To combat holiday food leftover waste, Edelman worked with Hellmann’s to create the “Between Two Slices” campaign offering suggestions on how to reimagine leftovers with Hellmann’s. They leveraged strategically placed OOH and print creative across UK, US and Canada.
Edelman Canada isn’t the little PR shop it was when it first opened its doors in 1996.
In fact, with 270 employees and five offices nationwide, the Canadian arm of this global communications firm is barely recognizable in comparison to its ‘90s self.
It may have been the pandemic that introduced a new dynamic, explains Edelman’s chief creative officer, Anthony Chelvanathan, because it made the agency more collaborative on a global scale. Or, he reflects, it’s the laser-like focus on creativity that’s making the difference. Whatever the reason, Edelman has evolved beyond the confines of a traditional PR firm.
Edelman’s integrated model combines public relations, creative, data and intelligence, influencer, public affairs, paid and performance marketing, and more, making it possible to tackle projects from all angles.
“It comes down to the fundamental belief that it all starts with doing great work,” explains Chelvanathan. “The last year has been amazing, we’ve been winning a lot of pitches and attracting a lot of talented people.”
For consumer health brand Allegra, the agency created a simple digital navigation tool to help allergy sufferers find relief during allergy season by providing routes with better air quality across the US. Resulting in an SOV increase of 14 pts for the brand.
He notes that the shift towards a more comprehensive, creative-focused approach began under global CCO Judy John’s leadership and her emphasis on creativity as a core agency value.
Part of the agency’s success comes from its ability to focus on basics, he says. The Edelman team is skilled at distilling complicated ideas into their purest form, creating briefs that ignite passion providing clear solutions, which are then applied to whatever platform will have the most impact.
He demonstrates that by explaining the concept of an “emoji brief” – literally being able to distill an idea into the simplicity of a symbol – which is partly how the agency brainstormed the “Allegra Airways” concept with the consumer healthcare client.
The execution saw Edelman’s health and wellness specialty arm Salutem create the world’s first digital navigation tool to help allergy sufferers find real-time walking or cycling routes with better air quality, covering all nine million square kilometres of the US down to an accuracy of five meters. But the idea began with a brief that was three emojis long – a person, jail bars and a home. From those three little pictures came a campaign that drove $3 million in sales since March and an increase in Allegra’s share of voice by +14 pts, moving from 3rd to 2nd in category, among other KPIs.
Edelman Canada tackled gamers’ headaches caused by in-game lighting and sparked widespread conversation through the Advil “Head Settings” campaign.
“Simplicity is the hardest thing in life,” he explains. “We are a communication business. We should be able to take something complicated and distill it down to the purity of the idea – especially the creative.”
But that doesn’t mean Edelman doesn’t want to push boundaries. For example, Edelman research found 44% of Canadians have leftover food they end up throwing out after family gatherings, and that 94% of Canadians feel bad about it, with many wondering how to use leftovers.
So, the agency’s “Between Two Slices” campaign for Hellmann’s offered suggestions, featuring strategically placed OOH, earned and print-ad media across Canada, the US and UK, plus brand-owned creator videos, influencer content and a vanity URL, all stacked together to ensure the campaign reached a broad audience. It netted more than 300 million impressions, 22 million video views and 100% positive sentiment. The campaign was entirely overseen by Edelman, which handled creative, earned, influencer partnerships and digital.
The agency helped Ikea spread the word and spark discussion about the unfair secondhand tax (SHT), they placed open letters in Canada’s largest newspapers along with social, in-store, TV and change.org campaign earning them significant coverage.
For Ikea Canada’s “SHT” campaign, the agency tackled the idea that double taxation in Canada on second-hand items is unfair. It included an open letter in Canada’s biggest newspapers, as well as in-store, Instagram and TikTok, digital, print, online, broadcast and a Change.org petition. The campaign achieved over 50 million impressions, 32,000 signatures and 100% positive/neutral sentiment, sparking discussion and significant earned media coverage.
Advil Canada’s “Head Settings” campaign, meanwhile, addressed the headaches that gamers sometimes experience due to in-game lighting and motion. Partnering with neuroscientist Dr. Séamas Weech, Edelman created a two-and-a-half minute docu-style online video that explained the phenomenon and offered proactive solutions. It achieved more than five million social impressions across TikTok, Instagram and Twitch, as well as 14,000 clicks and 100% positive sentiment.
CONTACT:
Ava Shafman
Senior vice president, head of operations, Canada
ava.shafman@edelman.com
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