2025 Winner
BronzePlanning with Purpose
Nestle (Nescafé)
"80 Degrees"
Thrive / Courage
"80 Degrees"
Thrive / Courage
Sustainability is fast becoming one of the most urgent issues of our time. It’s shaping the agendas of governments, rewriting boardroom strategies, and redefining brand narratives. Despite growing awareness, there remains a critical gap between intention and action. While most Canadians acknowledge its importance, few feel empowered to take action. Inertia, hesitation, and doubt reinforce the notion that our individual actions are too small to have a meaningful impact. This sense of futility leads to apathy and a world that remains largely unchanged.
Nescafé set out to confront this barrier head-on.
As the world’s largest coffee producer, sustainability and commitment to sustainable practices has always been at the heart of Nescafé’s mission. But translating this legacy into local relevance was a challenge. In Canada, Nescafé enjoys broad trust and recognition, but relative to deep-pocketed dominant heritage players, like Tim Hortons, Nescafé lacks a strong emotional affinity and their sustainability message was at risk of getting lost in the noise.
But, with over 5,700 cups consumed globally every second, they saw the potential to leverage Nescafé’s scale and harness a powerful opportunity to make even the smallest action feel significant. This led them to forge a bold, new strategy: rather than telling Canadians what Nescafé stood for, they would show them by making Nescafé’s commitment to sustainability feel personally relevant, tangible, and actionable in the context of their everyday lives.
Canada holds a unique place on the global coffee map — not just for our high per-capita consumption, but for the rituals that define how we enjoy our daily brew. Most people boil water to 100°C to make their coffee. It’s an act so ingrained in our routines that it goes unquestioned and is accepted as the norm.
Yet, scientifically, coffee does not need to be brewed at 100°C. In fact, Nescafé tastes better when prepared at 80°C. This temperature discrepancy revealed a powerful cultural tension: Canadians were over-consuming energy without even realizing it. This 20-degree difference, when multiplied across millions of cups of Nescafé consumed globally, represented an exciting opportunity to reduce energy consumption without compromising on taste or convenience. It was a chance to transform a passive brand message into purposeful action.
Nescafé’s campaign set out to convert consumer apathy into agency and drive brand favourability by empowering Canadians to make a small but meaningful change in their daily coffee ritual and contribute to a better planet.
To bring this strategy to life, the agency executed a three-pronged media approach.
First, they made knowledge accessible by driving awareness at scale. To spark change, the agency first needed to equip Canadians with the knowledge that brewing at 80°C — not 100°C — saves energy without compromising on quality. They launched an evocative cinematic film, celebrating this behaviour, and broadcast it through high-impact video platforms like linear TV, connected TV, OLV, and social media to make it unmissable.
Then, they focused on making their impact tangible by grounding energy savings in everyday reality. The agency knew that awareness alone would not drive behaviour change — consumers needed to see the real-world impact of their actions. So, they contextualized the potential savings in everyday terms: enough energy saved to power a refrigerator, run a load of laundry, keep an LED TV on for hours, or even drive an EV for several kilometres. This reframing helped Canadians visualize actual energy savings — giving their small act of change real meaning. The agency delivered sharply focused messaging across social platforms, directing audiences to a branded microsite.
They focused on making change actionable by turning media into a catalyst for change. First, the agency intercepted daily commutes with high-visibility placements along high-traffic routes through electric streetcar wraps and digital OOH messaging located strategically at bus shelters, malls, and billboards. Then they produced OOH assets made from sustainable materials, including vegetable glue, reinforcing the campaign’s call to action at every consumer touchpoint.
Finally, the agency elevated its digital strategy by architecting a carbon-neutral campaign. Through advanced programmatic buying, they prioritized eco-conscious contextual targeting and ensured every impression was offset. They partnered with a platform equipped with proprietary page-level, contextual technology, allowing them to tap into green media inventory — reinforcing their message while actually walking the talk.
They also leveraged Google Marketing Platform (GMP) tools to activate low-emission ad supply and offset its impact with verified carbon credits — ensuring the campaign was carbon neutral end-to-end. Effective audience targeting reached green advocates and sustainability-conscious families, ensuring the message resonated with those most likely to act and inspire others to follow.
The agency not only made sustainability the message, but they made it their medium. Combining market-leading tech, production, and data sophistication, they literally engineered sustainability into the very fabric of the media they created. The innovative media plan became a critical proof point, showing Canadians what sustainability in action truly looks like.
True innovation doesn’t just inform, it drives change. Their challenge was to remove friction and embed change into everyday behaviour. So, to drive action intuitively and effortlessly at scale, they created a simple yet powerful tactile media nudge: a branded, thermal sticker that acted as a real-time prompt for energy-saving action.
Nescafé set out to confront this barrier head-on.
As the world’s largest coffee producer, sustainability and commitment to sustainable practices has always been at the heart of Nescafé’s mission. But translating this legacy into local relevance was a challenge. In Canada, Nescafé enjoys broad trust and recognition, but relative to deep-pocketed dominant heritage players, like Tim Hortons, Nescafé lacks a strong emotional affinity and their sustainability message was at risk of getting lost in the noise.
But, with over 5,700 cups consumed globally every second, they saw the potential to leverage Nescafé’s scale and harness a powerful opportunity to make even the smallest action feel significant. This led them to forge a bold, new strategy: rather than telling Canadians what Nescafé stood for, they would show them by making Nescafé’s commitment to sustainability feel personally relevant, tangible, and actionable in the context of their everyday lives.
Canada holds a unique place on the global coffee map — not just for our high per-capita consumption, but for the rituals that define how we enjoy our daily brew. Most people boil water to 100°C to make their coffee. It’s an act so ingrained in our routines that it goes unquestioned and is accepted as the norm.
Yet, scientifically, coffee does not need to be brewed at 100°C. In fact, Nescafé tastes better when prepared at 80°C. This temperature discrepancy revealed a powerful cultural tension: Canadians were over-consuming energy without even realizing it. This 20-degree difference, when multiplied across millions of cups of Nescafé consumed globally, represented an exciting opportunity to reduce energy consumption without compromising on taste or convenience. It was a chance to transform a passive brand message into purposeful action.
Nescafé’s campaign set out to convert consumer apathy into agency and drive brand favourability by empowering Canadians to make a small but meaningful change in their daily coffee ritual and contribute to a better planet.
To bring this strategy to life, the agency executed a three-pronged media approach.
First, they made knowledge accessible by driving awareness at scale. To spark change, the agency first needed to equip Canadians with the knowledge that brewing at 80°C — not 100°C — saves energy without compromising on quality. They launched an evocative cinematic film, celebrating this behaviour, and broadcast it through high-impact video platforms like linear TV, connected TV, OLV, and social media to make it unmissable.
Then, they focused on making their impact tangible by grounding energy savings in everyday reality. The agency knew that awareness alone would not drive behaviour change — consumers needed to see the real-world impact of their actions. So, they contextualized the potential savings in everyday terms: enough energy saved to power a refrigerator, run a load of laundry, keep an LED TV on for hours, or even drive an EV for several kilometres. This reframing helped Canadians visualize actual energy savings — giving their small act of change real meaning. The agency delivered sharply focused messaging across social platforms, directing audiences to a branded microsite.
They focused on making change actionable by turning media into a catalyst for change. First, the agency intercepted daily commutes with high-visibility placements along high-traffic routes through electric streetcar wraps and digital OOH messaging located strategically at bus shelters, malls, and billboards. Then they produced OOH assets made from sustainable materials, including vegetable glue, reinforcing the campaign’s call to action at every consumer touchpoint.
Finally, the agency elevated its digital strategy by architecting a carbon-neutral campaign. Through advanced programmatic buying, they prioritized eco-conscious contextual targeting and ensured every impression was offset. They partnered with a platform equipped with proprietary page-level, contextual technology, allowing them to tap into green media inventory — reinforcing their message while actually walking the talk.
They also leveraged Google Marketing Platform (GMP) tools to activate low-emission ad supply and offset its impact with verified carbon credits — ensuring the campaign was carbon neutral end-to-end. Effective audience targeting reached green advocates and sustainability-conscious families, ensuring the message resonated with those most likely to act and inspire others to follow.
The agency not only made sustainability the message, but they made it their medium. Combining market-leading tech, production, and data sophistication, they literally engineered sustainability into the very fabric of the media they created. The innovative media plan became a critical proof point, showing Canadians what sustainability in action truly looks like.
True innovation doesn’t just inform, it drives change. Their challenge was to remove friction and embed change into everyday behaviour. So, to drive action intuitively and effortlessly at scale, they created a simple yet powerful tactile media nudge: a branded, thermal sticker that acted as a real-time prompt for energy-saving action.
Credits
NescaféTracey Cooke – Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing and Commercialization, Head of Center of Marketing Excellence
Carm DaSilva – Vice President, Marketing
Riona Coller – Marketing Leader, Nescafe
Victoria Martin-Evans – Senior Marketing Manager
Naintara Viswanath – Marketing Manager
Morgan Zhuo – Marketing Manager
David Vinzon – Asst. Marketing Manager
Meghan Houlihan – Insights, Coffee and Beverages
Thrive
Nicole Beaulieu – EVP, Client Business Partner
Stefano Norcia – VP, Client Business Partner
Brooke Dobkin – Director, Connections Planning
Dave Corpin – Director, Connections Planning
Jeenal Patel – VP, Strategy
Deena Markus – VP, Integrated Investments
Austen Wells – Sr. Director, Integrated Investments
Claire Megahey – Manager, Integrated Investments
Rebecca Stupp – Supervisor, Integrated Investments
Dominika Babis – Director, Performance Marketing
Vahid Fahal – Director, Performance
Emily Matias – Associate Director, Social
Alejandra Zambrano – Account Manager, Social
Angelica Jimenez, Campaign Manager, Social
Courage Inc.
Dhaval Bhatt – Co-Founder & CCO
Joel Holtby – Co-Founder & CCO
Niki Sahni - Partner & President
Tom Kenny - Partner + CSO
Andrea Romanelli – ACD Art Director
Jon Taylor – ACD Copywriter
Saloni Wadehra - Managing Director
Camilo Moreno – Account Supervisor
Lyndsey Westfall – Senior Strategist
Clair Galea – Executive Producer