This is an unusual time for shopper marketers and retail brands. But even though there are lockdown constraints, the industry is still awash with creativity, much of which can be seen in this year’s Shopper Innovation + Activation (SIA) Awards winners.

This year’s Grand Prix recipients – of which there are two, one for Commercial and the other in the Public Service category – are Molson Canadian/Rethink and the Roncesvalles Village BIA/The Local Collective. The former duo pick up the top prize for their “Make It Canadian” program, while the latter gets top marks for their “Not for Lease” campaign.

On top of winning the Grand Prix for Molson, Rethink also took home the most awards of any agency this year. It claimed 19 in total, of which seven were Gold for brands Procure Foundation, Kraft Heinz, A&W, IKEA, Science World, London Drugs and Truss Beverages.

The second-most awarded agency was Zulu Alpha Kilo, which was medaled seven times, including one Gold for HomeEquity Bank. OneMethod (a division of Bensimon Byrne) was close behind with a total of six SIA Awards, with one of its programs – the KitKat “Chocolatory” – awarded the most Golds (four) of any of the campaigns that were entered across the competition this year. Wunderman Thompson also picked up three Golds for a single campaign, “Remembrance Island” for the Royal Canadian Legion.

The SIA Awards showcase breakthrough achievements spanning retail environments, shopper marketing, brand activations and experiential. This year’s jury was co-chaired by Susan Irving, CMO for Kruger Products, and Sandra Sanderson, SVP of marketing for Sobeys. They led a group of 8 jurors – Nestle’s Tracey Cooke, Sid Lee’s Yanik Deschenes, Lg2’s Luc Du Sault, UM’s Richard Fofana, the T1 Agency’s Mark Harrison, Truss Beverages’ Lori Hatcher, Focus Communications’ Loretta Lam and Arterra Wine’s Wendy Montgomery – during live deliberations in April.

On Wednesday, Irving and Sanderson joined some of those jurors in a roundtable discussion of the Gold winners, a recording of which can be found below.

[iframe_vimeo video = “555353812”]

To see all of this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, visit the SIA Awards website here.

GOLD winners

“Make It Canadian” (Grand Prix, 2 Golds)
Molson Canadian / Rethink
Grand Prix
Path to Purchase
Partnering

“Not For Lease” (Grand Prix, 2 Golds)
Roncesvalles Village BIA / The Local Collective
Public Service Grand Prix
Small Budget Big Impact
PS – Original Idea

“The Chocolatory” (4 Golds)
KitKat Canada / OneMethod (a division of Bensimon Byrne)
Out of the Box Retail
Design
Experiential
In-Store Engagement

“Remembrance Island” (3)
Royal Canadian Legion / Wunderman Thompson
PS – Experiential
PS – Original Idea
PS – Targeting

“Heinz Ketchup Puzzle” (2)
Kraft Heinz / Rethink
Original Idea
Acting on Insights

“Gingerbread Höme” (1)
IKEA / Rethink
Seasonal & Event Success

“Won’t Wake the Baby Ads” (1)
IKEA / Rethink
Targeting

“Catch The Scam” (1)
HomeEquity Bank / Zulu Alpha Kilo
CSR

Voilà by Sobeys (1)
Empire / UM
E-commerce Innovation

Robin Hood Flour (1)
Robin Hood / Leo Burnett
Packaging

“The World Needs More Nerds” (1)
Science World / Rethink
PS – 360 Integration

“Courage Is Beautiful” (1)
Unilever – Dove / Ogilvy
Targeting