2025 Winner
SilverBest in Sponsorships
BronzeMedia Collaboration: Best Partnering
Rona
"Mike's Playoffs"
Cossette Media
"Mike's Playoffs"
Cossette Media
In 2025, Rona, Quebec's biggest hardware store chain, faced a tense economic climate marked by a U.S.-driven price war. Competition was fierce, with Canac and Home Depot dominating attention. Rona needed to win back its audience and rebuild a strong connection with Quebec consumers.
What if a simple misheard lyric could spark one of Quebec’s biggest cultural moments of the year?
When they heard francophones singing My Sharona from The Knack as “Mike chez Rona,” (“chez” meaning “at” in French), Rona did not hear a mistake; they saw an opportunity.
They launched “Mike at Rona,” a campaign that quickly conquered the airwaves and became a Quebecer's favourite. A new instantly recognisable ambassador was born.
Then came another unexpected cultural juggernaut: The Montreal Canadiens'(HABS) surprise playoff run. As Quebec’s beloved NHL hockey team and RONA being a proud sponsor for over 25 years, they saw a huge opportunity.
The agency broke away from traditional branding and turned product placement into person placement — embedding Mike directly into the playoff story.
This sponsorship activation didn’t just badge the event; it wove Rona into the emotional, communal experience of the playoffs, sparking organic fan participation and deepening the brand’s connection to Quebecers.
It began with a strategic partnership: Rona became the title sponsor of the playoff, and they sent Mike to live at home during playoff games. Thanks to negotiations with our partner Québecor, we had access to premium media placements.
Mike became the embodiment of our sponsorship — a living, breathing media asset in his unmistakable blue Rona shirt, standing out in a sea of red Habs jerseys. His presence in the stands guaranteed repeated live TV exposure and authentic fan recognition.
He then took over Rona’s social feeds, inviting fans to spot him during the games. From that moment, spotting Mike became a shared obsession — with fans posting, sharing, and speculating on where he’d appear next on social media. Mike’s popularity was growing fast, rivaling even the Canadiens’ official mascot. Safe to say earned media played a central role in their strategy.
After the first Montreal Canadiens win, Mike truly became the team's lucky charm. He invited Quebecers to “knock on wood” for luck — a superstition that became Rona’s slogan of the campaign and that was more than relevant for a hardware store.
In just a matter of 3 days, the agency turned a bold idea into reality.
They built a massive wooden installation outside the Bell Centre, where fans lined up to knock for luck and take photos with Mike. These pre-game activations turned our sponsorship space into a cultural hotspot.
The integration extended city-wide with branded wooden transit shelters, contextual banners, and live TV cut-ins teasing Mike’s next sighting. Every touchpoint was anchored in the playoff experience, ensuring our sponsorship wasn’t a logo on a backdrop — it was the heartbeat of the event.
List any "firsts," i.e. anything breakthrough or unprecedented, in regards to your media program, including uses of technology or advertising formats. In a case of being first out the gate, the jury must also be impressed by the way in which the breakthrough was executed (awards will not be given to "first for first's sake" or "tech for tech's sakes" entries). "Firsts" can also include a new way of using a traditional medium or existing technology, or new way of approaching media within a certain vertical or industry.
The sponsorship approach flipped the script. Instead of standard brand exposure, they created a personality-led integration — a first for a Canadian playoff sponsorship.
The campaign’s 360° mix — broadcast, social, OOH, experiential — was built for shareability, with Mike as the consistent narrative thread. This approach allowed their sponsorship to evolve in real time with the playoffs, matching the pace of fan conversation.
“Where’s Mike?” became a running storyline in broadcasts and social media, blurring the line between official event content and fan-driven buzz.
By turning a sponsorship into a living character embedded in the cultural moment, we delivered an activation that was impossible to ignore — and uniquely Quebec in tone, humour, and heart.
Explain how your case delivered against your stated business objectives by providing results. Please reveal as much as possible to the jury to clearly quantify how your media program contributed to the overall success of a brand's marketing campaign. In addition to metrics and KPIs, results should provide any helpful context pertaining to ROI. For example, was the impact achieved with less investment than prior programs for the brand? Has the program created a platform for the brand that will require fewer resources going forward?
The sponsorship exceeded every business and brand objective.
Rona became the #1 sponsor associated with the Canadiens’ playoff run, with unaided awareness climbing from 27% to 65% in a single season.
Brand image rose more than 10%, purchase intent 12%, proving their sponsorship integration drove meaningful behaviour change.
The campaign delivered 81 million paid impressions and 10 million earned impressions, fuelled by organic fan participation. It contributed to a 4.9% year-over-year sales increase during the playoff run and a 29.51% lift in organic/direct traffic.
Most importantly, the sponsorship transcended advertising — turning Mike into a cultural touchpoint and embedding Rona in the shared memory of one of Quebec’s most exciting playoff run.
The agency proved that a well-executed, culturally attuned sponsorship can be more than a badge on an event — it can become the event.
What if a simple misheard lyric could spark one of Quebec’s biggest cultural moments of the year?
When they heard francophones singing My Sharona from The Knack as “Mike chez Rona,” (“chez” meaning “at” in French), Rona did not hear a mistake; they saw an opportunity.
They launched “Mike at Rona,” a campaign that quickly conquered the airwaves and became a Quebecer's favourite. A new instantly recognisable ambassador was born.
Then came another unexpected cultural juggernaut: The Montreal Canadiens'(HABS) surprise playoff run. As Quebec’s beloved NHL hockey team and RONA being a proud sponsor for over 25 years, they saw a huge opportunity.
The agency broke away from traditional branding and turned product placement into person placement — embedding Mike directly into the playoff story.
This sponsorship activation didn’t just badge the event; it wove Rona into the emotional, communal experience of the playoffs, sparking organic fan participation and deepening the brand’s connection to Quebecers.
It began with a strategic partnership: Rona became the title sponsor of the playoff, and they sent Mike to live at home during playoff games. Thanks to negotiations with our partner Québecor, we had access to premium media placements.
Mike became the embodiment of our sponsorship — a living, breathing media asset in his unmistakable blue Rona shirt, standing out in a sea of red Habs jerseys. His presence in the stands guaranteed repeated live TV exposure and authentic fan recognition.
He then took over Rona’s social feeds, inviting fans to spot him during the games. From that moment, spotting Mike became a shared obsession — with fans posting, sharing, and speculating on where he’d appear next on social media. Mike’s popularity was growing fast, rivaling even the Canadiens’ official mascot. Safe to say earned media played a central role in their strategy.
After the first Montreal Canadiens win, Mike truly became the team's lucky charm. He invited Quebecers to “knock on wood” for luck — a superstition that became Rona’s slogan of the campaign and that was more than relevant for a hardware store.
In just a matter of 3 days, the agency turned a bold idea into reality.
They built a massive wooden installation outside the Bell Centre, where fans lined up to knock for luck and take photos with Mike. These pre-game activations turned our sponsorship space into a cultural hotspot.
The integration extended city-wide with branded wooden transit shelters, contextual banners, and live TV cut-ins teasing Mike’s next sighting. Every touchpoint was anchored in the playoff experience, ensuring our sponsorship wasn’t a logo on a backdrop — it was the heartbeat of the event.
List any "firsts," i.e. anything breakthrough or unprecedented, in regards to your media program, including uses of technology or advertising formats. In a case of being first out the gate, the jury must also be impressed by the way in which the breakthrough was executed (awards will not be given to "first for first's sake" or "tech for tech's sakes" entries). "Firsts" can also include a new way of using a traditional medium or existing technology, or new way of approaching media within a certain vertical or industry.
The sponsorship approach flipped the script. Instead of standard brand exposure, they created a personality-led integration — a first for a Canadian playoff sponsorship.
The campaign’s 360° mix — broadcast, social, OOH, experiential — was built for shareability, with Mike as the consistent narrative thread. This approach allowed their sponsorship to evolve in real time with the playoffs, matching the pace of fan conversation.
“Where’s Mike?” became a running storyline in broadcasts and social media, blurring the line between official event content and fan-driven buzz.
By turning a sponsorship into a living character embedded in the cultural moment, we delivered an activation that was impossible to ignore — and uniquely Quebec in tone, humour, and heart.
Explain how your case delivered against your stated business objectives by providing results. Please reveal as much as possible to the jury to clearly quantify how your media program contributed to the overall success of a brand's marketing campaign. In addition to metrics and KPIs, results should provide any helpful context pertaining to ROI. For example, was the impact achieved with less investment than prior programs for the brand? Has the program created a platform for the brand that will require fewer resources going forward?
The sponsorship exceeded every business and brand objective.
Rona became the #1 sponsor associated with the Canadiens’ playoff run, with unaided awareness climbing from 27% to 65% in a single season.
Brand image rose more than 10%, purchase intent 12%, proving their sponsorship integration drove meaningful behaviour change.
The campaign delivered 81 million paid impressions and 10 million earned impressions, fuelled by organic fan participation. It contributed to a 4.9% year-over-year sales increase during the playoff run and a 29.51% lift in organic/direct traffic.
Most importantly, the sponsorship transcended advertising — turning Mike into a cultural touchpoint and embedding Rona in the shared memory of one of Quebec’s most exciting playoff run.
The agency proved that a well-executed, culturally attuned sponsorship can be more than a badge on an event — it can become the event.
Credits
CreditsBrand: RONA
Clients: Catherine Laporte, Jacynthe Prince, Louis-Philippe Charland, Myriam Bernier, Nathalie Mahé, Audrey Quenneville, Caroline Hurtubise, Julie Beaulieu
Media Agency: Cossette Media
Media Strategy: Laurence Laperrière, Marc-Antoine Lavallée, Anastasiya Matuk, Christophie Rémillard, Media Activation: Isabelle Fournier, Christophe Grimard, César Herbreteau, Leslie Langlet, Paco Garcia
Creative Agency: Sid Lee
Creative: David Lambert, Christian Jomphe, Simon Caspar, Olivier Goulet-Lafond
Strategy: Jean-Claude Kikongi, Sophie Gibeault
Product: Thalie Poulin, Valérie Roy, Gabrielle Crépeau-Hubert, Inès Khadr
Production: Vanessa Gervais, Véronique Ouellet, Annick d'Auteuil, Mélissa Perron, Antoine Rivard Nolin, David Paquin
Public Relations: Laetitia Harty
Content Agency: Substance
Media Partner: Quebecor Média
Media creativity: Marissa Tozi, Pierre-Luc Bernier, Nicolas Cimon, Michel Moreau