
The goal of Covenant House’s “Shoppable Girls” campaign was to increase awareness of sex trafficking and its warning signs. To bring this issue out from the shadows, a traditional retail campaign was created in which young women appeared as the merchandise. Media Experts won a Bronze Lion for the campaign at Cannes.
Media Experts has enjoyed 41 years of success as a media buying and planning agency because it has always put its audience first, according to Kris Davis, head of strategy, SVP, client business partner.
While the industry can get distracted by new ways of doing things, Media Expert’s main goal is to make meaningful connections with the audiences that matter to its clients, he says.
Founded in Montreal in 1981, the over-200-strong company has offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, which Davis says is rare in an industry that “tends to have an urban Toronto view of things.” Having a presence in the country’s three biggest cities “allows us to understand Canada incredibly well and gives us a stronger ability to help our clients understand people.”
Media Experts’ Vancouver office rode a wave of momentum in 2021, winning Alberta’s ATB Financial and Specsavers Canada, a UK-based eyewear company that launched in B.C. with country-wide expansion plans.
As part of that campaign, the agency created the Specsavers “Closer Look” integration during Vancouver Canucks broadcasts on Rogers Sportsnet. Shown during high-drama moments including coaches’ challenges and goal reviews, the integration put the focus on seeing clearly to get the right call delivered. The clever brand alignment resulted in large awareness gains for the brand, says Davis.

Media Experts saw an opportunity to up Sabra’s brand presence on TikTok to reach a new target audience during the pandemic and connect in snackable moments. This led to a collaboration with popular content creators including Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka. The campaign drove 3.5 times higher ad recall and three times higher brand awareness than TikTok benchmarks.
Client Sabra Canada, meanwhile, was a major player in hummus, but faced the challenge that the category wasn’t growing beyond its traditional consumer base and was losing penetration to other snacking options.
The strategy was to tap into TikTok, which had captured the eyes of young Canadians during COVID-19. “We leaned into this, getting audiences to rethink hummus, considering it as a snack food instead of a dip or condiment,” he says.
Studying the behavior of TikTok users, Media Experts noted that they snacked while engaged with the platform, and combined those moments in the TikTok Forever Dipping influencer campaign as a way of reaching new audiences with new ways to think of Sabra.
It created “snackable” moments that matter with TikTok creators including Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka, who had audiences Sabra wanted to reach. The campaign drove 3.5 times higher ad recall and three times higher brand awareness than TikTok benchmarks and drove a significant lift in favourability.
When client BMW was challenged by a lack of electric cars in dealerships due to supply chain issues, Media Experts took a deep dive into its audience and came up with the insight that customers are increasingly comfortable making big purchases online. The agency then figured it could bring the showroom to customers, partnering with Facebook to create an immersive augmented reality filter providing viewers 360-degree views from home.
The agency delivered a similar Canadian- first execution with the Fire TV streaming device. Users could take a tour of the electric BMW iX and use their remotes to learn more about its features. The campaign drove a 791% year-over-year increase in handraisers for the iX and i4 models.

In response to the lack of cars in BMW showrooms, Media Experts partnered with Fire TV to bring virtual showrooms to consumers’ living rooms. Via their remotes, users were able to take a 360-degree tour of the new all-electric BMW iX and learn more about its features.
Last year, Media Experts won several awards for its “Shoppable Girls” campaign for child care agency Covenant House, including a Bronze Media Lion at Cannes, shared with Taxi. The campaign aimed to educate young people on human trafficking through a bait-and-switch ecommerce platform and a website including survivor stories and warning signs.

As a part of Specsavers’ campaign launch, Media Experts created new media space on Sportsnet Vancouver Canucks broadcasts. Specsavers’ “Closer Look” graphic was integrated into moments of intense audience engagement, such as coaches’ challenges and goal reviews.
Media Experts is building on its history of innovating and adapting to client needs by expanding its business intelligence and audience analytics practice. “We have been exploring robotic and intelligent process automation to help maintain high standards of operational quality while driving scalability and competitive pricing,” Davis explains. It is also eyeing opportunities involving AR, VR and the metaverse, and is using virtual workrooms to collaborate with peers and clients in an elevated way.
Davis points to Media Experts’ management team as one of its greatest strengths, consisting of a dozen members with a combined 200 years at the agency – consistency that is rare in the industry.
Meanwhile, he says clients are focused on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and are asking what they should be doing and where they should be investing. He explains that the agency’s diverse workforce — representative of the country’s population and speaking 14 languages — helps the agency connect with traditionally underserved audiences.
Media Experts is part of the Mediabrands network. “We are a nimble entrepreneurial agency with access to global resources,” Davis says. “That gives us flexibility to do things in a way that’s right for our clients. That’s always been fundamental to what we do.”
CONTACT:
Kris Davis
Head of Strategy, SVP, Client Business Partner
KrisD@mediaexperts.com
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