Perfetti Van Melle’s Mentos Gum is creating ‘mo-Mentos’ occasions and giving them front-page coverage in Metro daily papers across Toronto this week.
The national launch of the new Mentos Gum initiative challenges Canadians to think about how they would ‘help their world go a little rounder.’ It was recently marked by an event in downtown Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square during the lunch hour, where over 50 people equipped with giant bouncy balls, mood music and a massive 75-foot long canvas and paint created a collective art piece. The stunt, which also took place in Vancouver and is expected in Montreal in coming weeks, invited passersby to get in on the action by leaving their mark on the giant canvas. Metro‘s Monday issue featured front-page advertorial coverage of the event, with creative, PR and media buys by Cossette Media.
‘We thought Metro was a great fit because it is mostly consumed by our young target, who are very active and commute,’ Cossette Media media account director Alia Abouzeid tells MiC. ‘This kind of front-page takeover has a lot of value for consumers because we’re showcasing an event that’s been done for them in the streets of Toronto,’ she says, adding, ‘I think that the value of the content is appealing – we’re not just creating a false cover with an ad: we produced an event and then we’re showing this content to consumers.’
With a circulation of 320,000 daily copies in Toronto, the Metro stunt helped the agency reach about 21% of its projected target market in the city, according to Abouzeid, as well as 20% of its market in Vancouver at 150,000 daily copies, and 50% of its market in Montreal with 160,000 Metro copies.
Monday’s coverage featuring the event’s canvas art also revealed the new Mentos Gum contest site where, until July 5, participants can submit ideas for projects that would make their world ‘go rounder’ for a chance to have them executed and a $5,000 prize. Users’ entries are illustrated with a picture that reflects their submission, and every idea and its corresponding art can be downloaded and exported. The site also features a built-in idea generator for those lacking inspiration. A panel of judges will select the most inspiring projects and executive them later this summer as part of the campaign’s second and final reveal phase (August to September) – one in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.
Half-page full colour ads will also follow in Metro for an eight-week period featuring some of the submissions in all three cities.
The campaign will also include a radio campaign where hosts will ask listeners what they could do for them for their world to ‘go rounder.’ Images taken from Monday’s stunt will also be featured as part of upcoming indoor advertising in resto-bars and fitness clubs. Transit, TSAs, street columns in all three cities as well as targeted web banners, and microsite and viral components are also part of the mix.
To help fuel some viral momentum around the idea, videos and fan pages were posted on social media sites like Facebook, YouTube.com, Twitter event updates about the events, as well as on sites like Sympatico/MSN, Yahoo.com, MTV.com, About.com and Metro sites.
‘Instead of pushing the product per se like other packaged goods,’ Sylvain Lemieux, VP strategies and products at Cossette PR arm Blitz, tells MiC, ‘this is more subtle, we’re promoting the aura of the product.’
