‘SunChips’ Start A Wave was inspired by how people feel about our product – a snack that people feel good about eating – and the feelings that come from doing good things within the community,’ Frito Lay Canada’s SunChips marketing manager Tina Mahal tells MiC. ‘These positive feelings often start small and then create a wave as they touch other people – becoming something bigger.’
From that jumping-off place has come a flurry of activity, and a whole whack of advertising that will continue well into fall. The campaign began in May with a national tour by Universal Music Canada recording artist Hayley Sales. The concept was for her to meet with ‘wave-makers’ in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver – people whose individual actions, regardless of scale, have created positive waves and inspired others in their communities.
In turn, Sales was inspired to turn her tour experiences into a song that will be put to work raising money for Child Haven and the Weekend To End Breast Cancer. The song will debut at a gala charitable event in October, and then go on to attract more donations via digital purchasing. And, finally, the musician’s tour experiences will be broadcast on the W network on October 6 in a 60-minute documentary titled Making Waves.
To raise awareness of the Start A Wave campaign, three TV spots (5, 10 and 30 seconds) broke on July 16 and will run for 12 weeks on Corus Networks’ W and CMT. Another 30-second spot is skedded later this summer. Created by BBDO, with media planning and buys by OMD Canada, each of the commercials is a vignette from the documentary footage of the tour, and features some of the campaign’s wave-makers.
As well, dot spots began appearing on specialty channels Slice, HGTV, TLN, Bravo, Space, TVtropolis, Showcase, Bravo, Food, Canal V, Vrak, Canal D, CMT, W Network, Discovery and Series on June 18 for a four-week run.
There’s more. The other national components – all sponsored by Rogers Media, Corus Entertainment and CanWest MediaWorks – include: two full-page ads in the September and October issues of Chatelaine (English and French) which feature two of the wave-makers; 30-second radio spots which will break on September 10 for a six-week run in major markets across Canada; the campaign website www.startawave.ca; and a six-month digital effort consisting of a targeted three-phase rich media campaign incorporating major portals, women’s sites and music-fan-targeted media.
CanWest’s contribution involves profiling eight SunChips wave-makers over eight weeks through editorial content and banner advertisements in the National Post and local CanWest newspapers in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax.
The other partners supporting the campaign are Fleishman-Hillard Canada, which is doing PR; engagement marketing/artist negotiation specialists the JetStar Group; CIM, which is handling grassroots events and sampling; and Capital C, which is executing an in-store component featuring a pink SunChips bag flagging the ‘Beat Breast Cancer’ initiative. Force Four Entertainment is shooting and producing the documentary.
