2016 Winners

SILVER: Best Brand Integration

Canada Post – Venture One - Canada Post / Dragons’ Den

Canada Post's Venture One, a small business discount program, was re-launched to become a broader, solution-based offering called Solutions for Small Business (SFSB). The campaign objective was to build awareness for SFSB and drive registrations for the program online.

Small business owners are looking for help in managing and growing their business and they rely heavily on the advice and recommendations of their peers and other small business experts. Canada Post has the tools to help them, but was viewed by most as a shipping partner only. In order to be known as a multi-solution provider, we needed to highlight the program benefits in an impactful way.

Our strategy was to associate SFSB with Dragon's Den, a respected small business and entrepreneurial media brand. We worked with CBC to develop a sponsorship package that would ensure SFSB had a highly impactful and integrated presence within the show. The program focused on highlighting success stories of past Dragons' Den pitchers who had used the Canada Post suite of products and services to advance their businesses – presenting Canada Post as a small business expert in a trusted environment.

SFSB messaging was integrated throughout the show in a multitude of ways. Short form testimonials highlighting how Canada Post had helped past pitchers succeed were seamlessly integrated into the show, serving as valuable content to the business audience while helping to build awareness of the broader SFSB offering. "Cluster Busters," 15-second spots providing viewers with a behind-the-scenes look of the Dragons' decision-making process, aired during key commercial breaks. Billboards on the Dragon's Den wall provided "product placement" within the show. There were also organic mentions of Canada Post from the Dragons themselves.

A contest with a chance to win a $10,000 credit towards Canada Post Solutions for Small Business services – a valuable incentive for any small business owner – was promoted via billboards within the show.

Additionally, SFSB sponsored the audition tour for season 11, encouraging engagement with the contest and extending the reach of the awareness program, activating at more than 40 Dragon's Den audition locations across Canada.

The campaign extended online, with all success story vignettes available for viewing and brand-sell banners directing the target to the SFSB site to register for the program.

The execution was a deemed a success, building awareness for the breadth of the SFSB program and helping to position Canada Post as a small business expert. The small business audience was highly engaged generating the following results:

  • Contest contributed to a 23% lift in the in-person auditions attendance
  • Contest entries exceeded expectations by more than 35%
  • The online campaign delivered engagement rates exceeding benchmarks by almost double, indicating that the content, creative, and messaging truly resonated with the target audience

Canada Post was so pleased with the results of the initial campaign that they committed to continuing the partnership through 2016.

CREDITS

Agency: ZenithOptimedia

Group Account Director: Crystal Oxley

Group Account Director: Nancy Haggith

Client: CBC

Senior Content Liaison Executive, Content Marketing, CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions: Steven Pitkanen

Executive Producer, CBC Dragons' Den: Tracie Tighe

Integrated Account Lead, CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions: Tim Hickson

Specialist, Content Marketing, CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions: Noyan Hilmi

For submission inquiries, please contact Lindsay Beaudoin at lbeaudoin@brunico.com.
For partnership inquiries, please contact Neil Ewen at newen@brunico.com.