As Sobeys conjures up images of comforting holiday traditions, the media plan around its festive campaign is looking anything-but-traditional.

While the grocer’s annual campaign kicked off with a TV spot which debuted late last week, Erika Dehaas, director of media and sponsorship for Sobeys, says much of the spend is going to digital, part of Sobeys’ growing focus on mobile video.

“Mobile-first has always been really important to us,” Dehaas tells MiC. “The social channel mix allows us to touch on multiple customer touchpoints, connect to their journeys and push forward that seasonal product.”

It’s increasing spend on Instagram Stories, which it invested in last year, while adding content to IGTV for the first time. “We’ve had a lot of great success and learning on social,” she says. “It’s become increasingly about tapping into the moments our customers are interested in. We’ve added 10-second product spots, along with six-second cut-downs.”

IGTV was added as part of an effort to amplify its 30- and 60-second TV spots.

“Our TV spot is your classic mass media approach,” she says, adding that Sobeys is also placing cinema ads during family-targeted movies and sponsoring spots on W Network’s “Countdown to Christmas” holiday movie marathon.

The retailer is supporting its social efforts with a search campaign through Google and Pinterest. “This time of year is really big for consumers searching for recipes, so we want to make sure that we’re highly visible in that space.”

Sobeys’ campaign will run from mid-November until the end of December. The media buy was conducted by UM.