2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Tourisme Montréal’s mission is to enhance Montréal’s appeal to potential travellers — a challenge when competing against major international destinations with substantially larger budgets and greater attraction power. With 7.4 million potential travellers and only 4% having already visited Montréal, France represents a major strategic opportunity.

Summer is a crucial period for attracting the French market, since this is the season when travellers are actively looking for potential destinations for the upcoming year.

But in the summer of 2024, they had a major challenge (and opportunity!) ahead of them: the Paris Olympic Games, which were going to command all the attention of the French.

That meant media saturation was threatening the brand’s share of voice. They only had $210K (20% of their usual budget and substantially less than competing destinations such as Toronto, New York, and Boston) to reach 7.4 million people, while they were competing against Olympic sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa, Airbnb, and other top-tier partners, investing hundreds of millions of dollars.

To avoid a drop in consideration by the French, which would have a direct impact on next year’s visits, the agency needed to prevent the drastic erosion of their SOV during the Olympics, despite being dramatically outspent by competitors.

The campaign’s objectives were to increase French visitors’ consideration for Montréal by boosting searches for the destination by 200% post-campaign. Maintain a media ROI of 100%, given the media noise and their reduced media budget. All while enhancing the relevance and appeal of Montréal as a travel destination for French tourists by generating conversations and debates (targeting 20,000 reactions) that would demonstrate the impact of this initiative on SOV.

As the agency delved into market data, one statistic caught its attention: with its 65,000 French residents, Montréal is home to a larger French population than 32 cities on the official Olympic Torch Relay route.

Montréal isn’t just a tourist destination; it’s a true French city outside of France.

The brand hijacked a moment when only Montréal had the legitimacy to connect with the French — by claiming a place on the Olympic Torch Relay route.

They created a 60-second video asking France to return the Olympic flame to Montréal. This unprecedented request was crafted to be so surprising that media coverage would be inevitable.

Featuring Montréal’s iconic Olympic Stadium and enlisting a French spokesperson based in Montréal created an authentic cultural bridge, while Franco-Quebec cultural references sparked conversation. By positioning their request as culturally significant rather than promotional, they secured valuable earned media that extended their reach beyond their limited budget.

By combining paid media with robust press relations during the Torch Relay — deliberately avoiding Olympic-period saturation — the agency maximized visibility when media costs were lower but emotional connection was high.

The video directed viewers to their website featuring a detailed itinerary of the Torch Relay in Montréal, transforming their bold proposition into a tangible, shareable project that converted curious viewers into potential visitors.

Strategic planning transformed their challenge — a limited budget against powerful competitors — into a distinctive opportunity by reframing the competitive landscape.

Rather than competing directly in the saturated Olympic advertising space, they identified an opportunity in the Olympic Torch Relay — a moment of heightened emotional connection before media saturation.

The strategic “aha moment” was converting Montréal’s underdog status into an advantage by making the audacious request to divert the Olympic flame, effectively leapfrogging competitors without requiring their massive budgets. This boldness used provocative messaging, precise timing, and cultural relevance to create an outsized impact despite resource limitations.

The “Bring the Flame to Montréal” campaign delivered exceptional results and prevented the drastic erosion of their SOV during the Olympics.

Consideration for Montréal by the French surged 300% — exceeding their 200% target — with search data showing direct correlation to campaign launch timing.

Their provocative approach generated 25,000 interactions (5,000 above target) with a remarkable 99.5% positive sentiment, while maintaining interaction costs 40% below benchmarks at just $8.40 each.

Despite operating with 80% less budget during Olympic media saturation, they reached 52% of their target market — more than double their 25% goal.

The campaign’s strategic focus on earned media delivered four times more French people per dollar than typical initiatives, achieving 220% media ROI (120% above target). The message spread to 23 French media outlets, including major networks like M6, LCI, and TV5 Monde, transforming a strategic gamble into Tourisme Montréal’s most engaging campaign in two years.

By identifying the perfect moment and leveraging cultural connections, they demonstrated how a challenger brand with limited resources can create an outsized impact, forging an emotional connection between Montréal and France that will endure beyond the Olympic Games.

Credits

CREATIVE AGENCY: LG2
CLIENT: Tourisme Montréal
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Carton Rouge
POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Post 430
SOUND STUDIO / ENGINEERING: Lamajeure
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Colegram
MEDIA AGENCY: Touché!
MEDIA AGENCY - FRENCH MARKET: GroupExpression

[Individual Credits - Agency - LG2]
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTION: Marilou Aubin
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Dominique Bulmer
COPYWRITING: Jean-Christophe Diaque
ART DIRECTION: Léa-Laure Bergeron
STRATEGIC PLANNING: Lily Barriere-Groppi, Camille Jourdain
ACCOUNT SERVICES: Marie-Julie Cossette, Chloé Brossard, Gabrielle Gagnon
AGENCY PRODUCTION: Marie-Pier Lavoie-Sigouin
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICERS: Josh Stein, Nicolas Baldovini, Luc Du Sault
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER: Sophie-Annick Vallée
VICE-PRESIDENT, STRATEGY: Stefanie Forcier
VICE-PRESIDENT, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTION: Nicolas Boisvert

[Individual Credits - Production Company - Carton Rouge]
PRODUCER: Nicolas Robert
DIRECTOR: Amélie Hardy
DOP: JP Bernier

[Individual Credits - Post-production Company - Post 430]
EDITING: Isabelle Borduas

[Individual Credits - Sound Studio - Lamajeure]
ENGINEERING: Jacob Gauthier Robitaille