2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

How do you convince people to ‘shop local’ in the age of Amazon Prime? It’s a daunting challenge at the best of times — let alone when you live on an island, in a post-pandemic world where COVID-19 has turbo-boosted online shopping. The local shops in St John’s, Newfoundland long ago lost ground to the smiley brown box. And with just 112,000 residents, there isn’t an endless supply of new customers.

Bezos continues to win because most community retail campaigns lack a strategy. They want you to shop local, love local, live local — but they don’t give shoppers a reason “why.” The truth is: shopping online in your pyjamas is convenient. And often less expensive. That’s a tough combo to overcome. They needed to give St John’s a real reason to put on some pants and shop local. They’re going to need more than one line here. You can’t understand this campaign insight without first understanding the underlying platform and unique cultural insight. This is year 2 of Don’t Get Dieppe’d… let us explain. ‘Shop local’ rallying cries rarely break through because they lack consumer relevance. Solid strategic thinking uncovered the first ace up their sleeve. Here, online shopping has an Achilles heel — Dieppe.

This New Brunswick city is the last mainland scan point for shipments to the island of Newfoundland. Dubbed “The Bermuda Triangle of Packages,” Dieppe is a notorious black hole for their shipments. As one resident put it, “Dieppe is like Hotel California. If your package arrives there, it may never leave.”

In year 1, they turned Dieppe into a verb. Instead of telling St. John’s residents to shop local, they told them: Don’t Get Dieppe’d. For year 2, a new insight led to an even more engaging and sticky campaign. You see, it’s one thing to let a box of paper towels arrive weeks after ordering — it’s another thing entirely when you’re giving a gift. This more acute stressor is the true pain point for their island audience, providing the insight for year 2: Shipping delays hit hardest when they leave you empty-handed for a special occasion. An anniversary gift for a loved one, a new baby surprise, a birthday present — whatever the occasion — it’s both stressful and embarrassing when the date arrives, but your gift hasn’t. By shopping locally, you can
avoid Dieppe altogether.

This year, they asked themselves— what happens when the countdown is on, your gift is stuck in the mail, and showing up empty-handed is the reality you’re now faced with? There are plenty of greeting cards for most occasions, but nothing for the all-too-often situation where a St. John’s gift-giver shops online and gets Dieppe’d. Until now. Enter the Stallmark Collection: A collection of greeting cards for when your gift is stuck
in the mail.

The “Stallmark” Collection is a series of Hallmark-inspired greeting cards that people in St. John’s could give to their loved ones when their gifts haven’t arrived in time. The cards used local insights and humour to serve as a reminder of the dangers of shopping online and encouraged people to shop local instead. Working with local artists, a total of 25 cards were designed for all occasions — from Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to birthdays and anniversaries — folks who shopped online would never have to show up empty-handed again.

Each card was a ‘mea culpa’ and served as a reminder that shopping local is a better option. Physical cards were available through the Board of Trade office or by ordering online on their campaign website, which also featured digital versions of the cards that could be shared via email or on social media. A promo video launched the full collection on social, and a series of promoted posts drove traffic to the campaign website. And in social, they had cards for every key gift-giving occasion — which also happened to be key retail seasons too.

The “Stallmark” Collection launched in the fall of 2022, with a small media budget of only $10,000. The reaction online was immediate — 1.6 million impressions, 170,000 video views (in a city of 112,000), and 7,000 engagements. Plus, invaluable free media coverage on CBC and in local print and radio. But perhaps most impressively, Hallmark themselves took notice, volunteering valuable shelf space in the middle of the Holiday season. And the reaction to the cards has been so great, they offered to keep the “Stallmark” Collection in-store into the new year. They should really be sent a thank you card.

Credits

Agency: Target
Creative Director: TJ Arch
Associative Creative Director: Jennifer Szilagyi
Copywriter: TJ Arch, Joel Felker, Melissa Bassett, Ingo Eckoldt
Art Director: Jennifer Szilagyi, Amanda Blackwood
Designer: Monica Herrera

Director of Account Management: Catherine Kelly
Senior Account Manager: Natalie Lemire
Strategic Planner: Noel O’Dea
Production Manager: Vivian Tulk
Senior Developer: Tim Carew
Production Coordinator: Sarah Stone
Digital Image Photoshop Artist: Dejan Vucicevic

Photographer: Lauren Vandenbrook
Props Stylist: Nico Paulo
Producer: Matt Power
Director: Justin Oakey
DP: Duncan de Young
Video Editor: Justin Oakey
Illustrators: Seonyoung Heo, Jud Haynes, Krista Power, Amy Adams, Kate Fudge, Katie Hardy, Molly Margaret, Shan Leigh Pomeroy