2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Sistema operates in a highly competitive food storage category, where purchase decisions peak during back-to-school and are often driven by price, convenience, or trend.

Despite strong product performance, Sistema lacked relevance with multicultural families – one of the fastest-growing and most influential consumer groups in Canada.

At the same time, Sistema identified a widespread but underreported issue disproportionately affecting
these audiences: 1 in 4 Canadian children experience lunch shaming, rising to 40% among newcomer families. Many children feel pressure to hide or change culturally meaningful foods to fit in, turning lunch into a source of stress and cultural compromise.

Rather than compete on product features, Sistema built a platform around this cultural tension: “Love Your Lunch Day” – a national moment designed to celebrate food diversity and address lunch shaming in schools.

In Year 2, the challenge was to scale the platform without new creative, while deepening relevance within multicultural communities and continuing to drive growth.

For many multicultural families, lunch is a direct expression of culture and identity – but in school environments, that identity is often suppressed to avoid standing out. The idea was to create a shared moment that encourages families, educators, and students to celebrate culturally diverse foods and normalize differences in the lunchroom.

Execution focused on expanding the platform through multicultural media, credible community voices, and culturally relevant resources. Real stories and expert perspectives helped make the issue visible, while tools and advocacy created ways for families and educators to take action.

The campaign generated 54.2 million impressions, 21.3 million earned impressions, 57 earned media stories, and over 33.5K website visitors. Earned media included in-language broadcast and online featuring one of their credible teachers. The campaign drove double-digit POS sales growth year-over-year and maintained Sistema’s #1 position in on-the-go food storage.

“Love Your Lunch Day” demonstrated that addressing a real cultural tension can build meaningful relevance with multicultural audiences while driving business results.

Sistema’s research identified a clear cultural tension. This research shows that 26% of Canadian children experience lunch shaming. This rises to 40% among newcomer families and many children feel pressure to change culturally specific foods to “fit in” (over half asked their parents to change their lunch.

This disproportionately impacts multicultural households, where food is closely tied to identity, tradition, and belonging.

In Year 2, the added constraint was scale: no new creative, no new campaign hook, and the need to deepen engagement.

Their challenge was to build meaningful relevance with multicultural families and drive growth by
addressing a real cultural tension – without relying on new campaign assets.

The goals were to scale “Love Your Lunch Day” as a platform that builds brand affinity and drives purchase. Increase brand awareness and emotional connection. Drive engagement and participation (site visits, pledges, downloads). Maintain category leadership (#1 position).

“Love Your Lunch Day: Create a national moment that encourages families, educators, and schools to celebrate cultural food diversity and address lunch shaming. To ensure relevance within multicultural communities, Sistema focused on credibility, representation, and accessibility.

Proprietary research positioned lunch shaming as a credible issue, reinforcing that newcomers and BIPOC children are disproportionately impacted by lunch shaming, generating coverage across mainstream and multicultural media outlets to reach diverse audiences. Partnerships included Rainbow Plate (food literacy with a focus on cultural inclusivity) and teachers and a physician reflecting real community experiences. These voices helped contextualize the issue for multicultural families and provide practical guidance.

LoveYourLunchDay.ca provided downloadable resources for parents and educators, a pledge and petition, tools were designed to help families navigate conversations around cultural food differences.

Outreach to educators and school boards in diverse communities was supported by custom mailers, including culturally relevant materials and educational books. Engagement with parents and teachers helped bring the conversation into classrooms.

Paid media and creator content ensured visibility during a key cultural and shopping moment, reinforcing relevance with diverse families.

Strategic planning identified lunch shaming as a cultural tension disproportionately impacting multicultural families and repositioned Sistema accordingly.

Three key shifts drove the strategy: from general audience to multicultural relevance, focusing on families most affected by the issue; from product to cultural meaning, positioning lunch as an expression of identity, not just function; and from campaign to platform, building “Love Your Lunch Day” as a scalable, participatory initiative.

In Year 2, planning ensured continued growth by prioritizing representation, credibility, and accessibility – without new creative.

“Love Your Lunch Day” was recognized on the National Day Calendar, received advocacy support from Ontario MPPs, and increased visibility of lunch shaming as a national issue.

By focusing on a cultural tension that disproportionately impacts multicultural families, Sistema was able to build meaningful relevance in a diverse market.

“Love Your Lunch Day” moved beyond awareness to create a platform that reflects and supports the realities of multicultural households – while delivering measurable business growth.

The campaign strengthened brand relevance, drove measurable business growth, and contributed to a broader conversation around food inclusivity in schools.

Credits

Zeno Canada Team:
Creative Director: Julie Georgas
Planner: Terri McBay
Art Director: Edd Baptista
Copy Writers: Greg Freir, Sandeep Kogilwaimath
Research: Tyler Murphy
Account team: Jesica MacDonald, Cassandra Zanetti, Emma Weber, Waverly Neufeld
Designers: Monica Neumann, Karina DeSousa, Freddy Ovechkin
Paid Media: Brandon Marrelli, Jason Chan

Newell Team: Julie Poirier, Atefeh Zare, Lauren Colt

Agency Partners & Vendors: Upshot Studios, Rainbow Plate