As Canadians prepare to come together for the country’s 150th anniversary, President’s Choice is taking a new approach and showing how a shared meal is a perfect opportunity to reconnect with each other.
In a video launching the “#EatTogether” concept, a woman comes home to her apartment building, silently lamenting how everyone else seems to be buried in their devices. She convinces her roommate to set a table in their hallway, which gradually grows with people and food into a full celebration.
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The video was created by John St., with media buying by Dentsu. Since it debuted during the Centennial Classic hockey game on Jan. 1, the video has been viewed more than 11 million times (including seven million views on digital and social channels), making it the most-viewed video in Loblaws history.
Marketing for President’s Choice has typically been focused on product innovation – the brand releases roughly 600 new innovations annually to keep up with consumer tastes – and occasions around which it could be served, but “#EatTogether” is focused more on the people around the table instead on the food that’s on it. While the video ends with PC’s established “Crave More” tagline, Cheryl Grishkewich, VP of control brand marketing at Loblaw, says this is exploring a different side to the brand promise of expecting more from food.
“[The food] tastes great, but it also brings people together,” she says. “There’s always a lot to talk about on the product innovation side, and we will still have a lot of that going on. But ‘#EatTogether’ is a natural evolution of that because we also think about the social impact food has.”
PC’s research revealed that only 38% of Canadians eat dinner together between four and six times a week, while 45% watch TV while eating, 15% listen to the radio and 14% are on the internet.
“We’ve never been more connected as people, but in many ways we’ve also never been more disconnected,” Grishkewich says. “We thought food is a great way to bring people together and reconnect them, even if it is within your own family.”
The “#EatTogether” video is also setting the stage for a year’s worth of activities around Canada’s 150 anniversary celebrations. The brand will have more executions as part of the platform across different media, including local in-store activations, contests and an event on Parliament Hill on Canada Day.
“We really wanted to kick off a year of celebration with something that’s meaningful to us as a Canadian brand,” Grishkewich says. “We want to help to bring Canadians together to celebrate the occasion.”
