2020 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

A&W serves beef raised without the use of hormones or steroids, and it provides reusable dishware, cutlery and compostable packaging to reduce waste. In early 2019, A&W continued to do the right thing for the planet by becoming the first QSR chain in North America to ban single-use plastic straws, replacing them with 100% compostable, biodegradable and marine-degradable paper straws in 950+ A&W locations.

To announce the change, A&W collaborated with TYGH Studio to repurpose the very last 140,000 plastic straws from the restaurant’s inventory into a 35-foot-long sculpture that conveyed the phrase, “Change is Good.”

The installation was revealed in front of Toronto’s Union Station, one of the busiest transportation hubs in the country. The brand kicked off the installation by inviting Canadian influencers to a pre-launch event, to speak with Susan Senecal, CEO at A&W Food Services of Canada, and to help spread the word to the eco-community.

The sculpture remained in front of Union Station for one week in January, tapping into the zeitgeist of people kick-starting their New Year’s resolutions.

To show that A&W was behind the installation, and to communicate what the installation represented, a free-standing plaque was built beside the sculpture. It stated that A&W’s switch to paper straws will remove about 82 million single-use plastic straws from landfills each year.

The installation was shared across social media. News of the stunt also spread nationally and internationally, making headlines in publications like the Financial Post, Ottawa Citizen, Forbes and others. A&W used influencers like A&W long-term advocate Jillian Harris to help get the message spread outside the event. After launch, the installation helped A&W become the most trusted QSR in Canada (Gustavson Brand Trust Index 2019). It also saw a +6% spike in brand love, the highest increase by any Canadian QSR (SYNQRINUS Study - Bigfoot Tracking 2019).

Credits

Executive Creative Director: Chris Staples, Ian Grais
Creative Director: Bob Simpson, Leia Rogers
Art Director: Vic Bath
Writer: Sophia Lucken, Jordan Lawson
Producer: Kerry Bhangu,, Alex Butt
Photographer: Kayla Rocca
Production Company: TYGH Studio
Videographer: Scott McClellan, Michael Kirsch
Post Production: R+D Productions
Account Services: Dan Culic, Lindsay Magrane
Strategy: Darren Yada, Aliz Tennant