It may be Canada 150, but Dare Foods is also celebrating its own 125th anniversary this year.
To mark its 125th anniversary, Dare went into the heart of maple syrup country at the Vigneault family sugar bush in Quebec to locate a maple tree just as old as the brand. The tree was tapped, the syrup was extracted and it was sent off to a Dare cookie factory in Kitchener, Ontario to make a special edition of the brand’s Maple Creme cookies.
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Boxes of these limited edition anniversary cookies will be on store shelves while supplies last. People can also win a box through a Facebook contest the brand is running, as well as bottles of the syrup itself.
Grip led creative for the campaign, with Ketchum on PR, influencer relations and social and MEC Canada on media.
Dare Foods sells a range of products, from Wagon Wheels to Bear Paws to Breton crackers to Realfruit candy. But Melissa McCauley, director of marketing at Dare Foods, says the company decided to focus on the Maple Creme cookies for the campaign not only because it was the one most associated with the Dare brand, but one of the most iconic cookies across Canada.
“As a Canadian family-owned company, we also loved the idea of partnering with another Canadian, family-owned company and using their specialized craft with what we do so well,” McCauley adds.
McCauley says the core of the campaign fits with much of Dare’s marketing across its brands – a “made better” promise that focuses on quality ingredients – but dives a bit deeper into the storytelling elements to get across the work that went into the limited edition product.
“It takes a bit of a different lens on storytelling to celebrate our story and do something different, since it’s a limited edition, custom-made product,” she says. “We wanted to celebrate what we think makes the product itself so special.”
She adds the program also addresses consumers’ desire for transparency and knowing what goes into the food they buy.
In addition to the campaign elements focusing on the Maple Creme cookie, Grip also took the sound of syrup dripping into the buckets (as seen in the beginning of the main campaign video) and used it to re-create the Canadian national anthem. The song will be shared in a social video, and will also be broadcast nationally on radio stations across the country on midnight on Canada Day.
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