McCain is coming to life on Mother’s Day, helping capture candid familial moments.
Rethink’s latest work for the frozen food brand is called “Put Mom in the Picture,” informed by insights that 84% of Canadian moms say that when they’re together with their family, they are the person taking the photos, and that 77% of moms appear in less than half of the family photos on their camera rolls.
With that in mind, the brand enlisted award-winning photojournalist Krisanne Johnson to capture photos of moms in different candid moments with their families. An online documents the gratitude and emotion that each of the four moms experience during a reveal of the photos at an art gallery.
“We don’t necessarily have a focus on Mother’s Day or holidays, but we have seen a natural fit in those culturally relevant moments where families are spending time together,” says Laura Kennedy, senior brand manager at McCain.
According to Kennedy, McCain wants to be there for special moments, whether they are big or small. This campaign is different from the brand’s typical marketing, as it intentionally avoids focusing on a particular product so it could better highlight moms and the work they do.
“Moms are often the [household] shopper, so it’s always important we are speaking to them, as well as younger generations coming up as well,” she says. Kennedy tells strategy it all ladders back to the importance of building an emotional connection that happens when families are brought together, whether that be through heartfelt campaigns like this one, or humorous efforts like “Distractifry.”
As part of “Put Mom in the Picture,” McCain is encouraging partners, family members and kids to take more photos of mom, sharing helpful photography tips on Instagram and giving three families the chance to win a professional photography session of their own.
McCain also partnered with influencers Cat and Nat, known for their honest examinations of motherhood, on the campaign, as well as Canadian actor, director and proud husband and father Jason Priestley, all of whom will be amplifying the campaign’s message of getting mom included in more family photos.
According to Kennedy, the ad mix is fairly typical, with social, connected TV and online video on YouTube, which has typically been more successful for longform videos and for “Distractifry.” The media buy, which was handled by UM, runs until Mother’s Day.
Ad spend is in line with previous efforts.
