Arterra Wines has partnered with Bell Media on an unscripted show that is using extensive integration of its Bodacious Wines brand to grow its consumer base while further defining its brand positioning.

Available for streaming now via Crave, The Stranger Experiment is a three-part, short-form, unscripted series that examines what happens when complete strangers (like a nudist and a fashion stylist) meet for the first time and answer revealing questions to determine if they can see past their differences and find common ground over a glass of wine.

Participants challenge their beliefs, reveal their eccentric personalities and explore the meaning of being “bodacious,” which Wendy Montgomery, VP of domestic marketing at Arterra Wines, describes as “bold people that are true to their own passions and themselves.”

The partnership will include product placement for Bodacious Wines on the show, branding on the cards that the participants read questions from and a presenting partnership for the question segments. The partnership is also supported via Bell Media channels and consists of a full media plan, including a 30-second broadcast spot, 15- and 30-second digital cuts, social media posts of the show’s trailer, organic social posts and OOH posters of the show.

Despite how extensive the placements are, Montgomery notes it wasn’t the various media components that were of primary intrigue to Arterra regarding this partnership.

“It was the opportunity to partner with Bell Media to deliver a series that really gives a platform to different foundations of people in Canada and highlight their meaningful interactions,” she tells MiC. “It was really about this time, where we find ourselves so distant from one another, getting to the heart of bodacious connections amongst people was really the key opportunity for us.”

Having launched in 2013, Bodacious is a relatively young wine brand. Through the show itself – featuring a diversity of individuals and personalities – and the streaming medium its content will air on, Arterra is looking to broaden Bodacious’ audience by expanding to an area in which Canadians are spending a lot of time.

Montgomery notes Arterra is looking to build off the success it had with the Bodacious brand last year, as it had strong awareness and strong share growth via its social channels. Another business priority for the brand is fine tuning Bodacious’ brand positioning, laddering up to Arterra’s, which is putting the consumer at the centre of everything it does.

“This was our first foray for Bodacious with that new consumer lens on it,” she says, adding that Crave’s growing audience make it a logical place to pursue further growth. “It allows us to reach a new consumer with our message and hopefully resonate with them. There’s a little bit of test and learn here, for sure. So the hope is that we’ll continue to learn more about what consumers like and expect from Bodacious and continue to give it to them.”

According to eMarketer research, it was projected that, by the end of 2020, there would be an estimated 26.1 million digital video viewers in Canada, accounting for 69% if the population, and the number of digital video viewers is estimated to rise by 2.1% this year. What’s more, Crave confirmed last year that viewer time spent streaming on its platform went up 60% during the spring lockdown periods.