Loblaws’ Real Canadian Superstore encouraged users to post images of #RealCanadianDads on its “S.L.A.M.” gallery to make sure dads knew they were doing a good job of holding down the fort at home during a very different version of Father’s Day this year.
According to Shelley Tangney, senior director of discount brand marketing at parent company Loblaw, the Real Canadian Superstore brand was looking to celebrate fathers, grandfathers, godfathers, father-figures, pet dads, brothers, friends, and uncles, just as much as it has celebrated moms in its “Shop Like a Mother” brand platform.
Tangney says for Mother’s Day, it asked Canadians to show us how moms were “crushing it” at home, and it got so many relatable responses it wanted to keep the momentum going, with social posts over the past week encouraging Canadians to show how their “real Canadian dads” were “kicking up” Father’s Day this year.
Its “Shop Like a Mother” messaging, first launched in 2019, includes Spaghetti Western music and mock-serious shoppers showing off their grocery shopping and deal-hunting prowess, including expert cumin-finder, Catherine Reitman from CBC series Workin’ Moms. “Shop Like a Mother” was first was rolled out on Mother’s Day 2019 on TV, radio, in print and digital and also through PC Optimum and in-store activations.
Tangney says that dads have always been a part of its strategy, and that it has always celebrated Father’s Day. Last year, it asked, “what makes your dad super?” on social, as “shopping like a mother” is a mindset, not a person. And she says that a lot of dads shared photos of themselves on Mother’s Day as well, and that the idea of what it means to “mother” is broadening.
Tangney says the brand was looking to celebrate real people and real-life stories by giving them a platform and by opening up its own, to capture the moment of Father’s Day at home and how customers are celebrating during this unique pandemic situation.
The Father’s Day campaign was focused on social because all of us have a bit more time on our hands than normal, Tangney says, and that this campaign is just a teaser for what is coming next. It was planned and executed in-house.
According to the University of Victoria’s Gustavson Brand Trust Index, released this week, Real Canadian Superstore bucked the overall trend in post-pandemic trust deterioration and that it along with Sobeys and Walmart were among brands that saw trust rise. According to the most trusted brands index, pre vs post-pandemic Real Canadian Superstore came in 13th out of 105 companies. However, this ranking was released prior to the announcement that Loblaw – along with Metro and Sobeys – would be ending their wage increases for front-line grocery store staff that had been instituted at the beginning of the pandemic.
