Arterra Wines Canada wants to tell a story about the character behind its Nicolas Laloux brand.

In new work from experiential design agency Youville Hausmann Park (YHP), the winemaker is harnessing existing love for the brand by constructing a narrative over social media, centred on one question: who is Nic Laloux?

“There was so much chatter around the brand. There were already conversations – young people were already talking about the brand, posting content about Nic and personifying him,” says Cath Martel, content director at YHP, which is part of the Humanise Collective. “We really had the sense there was a lot of brand love in the air and we just had to harness it.”

To do that, YHP tapped into an insight about the brand’s core audience – Gen Z adults – that showed they had been adopting a park lifestyle to push back against the isolation and loneliness of the pandemic.

“In Montreal, parks have become the new hub for them to connect and see their friends,” explains Martel. “We thought it was the perfect place to make the connection with the brand story, with Nic Laloux being this Bohemian character.”

YHP collaborated with creative agency Bleublancrouge and creative technology studio Alice & Smith – both also part of Humanise – to gamify the activation, encouraging Montrealers to participate in a treasure hunt across their city from June 21 to July 10 that tells the story of Nic Laloux.

The activation makes use of Instagram’s “close friends” feature to enable people to interact with the character, solve puzzles and learn more about him for a chance to win limited-edition brand merchandise, up to and including a grand prize of the vintage bicycle showcased in the brand’s logo. Influencers have also been tapped to promote their friendship with Nic Laloux.

“We needed to find a way to be super relevant, fun and entertaining and not invasive, while allowing for the one-to-one interaction that is so important to the audience,” says Martel. “We really ran with the idea and framed it within the cultural, behavioural and social media realities of the pandemic world.”

“People understand that it’s a campaign and they know that it’s branded, but they love that we’re embracing a different approach and that it’s all about the story and the content,” she adds.