Hoping to spread the word they serve up a hearty breakfast and lunch, Cora Restaurants is raising its profile across Canada.
The advertising effort, which continues until the end of June, is using a different approach in Quebec than the rest of Canada, said Simon Boulanger, Réservoir partner, the agency behind the eight-week billboard campaign. Réservoir, in Montreal, won the account last July in a pitch against Alfred.
“Cora has been around for a long time [20 years] in Quebec where the product is well-known. So the Quebec campaign features several different ways to cook eggs,” he said.
One message, “Regardez-moi dans les oeufs,” (Look me in the eggs), is a play on words of a popular song by Marie-Chantal Toupin called “Regarde-moi dans les yeux” (Look me in the eyes).
There are two different executions for the English market, including, “You can’t get e-mail with our blackberries,” which is only being displayed in downtown Toronto.
“We wanted to target the business district with the blackberries message because we figured it would hit home with the e-mail crowd,” explained Boulanger.
The second execution, “Amazing breakfasts served daily,” is also being shown in Toronto in addition to other parts of Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and the Maritimes.
Founder Cora Tsouflidou opened her first restaurant in 1987 in the Montreal suburb of Ville Saint-Laurent and her first franchise in 1994 in Pointe Claire, Que. From the beginning, she emphasized a heavy dose of fruit with all meals. In 2000, she opened her first restaurant outside Quebec in the Ottawa suburb of Nepean. Today, there are over 90 Cora restaurants across Canada, including 55 in Quebec and 24 in Ontario with more planned.
“I hope to have 200 restaurants across Canada within the next five years,” said Tsouflidou.
Media buy was handled by Média Estratégia.
