Margarine brand Becel is leaning heavily into the notion of paying kindness forward – quite literally – with a single-day activation it is running today that it calls The Kindest Store.

The store, developed by We Are Social’s Canadian team, is in support of the brand’s Kind Hearts Fund, an initiative that gives $500,000 a year to food banks across the country to help them buy the essential equipment and supplies to support Canadians dealing with food insecurity. At the heart of the store concept is the idea that it doesn’t accept money as currency – rather, the cost to purchase things is paid through a public commitment to do kind acts, which Becel provides them with the means to achieve.

“Knowingly or unknowingly, Becel consumers have been supporting the Kind Hearts Fund with their purchases for years. This year, we wanted to do something a little bit different, and give people the opportunity to not only support the cause, but also be able to bring some positivity and levity,” explains Krisztina Virag, VP and business director at the agency.

“We are enabling Canadians to spread kindness at a time the world really can use it,” adds Mandy Au, head of marketing for Upfield Canada, which owns Becel. “We know that kind hearts are strong hearts, and strong hearts do more good.”

The Kindest Store aims to get communities involved in positive conversation about how they can do better for each other. While the activation is supported by influencer strategy and a media buy, the heart of it is to get people to take action and forward the message through user-generated content showcasing their commitments to, and executions of, acts of kindness.

“Social listening tells us that acts of kindness can have a virality factor to them. We wanted to not only give people the opportunity to do some good, but also change some of the online sentiment, and infuse more positive conversations into the social sphere,” explains Virag. “The secret sauce for the execution is coming from the collaboration between our creative, editorial and influencer practices – fusing awareness and engagement for the idea.”