Fromagerie Bel has created a national campaign for its The Laughing Cow brand, launching a new brand platform focused on giving the brand a more relevant place in its consumers lives.
Marie-Ève Robert, director of marketing at Fromagerie Bel Canada, says the new platform is “both surprising and emotional.” The TV spots show several solo shots of people laughing, as well as laughing off mishaps people experience in their daily lives, such as breaking their eyeglasses or falling down while carrying drinks.
“Our creative team wanted to represent the different stages of life in general, to illustrate different types of tensions at various key moments in one’s life (from parents to children, passing on the philosophy of laughter, becoming a parent or at a socialization learning stage of life),” says Miriam Bousquet, strategist at Havas Montréal. “The TV ad aims to show balance in the thread of life, without having large gaps between periods. It sets out very clearly the intentions to convey the brand’s philosophy, inviting people to see life in a positive light, to choose to laugh for the sake of general well-being.”
[iframe_vimeo video = “391545233”]
Robert notes that when The Laughing Cow Cheese was created in 1921, it was developed under the belief that “laughter is everything but superficial.”
“Laughter does not just make us happier; it also makes us healthier,” Robert says. “The Laughing Cow truly believes that laughing has the power to positively transform our lives. This campaign allows us to bring laughter back to the heart of our communications, as it is an intrinsic part of the very identity and nature of the brand. It was a natural, yet obvious direction for us to refocus on the brand’s most fundamental roots.”
The new equity platform leverages meaningfulness [and] redefining the brand’s place in people’s lives,” Robert says, “The Laughing Cow, like many other businesses, is increasingly being challenged to imbue greater purpose into their campaigns. We’re taking ownership [of] a strong message, based on universal values. This allows the brand to occupy a more relevant space for its target, using laughter to inspire a positive mindset.”
Robert notes that, with this campaign, Fromagerie Bel Canada is moving more toward a millennial audience, including adults with or without kids. Robert adds how The Laughing Cow already has “an attitudinal target that’s already very familiar with that notion of positive mindset.”
The media approach has also been adjusted to enforce those ideas with more of a mass audience.
“The precision of the media orchestration contributed at different levels to build a coherent communication environment, yet a complete, efficient and impactful ecosystem,” Robert says. “Television successfully installed our brand purpose, OOH reinforced the brand iconicity, and digital impacted proximity and purchase intent.”
The first phase of this campaign ended this week, Bousquet says, with the “second wave” planned for approximately August. Robert says the platform launch is being supported with a “strong media deployment,” with this campaign including several TV spots, web executions, out-of-home, social, point-of-sale and display ads. The original creative was produced by Paris agency Providence, which is part of the Havas Group; Havas Montreal is leading the local execution, with Spark Foundry on media.
