2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

OBJECTIVE
For the past 40 years, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) has had a presence at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF), offering an in-person learning experience to teach kids about all things dairy. This year, with COVID-19 numbers surging in Ontario, the Fair closed to the public and pivoted to a virtual fair.

The association needed to shift to an online experience so DFO could continue its long-standing relationship with RAWF and continue to engage children similarly to in-person events.

As with any pivot, it had to be done fast. The solution had to be virtual, classroom-friendly, and congruent with Ontario educational curriculum guidelines. Creatively, the team had to find a way to break physical boundaries and bring the farm into the classroom (or the classroom at home) in a way that got students just as excited as a field trip.

On top of that, it needed to be easily accessible to teachers, students and the general public.

INSIGHT
Kids learn best when they are having fun and it doesn't feel like traditional “learning.” They also love games. Especially the gaming platform Minecraft. This led to an exciting thought: what if the brand created a lesson in Minecraft that didn’t feel like a lesson at all? A gaming Trojan Horse that used an interactive and immersive experience to teach the rich story of Ontario dairy farms?

Execution
The execution of this challenging project required a hybrid perspective that integrated multiple skill sets. No Fixed Address decided to tap into the expertise of game developers, think like educators, become engaging content storytellers and bring it all together with expert digital communications.

The shop began by partnering with Blockworks, an official Minecraft game studio partner, to build the game and lesson plans. Working closely with DFO’s educators, it fleshed out core lessons and topics, then aligned them with lesson plans suitable for grades One, Four and Five – fully compliant with the Ontario school curriculum.

It branded the initiative “Dairycraft,” with a distinctive logo that created a clear and consistent identity across all touch points. A communications plan to drive traffic and promote the Dairycraft brand was divided into teaser and launch phases. The teaser launched November 2 on the landing page, including a countdown timer to entice users to sign up for Dairycraft. Email drove users to the landing page.

The launch was executed on November 10 on the website landing page with a direct link to download Dairycraft and learn more about the available lesson plans. Ad placements within the virtual Fair drove traffic to experience Dairycraft, along with more email communications.

RESULTS
Though still early, it’s clear that Dairycraft got educators and students alike playing – and learning – with DFO. The campaign to date resulted in +597% downloads vs. average, +453% signups vs. average, and 3,914 visits to the Dairycraft page.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer - Josh Budd
Chief Creative Officer - Dave Federico
Creative Director - Trent Thompson
Senior Copywriter - Katie Maxfield
UI Designer - Umaymah Motala
Art Director - Nina Hang
Copywriter - Travis Myers
Designer - Feilin Fu
EVP, General Manager - Josie Daga
VP, Managing Director - Ivana Music
Account Director - Caitlyn Kirkos
Account Supervisor - Lisa Budish
Account Coordinator - Nitash Asdhir
Project Director - Petra Simpson
VP, Strategy - Zach Klein
Director of Strategy - Kristy Pleckaitis
Digital Strategist - Anya Lomako
President, Digital - Jenn Siripong
Digital Platform Lead - Annie Tung
VP, Product + UX - Andrew Succi
UX Lead - Andrew Wardle
Junior UX Designer - Campbell Parsons
Full Stack Developer - Doug Glover
VP, Analytics - Sean Froese
Manager, Analytics - Lara Tutton
Game Studio Developer - Blockworks