Challenge

With change comes risk. In a well-meaning attempt by head office to increase consistency and efficiency by adopting a global advertising strategy, the Canadian branch of a consumer packaged goods company was being asked to forfeit its ‘made in Canada’ brand mascot for the global alternative. They wanted to know if there would be an appreciable impact on their costs and market in Canada.

Method

Workshops were conducted to test consumer perceptions of each brand mascot. Our creative approach probed perceptions of the brand identity, character, and positioning that were being communicated by the Canadian and global icons through a series of personification exercises – we even killed off the Canadian mascot and then resurrected him to delve into the emotional connection through loss and rebirth.

Quantitative concept testing with female category users across the country was used to put some hard numbers behind the outcome.

Discovery

It was confirmed that the approach using the Canadian mascot resonated most with Canadian consumers. This opened the door to further investigation of whether or not this would make a difference to brand perception in the long term.

Outcome

The quantitative communication concept testing confirmed the importance of the Canadian mascot on the bottom-line business. Rather than jumping into a new positioning, the Canadian branch stayed the course, and adoption of the Global approach was postponed for further investigation. The Canadian brand positioning was saved, and to this day, the Canadian mascot lives on!