In a show of support for Canadian products and communities, Sobeys and IGA in Quebec have joined the fight against tariffs. The Empire brands are making their stance clear with a big media buy, including a series of in-game ads during the Canada-U.S. 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game on Feb. 15.
During the first intermission of the game, Sobeys ran a digital ad with veteran hockey broadcaster Gord Miller on Sportsnet primetime. Meanwhile, IGA’s commercial – starring journalist Ricardo Larrivée – aired in Quebec in English and French during the same intermission, as well as on social and digital channels.
As part of the larger tariff-fighting strategy, both businesses, along with Empire-owned banners Safeway, Foodland, and Thrifty Foods, have also launched digital brochures emphasizing Canadian-made items, and a new “Shop Canada” section in their stores, which identifies local and Canadian options for customers.
According to Empire, customers will also soon see more signage to help them easily identify local and Canadian options, including individual item shelf tags, and clear signage around these items and each retail brand’s commitments to local.
Additionally, the company is launching a national campaign that will be available through March 12 on TV and Connected TV (Sportsnet, Bell, Corus, CBC), Cineplex pre-shows, OLV/social cutdowns (YouTube, Meta) and OOH. It will also come to life through other channels, such as flyers and in-store signage.
Erika DeHaas, VP corporate marketing at Empire Company, tells MiC the media buy is “on the scale of some of our larger campaigns.” She adds that local has always been a core value for Empire’s brands; however, customers are asking more than ever for help in making informed choices when it comes to Canadian products in their stores.
“It’s a rallying cry to stand together in this challenging time as Canadian businesses and customers,” DeHaas says. “It’s [also] about making sure Canadians coast to coast understand how deep our roots go in this country and the local focus we’ve always had, supporting communities and the thousands of Canadian suppliers we proudly carry in our more than 1,600 retail stores across 900 communities here.”
According to her, the 4 Nations Face-Off was a timely opportunity to share that pillar with a national audience that was already tuning in, with tensions high as Canada and the U.S. went head to head.
The event, along with the media mix, also helped Sobeys and IGA reach out to families, who are their main audience. In the Sobeys ad, DeHaas says this comes across in the cast (mother and son) and the narrative: “The bigger idea is us having each other’s backs and standing together as one big family of 40 million Canadians.” A similar message was conveyed in the IGA ad, which emphasized that standing together now is more important than ever.
“It was important to us to make sure everything we’re communicating around local right now feels true to each of the distinct brand directions and platforms we’ve created for each one of our retail banners,” DeHaas adds. “This is meant to feel familiar to our customers, so although you see various executions of this local messaging, the brand tone and style is very much in keeping with what we’ve established for each retail brand under the Empire family.”
UM led media and North Strategic handled PR. The overall strategy was led in-house at Empire, with agency partners developing the assets that brought the brand positioning to life. FCB led the Gord Miller spot creative and production while Sid Lee led the IGA spot.
