Toyota’s “Secret Roads” program drove targeted reach for the brands Gazoo Racing line-up with Salt’s Create for Creator strategy. Designing a socially rich experience for creators who generated high value and heavily targeted content with high audience resonance.
It’s no surprise that marketers find the increasingly complex marketing landscape challenging to navigate. But where some see challenges, others see opportunity.
“Gone are the days when you bought TV, radio and print. The complexity of where you reach consumers has compounded significantly,” notes Jil Lohnes, EVP and partner at Toronto agency Salt XC. “You need more disposable content, to move faster, to build conversationally relevant brands, but budgets and timelines aren’t growing – it’s putting a lot of pressure on brands to perform.”
This is the space Salt wants to fill. “We’re able to provide impactful and simple solutions – if it feels too complex, it likely is, and we are here to help clients solve that,” explains Leanne Bernardo, EVP and partner at the agency.
Established in 2019, Salt is now over 250 employees specializing in creative, design, strategy, creator/social, media, omni-shopper, experiential, sponsorship, and digital performance.
“Protein That’s Pro-You” is about making protein accessible to everyone. The campaign and content uses real consumer product reviews as inspiration for content that is designed to connect.
The integrated agency, with North American headquarters in Toronto and hubs in LA, New York, Chicago, Austin and Montreal, was built on a philosophy of “connections.” Structured into three pillars – strategy, creative and connections – that work together across all stages of a project. Lohnes says it’s Salt’s connections model that sets it apart. The approach is a forward-thinking way to solve clients’ business needs combining collaborative cross-functional thinkers, planning tools and technologies designed to deliver results. “Connections in the industry is often defined as many channels that ladder seamlessly to support a big idea,” says Lohnes. “We look deeper at the relationships between channels and what a consumer needs to move throughout the consumer journey. It’s about engineering creative designed to drive behaviour change. It may seem like a small nuance, but it makes a big difference in how we serve clients.”
Salt also continues to invest in owned tech products to drive efficiency and effectiveness within the connection process. These include Media Mob, a marketplace for freelancers in the production space offering content creation; Frontrunner, an automated social boosting platform focus on improved ROAS; and Outpoint, a real-time media mix modelling solution.
“When we started Salt, we spent time reflecting on what clients said were their biggest headwinds,” says Lohnes. “Two challenges we heard consistently were clients need to move faster and budgets weren’t getting bigger. We believe that having tech-enabled solutions that allow for greater speed and overall effectiveness is where agencies need to be.”
Recent work with Toyota to promote its fun-to-drive Gazoo Racing performance vehicles is a prime example of the agency’s efforts to maximize clients’ budgets through its connections model, says SVP of strategy and creative, partner Matt McCoubrey.
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While Toyota is well known for reliability, it was looking to emphasize its fun side through experiential. The challenge, McCoubrey says, was limited budget. An event would likely have to be a small, one-off execution with limited opportunity to amplify. So instead, the creative team proposed an experience designed as a platform for creator-led storytelling, allowing for impactful targeted reach.
Inspired by the insight that Canadians believe there are few “fun” roads left to drive, the team recruited a diverse mix of creators to test drive on a purpose-built route in the Muskokas taking each driver through a series of story-worthy scenic content-capture opportunities. The drivers included foodie and radio host Deepa Prashad, travel and lifestyle photographer Eric Gagnon and car enthusiast Alex McInnis.
The “Secret Roads” experience was produced on a shoestring but resulted in over 52 platform native pieces of content and more than 18 million targeted views.
McCoubrey says the program exemplifies Salt’s drive to go beyond what’s easy to execute and adds that commitment to getting it right inspires brand trust.
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In 2023, Salt was named the #2 fastest-growing company in Canada by The Globe and Mail as well as ranked the #1 Specialist Digital Agency in Canada by WARC. Its portfolio includes Shopify, Sephora and Hershey, alongside organic growth of existing partners like RBC, Kraft and AB InBev. The agency is also expanding its creative, sponsorship and shopper marketing teams.
Bernardo attributes this growth to the agency’s focus on delivering results.“We have thoughtfully assembled a mix of experts internally who provide our clients with the right solution to solve their problem,” says Bernardo. “And that’s where the trust comes in.”
CONTACT:
Jeff Rogers
President
jr@ilovesalt.com
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