2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

CHALLENGE
Each Olympic year, Hudson’s Bay develops a collection of Olympic apparel, with 10% of sales supporting the Canadian Olympic Team. Athletes showcase the collection during the opening and closing ceremonies, and during podium moments, driving interest and purchase.

The collection generates sales to support athletes, and the retailer. And the sponsorship helps HBC tap a shared value of Canadian pride helping the brand breakthrough and build positive affinity with consumers who don’t have HBC top of mind.

But COVID and the Olympics’ cancellation created an unprecedented challenge: to generate sales of an Olympics collection and drive breakthrough and affinity, without the Olympic Games.

HBC.com has low awareness, so driving online sales during COVID, as consumers consolidated where they shopped online was an added challenge.

INSIGHT
Because the collection was emblazoned with red, white, and maple leafs, FCB saw an opportunity to reposition it from Olympic gear to Canada Day gear.

But COVID was cancelling Canada Day celebrations as well. HBC’s strategy was to ensure that the pandemic didn’t cancel Canadian pride. In fact, the crisis was actually awakening Canadian pride, with people proudly displaying their flags and cheering on the country.

This informed the agency’s approach – to tap into Canadians’ patriotic spirit by ensuring people still wore their pride on Canada Day. HBC gave Canadians an occasion to don their red and white, for a Canada Day at home.

The brand created its own athletic event – the Canada Day Games on Canada Day, rebranding HBC from official outfitter of Canadian Olympic athletes to official outfitter of the at-home “Canada Day” athlete.

EXECUTION
Partnering with the COC and IOC, the brand designed the “Canada Day Games” as a series of competitions built for the backyard, inviting people to suit up in HBC gear and participate as true Canada Day athletes – creating a need and occasion for the clothing.

Pre-Canada Day, it built anticipation through social, and on the morning of July 1, it created an at-home opening ceremony, with Canadian Olympic athletes carrying sparklers as torches.

TV and OLV drove mass reach and social activity drove engagement. Celebrity and Olympic athlete influencers participated to deepen engagement. It also called on Canadians to share how they participated in the #CanadaDayGames, honoring top competitors with clothing from the collection.

RESULTS
Against all odds, HBC over-delivered with the Canada Day Games integrated campaign. It saw a 167% increase in YOY dollar sales of the Olympic Collection on thebay.com, as well as a 54.7% average daily sales increase once the campaign was launched, successfully triggering demand.

There was also a 8.4% lift in Ad Recall on YouTube (54% increase against norm) and a 9.2% lift against younger Millennial shoppers, one of its core targets (69% increase against norm). And finally, HBC also tracked a 20% increase in positive brand sentiment on social media, 91% positive sentiment overall.

Credits

Client: Hudson’s Bay Company
Sr. Vice President, Marketing: Meghan Nameth
Vice President, Marketing: Allison Litzinger
Sr. Brand Manager: Dorcas Siwoku
Brand Manager: Emily Campbell
Vice President, Creative Director: Daniel Koppenol
Director of Design: Ryan Booth
Vice President, Digital Marketing: Jorge Carrasqueiro
Director, Digital Marketing & Media: Sasha Chumber
Producer: Ashleigh DeGroot

Creative Agency: FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
Associate Creative Director: Jordan Gladman
Associate Creative Director: Nimy Leshinski
Vice President, Head of Creative: Sylvain Dufresne
Copywriter, Montreal: Joel Letarte
VP, Group Account Director: Jodi Spanninga
Account Director: Madeleine Wildi
Account Executive: Jimmy Pun
Project Lead, Montreal: Caroline Morissette
Project Lead, Montreal: Véronique Rompré
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Vice President, Strategic Planning: Eryn LeMesurier
Strategic Planner, Montreal: Audraine Houël

Studio: Fuelcontent
Integrated Producer: Sadaf Ghandehari
Illustrator: Nabil Elsaadi
Production Artist: KitWa Lau
Production Artist: Frankie Augusta
Production Artist: Gasper Barone
Production Artist: Melad Jajou
Proofreader: Ashleigh Smith
Proofreader, Montreal: Olivier Laplante
Studio Manager: Rosanne Woodley

Production Company: Jesse Blight
Director & DOP: Jesse Blight

Editorial: Outsider
Executive Producer: Kristina Anzlinger
Editor: Chris Murphy
Assistant: Lia Han

Post-Production: Darling
Colourist: Roslyn Di Sisto
Online Artist: Lauren Rempel

Music: Berkeley
Creative Director: Jared Kuemper

Media Agency: Cossette Media
Chief Strategy Officer: Wes Wolch
Media Planning Director: Beth Thomson
Strategy Director: Alessia Grosso
Media Supervisor: Erica Goldfarb
Sr. Vice President, Media Buying: Diane Devries
Vice-présidente activations: Marie-Christine Simard
Media Buying Assistant: Salena Nazarali