2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Fountain Tire, a leading tire and auto-service brand based in Western Canada, faced a significant challenge in the highly competitive Canadian tire market. While the brand experiences peak sales in the fall and winter months when tire safety is top-of-mind for drivers preparing for snowy conditions, sales soften considerably in the spring and summer months. National market data reveals that Fountain Tire is losing ground to key competitors like Costco, Kal Tire, and car dealerships.

This challenge is particularly acute in the Vancouver market, where unaided brand awareness is significantly lower (14%) than in other areas like Edmonton (41%). Additionally, brand consideration in Vancouver (32%) lags behind the national average (37%).

Fountain Tire recognized an opportunity to leverage its brand purpose, “We’re On This Road Together”, which is rooted in partnership and driver safety, to address this challenge. The brand aimed to cut through the clutter of a grudge category, one where consumers typically only engage when absolutely necessary, and find a compelling way to connect with drivers during a time when tire safety is often overlooked: the rainy
spring season.

The key objectives included increasing brand favourability by 5% and brand consideration by 10%, creating a measurable impact on awareness of tire safety in the rain, and driving a 10% increase in
appointment bookings.

Drivers often overlook the importance of tire safety during rainy spring months, despite rain accounting for 46% of weather-related crashes.

They created "Rainfall Warnings", rain-activated murals that dramatically illustrate the dangers of worn tires in wet conditions.

The brand activated in Canada’s rainiest province and a key market for Fountain Tire, Vancouver, BC, where it can rain up to 169 days a year. Using a hydrophobic solution, they created rain-activated street murals that dramatized the perils of driving in the rain with skid marks that replicated actual rain-caused accidents. Using weather and collision data, they uncovered the most dangerous intersections in the city. The murals were then placed near these intersections, showcasing warnings based on events from rain-caused accidents.

A QR code on the mural drove to FountainTire.com to further engage and drive appointment bookings. Additionally, they set up a mobile tire service at the mural locations, offering drivers free tire checks.

Using the weather and collision data from their initial research, they uploaded digital images of the murals to be displayed along Google Maps routes passing through the 55 most dangerous intersections in Vancouver. These murals showcased the number of rain-related accidents at each intersection, providing a warning for drivers before they set out on their journey.

They mirrored the activation on social with interview-style OLVs showcasing the drivers involved in the accidents that were featured in the murals. The agency supplemented this with an OLV featuring a BC police officer from the Highway Safety Unit talking about the perils of driving in the rain. The destination site provided a landing page for the campaign and an opportunity to further educate drivers. “Rainfall Warnings” had 4 phases to drive appointment bookings: activate, amplify, convert, and engage.

To activate, they raised awareness of the need for good tire tread via the train-activated murals. Placing them at high-risk intersections ensured maximum visibility among drivers most likely to benefit from the message.

To amplify, they used captured footage to further amplify stories through social and OOH. The interview-style videos featured drivers involved in the accidents depicted in the murals with one execution featuring a BC Police Sergeant from the Highway Safety Unit. These videos served as a powerful reminder of the importance of rain-ready tires and directed viewers to the campaign landing page on FountainTire.com for
more information.

To convert, they got drivers to put their safety first and buy new tires by showing up with their tire-mobile with assets, driving to book an appointment on the website.

They then further engaged with drivers to offer additional rainfall warnings on the website and through Google Maps. Leveraging the same data, digital versions of the murals were integrated into Google Maps, appearing along routes that passed through the 55 most dangerous intersections in Vancouver. This extended the campaign's reach and provided drivers with a timely warning before they encountered hazardous conditions.

Strategic planning's unique contribution was identifying and leveraging the overlooked risk of rain-related accidents. By analyzing weather and collision data, their planner pinpointed high-risk intersections and timed the campaign to coincide with Vancouver's rainiest period. They also recognized a key trip-planning behaviour: pre-trip route planning using Google Street View. By "hacking" Google Maps and embedding the “Rainfall Warnings” murals into Street View imagery along high-risk routes, they tapped into this existing behaviour. This free media placement provided an evergreen, always-on, safety message, subtly influencing driver awareness and consideration before they even started their journey.

Fountain Tire’s “Rainfall Warnings” exceeded expectations and, most importantly, progressed Fountain Tire’s mission to make roads safer for Canadian drivers.

Campaign results included a 21% increase in brand favourability and a 33% increase in brand consideration for Fountain Tire. Tire safety awareness also improved significantly, with 63% of drivers reporting a change in their perception about tire safety in the rain and believing rain-ready tires are more important than before they saw the advertising. Additionally, appointment bookings rose by 38% in the Vancouver market, while hacking Google Maps with embedded Rainfall Warnings generated over 50,000 organic impressions.

Credits

Client: Fountain Tire
Stephanie Proseilo: Director, Brand and Customer Experience
Tracy Watters: Advertising Specialist

Agency: FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
EVP, Global Creative Partner: Danilo Boer
Executive Creative Director: Jeremiah McNama
Group Creative Director: Troy McGuinness and Jonathan Careless
Associate Creative Director: Caleb McMullen
Associate Creative Director: Hussein Rumaithi
Copywriter: Caleb McMullen
Art Director: Hussein Rumaithi
Art Director Intern: Cristina Palmer
VP Director of Studio Production: Kendra Plantt
VP, Managing Director: Tim Welsh
Group Account Director: John Pace
Account Supervisor: Kristen Kennedy
Senior Strategist: Audrey Zink
Junior Strategist: Hannah Sifuentes

Photographer/Videographer/Director: Jake Killorn

Production Company: 456 Studio
Brian Steckel: SVP Studio Creative Director
Cassy Lat: Production Artist Intern
Carly Bright: Retoucher
Alan Reed-Osborne: After Effects Artist
Elise Beauvais: Executive Producer
Conor Fisher: Director of Colour
Harrison Glachan: editor
Kit Wa Lau: Production Artist
Kim Cheung-Quenneville – Senior Production Artist

Production Company: Smile & Wave
Production Company Credits:
Adrian Ryan: Editor

Media Agency: Guru Communications