity for ecommerce conversion. They transformed a rotation of purposeful holiday carols into a functional drive to purchase for underrepresented business across Canada.
In the end, the campaign demonstrated the power of a scrappy media strategy to make a meaningful difference. BMO’s “Business Carols” campaign not only honoured the deep-rooted tradition of carols in holiday celebrations, but also redefined their purpose, turning a ubiquitous seasonal fixture into a vehicle for meaningful and impactful promotion. BMO subtly directed consumer spending towards these often overlooked entities and shattered expectations:
Website traffic to BMO’s ecommerce hub for underrepresented businesses increased 27x YoY (Year Over Year) compared to 2023. There were 167,000 visits and 125,000 unique visitors, significantly boosting business visibility and more than 82,000 visits to the homepage and 46,000+ to the gift guide.
Almost 10MM minutes streamed of the “Business Carols” songs “Business Carols” was streamed 156,904 hours with a value of $664,598 of earned support benefiting underrepresented small businesses. Still, the most meaningful impacts came from the small businesses themselves!
“It plays a huge part in sales generation and marketing that otherwise small businesses like mine may not be able to pay for. It was a beautiful way to create something that lasts. My business carol was great to use in marketing materials. I was able to see more sales via my e-commerce and it helped in getting two major wholesale clients.” - Soft & Butter, Ontario, Canada
“This greatly benefited my business’ credibility and helped my business become more visible!” - Niffy Signature, Quebec, Canada
The challenge was finding unique and impactful ways to amplify these options within the Holiday shopping experience. BMO couldn’t outshout the competition, but in the spirit of scrappy entrepreneurialism, they sure could out-work-them all!
This year, the agency narrowed in on a singular driving insight: Seasonal music and carols are heard in every mall orshop leading up to the holidays. They are repeated at nauseum (sorry, Mariah Carey.) So much so, that it becomes background noise; wallpaper that shoppers tune-out, despite the nostalgic mass appeal. What if, in their efforts to sneak underrepresented businesses into consideration, they hacked that background noise to have purpose, beyond just kitschy expectations of the season?
The agency set out to rewrite and record popular Christmas carols, with carefully crafted, new lyrics that incorporated the essence (and products) of the underrepresented businesses they sought to profile. They would transform traditional holiday songs, long taken for granted and ignored, into a powerful and innovative tool for small business promotion. With that, “Business Carols” was born; a reimagined, innovative twist on classic carols in the public domain.
BMO hacked the big-box shopping experience by playing their “Business Carols” on radio stations, like CHFI in the GTA, that businesses would be likely to have on or consumers may be tuned into on their shopping journey. Further, they extended their reach into streaming properties like YouTube to ensure our presence was unavoidable during the Holiday listening experience.
Then, the agency ran the “Business Carols” playlist on repeat on Spotify in over 800 BMO branches across North America. This helped them cleverly "hack” Spotify's recommendation algorithm to organically push the playlist into more recommendations for more Canadians. Experiential activations saw the carols performed live at the Eaton Centre, North America’s busiest shopping mall. This delivered another effective way of connecting shoppers with our message and seeding an earworm with both heart andpurpose.
Finally, to help round out the journey and drive sales for these businesses, BMO created a unique functionality in Shazam, so that Shazaming the songs would transform the listening experience into a shopping experience. In each event, this action would trigger a link out to the e-commerce platforms of the business that each respective carol featured. The result of these collective efforts led to the “Business Carols” playlist being added to the list of popular holiday playlists.
“Business Carols” was a small but powerful media innovation that delivered massive reach and profile for the underrepresented businesses sought to champion. This industry-first approach delivered on its objectives of generating visibility for these businesses, while highlighting BMO's commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
The campaign harnessed the familiarity of popular holiday jingles, creatively influencing the algorithm of Spotify, the top listening platform, and organically drove awareness of “Business Carols”. This led to “Business Carols” streams in big-box retailers, precisely the competition BMO was up against, driving awareness of underrepresented small businesses in the very moments that consumers
were actively shopping.
Further, incorporating the Shazam experience transformed basic consumer intrigue and mobile functionality into an opportunity for ecommerce conversion. They transformed a rotation of purposeful holiday carols into a functional drive to purchase for underrepresented business across Canada.
In the end, the campaign demonstrated the power of a scrappy media strategy to make a meaningful difference. BMO’s “Business Carols” campaign not only honoured the deep-rooted tradition of carols in holiday celebrations, but also redefined their purpose, turning a ubiquitous seasonal fixture into a vehicle for meaningful and impactful promotion. BMO subtly directed consumer spending towards these often overlooked entities and shattered expectations:
Website traffic to BMO’s ecommerce hub for underrepresented businesses increased 27x YoY (Year Over Year) compared to 2023. There were 167,000 visits and 125,000 unique visitors, significantly boosting business visibility and more than 82,000 visits to the homepage and 46,000+ to the gift guide.
Almost 10MM minutes streamed of the “Business Carols” songs “Business Carols” was streamed 156,904 hours with a value of $664,598 of earned support benefiting underrepresented small businesses. Still, the most meaningful impacts came from the small businesses themselves!
“It plays a huge part in sales generation and marketing that otherwise small businesses like mine may not be able to pay for. It was a beautiful way to create something that lasts. My business carol was great to use in marketing materials. I was able to see more sales via my e-commerce and it helped in getting two major wholesale clients.” - Soft & Butter, Ontario, Canada
“This greatly benefited my business’ credibility and helped my business become more visible!” - Niffy Signature, Quebec, Canada
Credits
MEDIA AGENCY: UMEVP: Ryan Hunter
Director: Marc-André Giasson
Sr. Planner: Ben Graham
Social Assoc. Dir.: Arturo Valenzuela
Social Account Mgr.: Cristian Garrido
Dir., Talent & Influencer Content: Annelie Gutgesell
Sr. Content Strategist, Talent & Influencer Content: Melissa Hoffman
Search Sr. Campaign Mgr.: Wali Hossain
Mgr., Integrated Investments: Karen Cameron
CLIENT: BMO
CMO & Head, Social Impact: Catherine Roche
Head, Brand, Enterprise Social and Content: Jennifer Carli
Dir., Brand Mngmnt and Enterprise Marketing & Content: Mallory Fantham
Sr. Marketing Mgr., Enterprise Marketing & Content: Ivana Dillon
Sr. Marketing Mgr., Brand & Sponsorship Advertising: Ann-Marie Beauchemin
Marketing Mgr., Brand, Quebec: Camille Larose
Enterprise Marketing Coordinator: Aidan Bonner
CREATIVE AGENCY: FCB
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
EVP, Global Creative Partner: Danilo Boer
Exec. Creative Dirs.: Andrew MacPhee & Jeremiah McNama
Assoc. Creative Dirs.: Caleb McMullen & Hussein Rumaithi
Designer: Rittee Prak
EVP, General Manager: Tracy Little
VP, Client Service Lead: Erin Howes
Group Account Director: Ali Gayowski
Account Exec.: Sophia R’Bibo
Sr. Broadcast Producers: Adriana Laborde & Alexandra Postans
Integrated Producer: Anastasia Gal
Business Lead MTL: Michael Watier
Project Lead MTL: Isabelle Dion
Translator MTL: Olivier Laplante
VP, Head of Creative MTL: Sylvain Dufresne
Copywriter MTL: Marie-Christine Lessard
Art Dir. MTL: Leslie Castro
DOP/Editor MTL: Hugo Dubé-Bouchard
Producer MTL: Anick Rozon
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Strategy Dir.: Stephanie Gyles