EnRoute, Air Canada‘s in-flight magazine, is on the hunt for Canada’s most beloved bar with the launch of SayCheers.ca, a website that lists more than 100 of the country’s favourite drinking spots.
Developed in partnership with Rickard’s and executed by Spafax Canada (publisher of enRoute), the site catalogs bars and pubs that represent the best in local culture, as selected by a panel of enRoute editors and contributors.
From now until Sept. 8, Canadians are invited to visit the site and vote for their favourite, with the winning establishment set to receive a full-page spread in enRoute’s December issue as part of the publication’s feature on Canada’s Favourite Bars.
Voters also have the chance to win dinner and drinks for themselves and 10 friends at a party to be hosted at a nominated bar closest to the winner.
According to Nino Di Cara, executive vice-president of content marketing at Spafax, the idea to launch the program was largely driven by Rickard’s. The Molson Coors-owned brand and Air Canada partner was inspired by enRoute’s annual “Canada’s Best New Restaurants” issue, and its corresponding site, EatAndVote.com.
“They had seen what we were doing with Canada’s Best New Restaurants and wondered what we could do in a similar way to help create an association between Rickard’s and premium food and drink,” Di Cara said.
“This idea of identifying Canada’s favourite bars provides a really excellent service to Air Canada customers as they travel from city to city, and also helps to reveal bars in your home city that you might not be aware of. It’s a really good editorial proposition for readers and obviously for Rickard’s. It creates a fantastic association with these top bars.”
Rickard’s and enRoute are promoting SayCheers.ca across Air Canada, enRoute and Rickard’s social channels, and have supplied nominated bars with tent cards to display in an effort to drum up votes.
SayCheers.ca launched July 14. EnRoute worked with Rickard’s creative agency, Rethink, on the execution. MEC is handling the media buy.
