2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Objective & Challenges

As a Crown Corporation, the LCBO’s mission has always been to support Ontario and drive positive change in communities. A key strategic priority that underpins this mission is to grow sales of local wines, beer and spirits available at the LCBO and in turn, support local producers and the Ontario economy.

As the pandemic took hold in Ontario, it threatened the livelihood of small businesses and local producers who couldn’t operate at full capacity or had to close indefinitely.

Insights & Strategy

In light of this, the LCBO recognized the responsibility of simply focusing on selling Ontario wine, beer, cider and spirits available at the LCBO wouldn’t be enough - to be truly seen as a supporter of Ontario, we had to champion restaurants, bars and all related businesses in the food and beverage industry who were some of the hardest hit.

So instead of asking people to just buy something from the LCBO during one of the worst economic downturns in history, we asked people to buy something from someone else.

The target was broad: Ontarians of legal drinking age. However, the team knew focusing on the younger segment (19-44 y/o) would have a greater impact as this influential target would be the first to try new things and share what they like on social platforms, especially when supporting local.

Execution

Introducing, “Pair It Forward.”A province-wide social promotion of all things local, where all of our communications didn’t just promote an Ontario product—they promoted another Ontario product to pair it with. This included dishes from the restaurant and bar industry and products from local farmers and makers across the province.

Using Instagram Stories, the agency filmed a chain reaction of local pairings featuring the business owners themselves telling us what Ontario product their product pairs best with, and then that pairing would do the same, and so on.

Bringing the province and local businesses together one pairing at a time. Shot in over 24 locations across Ontario, these “local pairings” also changed by region and gave all things good and local the spotlight and promotion they so desperately needed.

Using geotags and newly launched “small business stickers” to help users discover local products, consumers were able to show their support by creating and sharing their own local pairings using #PairItForward, sparking a movement that is still gaining momentum. Local influencers shared the story chains on their networks and created their own local pairings, encouraging their followers to do the same, contributing to the campaign’s grassroots nature.

Results

The retailer experienced a 43% increase in new local product customers compared to previous campaign periods, resulting in a 5% net sales increase of all local products over the previous year (VQA Ontario Wine, Ontario Craft Beer, Ontario Craft Distillers). Local producers featured in the hero videos saw as much as 87% lift in sales over the previous year.

It made great strides in brand perceptions too, with 68% of consumers perceiving LCBO as a brand that supports local alcohol producers, an increase of +15% over pre-campaign measurement.

Credits

Vice President, Marketing & Customer Intelligence: Vanda Provato
Director, Category Marketing, Marketing & Customer Intelligence: Julia Sousa
Director, Integrated Marketing, Marketing & Customer Intelligence: Krista Moriarty
Manager, Marketing, Marketing & Customer Intelligence: Renée Frisina
Manager, Marketing, Marketing & Customer Intelligence: Harpreet Bhogal
Manager, Sustainability & Social Impact: Julia Oudeh
Agency: lg2
Executive Creative Directors: Chris Hirsch/Nellie Kim
Executive Creative Director, Design: Ryan Crouchman
Copywriter: Ariel Riske, Zachary Radford, Shea Banting-Hallford
Art Director: Adam Tuck, Laurissa Mallen
Designer: Kendra Spurgeon, Gregory Hergott
Group Director: Wendy Doan
Account Director: Stuart Milligan
Account Supervisor: Martha Watson
Producers: Sarah Moen, Sarah McLellan
VP Strategy: Keith Barry
Strategy Director: Caitlin Gora
Content Director: Rachael Abram
Content Strategist: Kaitlin Kocsis
Director, Creative Production Services: Tara Greguric
Production Designer: Carren Sauder
Production Company: HeydSaffer
Director: Kristen Brown
Director of Photography: Simon Downey
Sound Recordist: Ian Reynolds
Producer/Head of Production: Ben Robinson
Line Producer/Production Manager: Pierre Campbell
Production Coordinator: Justin Chambers
Editor: Angela Young
Music/Sound: Toast & Jam
Media Agency: PHD