More than two weeks ago, Marc Fortin – partner and head of product at Lg2 Montreal – was watching one of Justin Trudeau’s daily press conferences, when the prime minister made a reference to supporting local businesses and the local economy during this difficult time.

It was shortly thereafter that Fortin and his senior executive creative director in Montreal posed the question: “What can we do, knowing that we have such a large base of local Quebec clients?”

It was then that the idea for Lg2’s buy local campaign first emerged, which brings 19 brands in the Quebec market together to highlight the variety of local products and services they still offer during this time. But instead of asking consumers to buy their own products, each entrepreneur suggests the product of another company, creating a chain of Quebec-based businesses supporting each other.

One of the main points of this campaign, Fortin notes, is collaboration, not competition. The cross-brand campaign contains brands across sectors, including Aliments du Québec, Boréale, Cidrerie Om, Ricardo Media, Producteurs de lait du Québec and Stefano Faita. With varying levels of marketing budgets, bringing them into one campaign allows them to be stronger together, while also creating a sense of community.

Fortin says almost all of the 19 brands that are a part of this campaign are Lg2 clients – some of Lg2’s clients recommended brands that were not on their list of contacts. “We were really open to involve any good Quebec brand that would be interested,” Fortin says.

Fortin says the prime minister’s sentiments during his daily conference echoed similar discussions the agency was already having with its clients.

“It’s our role as citizens to try to buy more from the companies here in Quebec. That’s the thing that gave us the spark to say, ‘Yes, we should do something, because we know those people. We know that they’re challenged right now,’” Fortin says, adding that being the largest independent agency in the province, and the struggles small businesses are facing right now, made Lg2 all the more motivated to create this network of support.

This campaign consists of three, 30-second videos that debuted on TV and online last week.

Social media efforts have also been utilized in order to create “a movement of solidarity” and to “make Quebecers aware of the power and importance” of supporting local businesses, encouraging them to use the “#AchetonsLocal” hashtag.