Unilever Canada is targeting “Canadian pleasure seekers” as its rolls out the national distribution of its Magnum premium ice cream bars in Canada this month. As part of the product’s six-flavour debut, a large-scale, fully integrated campaign has been developed by Ogilvy & Mather.
A website and Facebook page go live today, as does a campaign with the announcement of a Magnum contest.
The contest, housed on Facebook, is based on finding a “Magnum heir” after the “death” of the brand’s fictitious creator. The campaign comes with a prize package worth $250,000 for one Canadian winner. It is presented as a one-year VIP lifestyle and includes $100,000 to spend within 365 days, use of a personal chef and chauffeur once a week for a year, luxury travel packages such as a 10-day European vacation and a four-day trip to New York with a friend, and a Holt Renfrew makeover worth $50,000 that comes with a personal shopper and styling.
To win this life of luxury, participants go to Magnum’s Facebook page and create a video that explains the reason they deserve to be an heir.
“We want somebody who has a joie de vivre and believes that a day without pleasure is a day lost,” said Gina Kiroff, brand building manager, ice cream at Unilever Canada. “And someone, of course, who has a passion for chocolate.”
The entrants will be narrowed down by an internal board at Unilever Canada, which will include its own staff and people from Ogilvy & Mather. The top 10 potential heirs will be announced in late July, at which point votes for the winner will be cast by the public via Facebook. The winner will be chosen in late August.
The national outdoor component to the campaign goes live the week of May 9 (though some ads were spotted around Toronto last week). Transit shelter ads will focus specifically on promotion and contest messaging but one particular transit shelter at Toronto’s Yonge-and-Eglinton intersection will be overhauled for a day of Magnum-branded luxury. The bench will be replaced with a throne and there will be sampling of the ice cream bars.
Also during the week of May 9, a cinema ad called “Royal Treatment” will begin airing. The 30-second “Royal treatment” TV spot goes on air the week of May 16.
And to officially launch Magnum’s Canadian premiere, an event in Toronto on May 11 will be hosted by Ivanka Trump.
“We wanted a celebrity to help us activate the brand,” said Kiroff. “We believe Ivanka Trump embodies a lot of the brand attributes: luxury, sophisticated, glamour. She’s also a very hard working, independent female and is empowered.”
The campaign’s targeted “Canadian pleasure seekers” are 25- to 34-years old, said Kiroff, while the contest focuses on women within that age bracket.
Ogilvy & Mather developed the campaign with PR firm Strategic Objectives (which will handle Trump’s launch event) and media shop Mindshare.
Magnum is already available in 40 countries and Kiroff said over a billion of its bars are sold every year worldwide.
