Pasta brand Barilla Canada has launched a new campaign aimed at getting families back to the dinner table.

After seeing success with the initiative in the U.S., Barilla has brought its Share the Table campaign to Canada with a microsite including tips and recipes to help bring the family together. For example, a placemat creator tool aims to help kids feel more involved and excited about eating meals at the table.

From now until the end of July, families can also share their dinnertime moments online for a chance to win one of three trips to Italy. For each contest entry submitted, Barilla is also donating a meal to Food Banks Canada, for up to 60,000 meals. The brand has also partnered with celebrity chef David Rocco (host of Food Network’s Dolce Vita) to help spread the message through marketing activities, including a media tour, five digital videos rolling out in the coming months with paid support and in-store materials.

Barilla will be promoting the campaign through PR led by Zeno Group and on in-store materials with Spider Marketing handling consumer promotions and shopper marketing. Proximity and 360i are handling social for the campaign, driving traffic to the microsite and OMD is on the media buy. Launch! is also handling an experiential component at the Barilla Taste of Italy event later this month.

In a survey for Barilla through the Angus Reid Forum, 96% of Canadian parents said that sharing meals is important for connecting with their kids, but only 46% have family meals every day. Additionally, 34% of parents actually said they felt guilty about not sharing dinner more, an activity that ranked as more important for family connection than playing (90%), reading (74%) or watching TV together (66%). Work and technology were the most cited as getting in the way of family meal times.