There’s nothing like a frosty ice cream cone on a hot summer day – which Eastern Canada has had plenty of lately – but the Dairy Farmers of Canada are urging consumers to take a closer look at what’s on the ingredient list of the treats they purchase at the grocery store.
The collective’s latest in-market campaign, ‘Nice Cream,’ is using multimedia to promote the use of Canadian milk and cream in ice-cream products. The messaging is built on the idea that there are frozen desserts ‘masquerading’ as ice cream because they do not contain real dairy products.
The media plan, handled by M2 Universal in Toronto, includes print ads in the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Toronto Star, La Presse, Montreal Gazette, Le Soleil and Halifax Chronicle Herald; in-store ice-cream-aisle POS at Sobey’s, Loblaw, Metro and Safeway; online banners at Sympatico.ca, Canadian Living, Parent Central, Coup de Pouce and Maman pour la vie; and search engine marketing. Montreal-based Twist Image handled the digital component, while Attitude Marketing in Montreal handled the print and in-store.
The digital component of the campaign includes a website, Nicecream.ca, and a Facebook page, where people can submit videos or photos showing where they have made right or wrong choices. Two videos were created for the page as examples, featuring a terrible breakdancer who forewent trade school for his love of dance and a tone-deaf man who chose choir over woodshop in high school.
‘The media strategy behind it is that consumers are more and more aware of our 100% Canadian milk symbol this year, as it was launched in the spring of 2009,’ Solange Heiss, assistant director, marketing and nutrition communications, Dairy Farmers of Canada, explains. ‘More products are bearing that so what we wanted to achieve in 2010, specific to ice cream, is to reach shoppers at the point of purchase where they make a buying decision and educate the consumers about the difference between ice cream and frozen dessert.’
The campaign creative features an ice cream cone sporting a bandit mask in chocolate (ice crime) and one featuring a pink ice-cream heart (nice cream). The Facebook page and website also offer consumers a chance to win a $10,000 family trip to Jasper, Alberta. The contest runs until Sept. 12 and the campaign will run until then as well.
