Molson Canadian Beer: "GEAR UP FOR GOLD" Direct marketing by Zig

Category: Direct Response Digital: E-commerce, Online Advertising, Brand Awareness & Social Media
Advertiser: MOLSON CANADIAN
Product/Service: BEER
Agency: zig
Date of First Appearance: Feb 11 2010 12:00AM
Entrant Company: zig, Toronto, CANADA
Entry URL: http://gearupforgold.pushstage.ca/
Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman (zig)
Art Director: Spencer Black (zig)
Copywriter: Neil Blewett (zig)
Copywriter: Scott MacGregor (zig)
Planner: Chris Hayes (zig)
Planner: Doug Potwin (zig)
Development Leader: Chris Czegel (zig)
Developer: Waqar Ahmed (zig)
Developer: Joshua Ho (zig)
Developer: Karl Pawlowicz (zig)
Quality Assurance Leader: Wendy Lee (zig)
Information Architect: Bo Zou (zig)
Designer: Dylan Royal (zig)
Team Leader: Natalie Calderon (zig)
Team Leader: Alexandra Ungureanu (zig)
Project Manager: Ashley Eaton (zig)
Media placement: Online Application - Facebook - 11, February 2010

Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.
Molson Canadian is one of Canada’s most recognisable brands. However, the social nature of the brand was just starting to be translated to the consumer’s online world. Our goal was to engage our Facebook fans during a culturally relevant moment, the 2010 Olympics, and increase our fan base of 32,000. Our goal was to increase our fan base by 10,000.

Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.
The app allowed Molson Canadian to transfer the social aspects of the brand over to the consumer’s online world in a unique way. By allowing users to change their Facebook profile picture – the thing that most represents them – into a personalised jersey, a dialogue was opened with our consumers at one of the most culturally relevant moments in Canadian history. As planned, Molson Canadian suddenly became a part of the consumer’s online conversations. Jerseys even started showing up on the walls of our competition. And with every new jersey created, the conversations, and awareness of Molson Canadian, continued to grow.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.
The idea was simple: give our 32,000 Facebook fans a unique way to show off their pride during one of the most culturally relevant moments in history. The plan was that their friends would see it, want one as well and become fans of Molson Canadian’s Facebook page in the process. The “Gear Up For Gold” Facebook application allowed Canadians to turn their profile picture into one of the most iconic Canadian symbols – a personalized Team Canada hockey jersey. With the jersey as their profile picture, everything users did, from posts to comments, would promote the application.

Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.
Thanks to the inherent viral nature of the jersey application, the response from Canadians was overwhelming. Over the 14 days of the Olympics, 343,000 Canadians turned their profile picture into a jersey and Molson Canadian’s Facebook fan page grew from 32,000 fans to 375,000, becoming the second-largest branded Facebook page in Canada, surpassing the Canadian fan pages of Pepsi, Starbucks and Budweiser.