World Wildlife Fund Canada has made grandmothers the focus of a new website and public relations campaign to promote its second annual National Sweater Day.
For National Sweater Day on Feb. 9, WWF Canada is asking Canadians to turn down their thermostats and throw on a sweater to keep warm.
A website dedicated to the energy-saving initiative, SweaterDay.ca, went live earlier this week. In addition to information about the event and downloadable tool kits for schools and offices that wish to observe it, the website features a video introducing visitors to the “Granny Call Centre.”
Using a button on the website, consumers can book a reminder call about National Sweater Day from an actual, live grandmother. The site includes profiles of the various granny callers that will be on duty.
WWF Canada will also send the grannies out for media appearances in the days leading up to National Sweater Day.
The promotional campaign is headed up by Toronto agency John St., with Media Profile handling public relations duties and Tool of North America assisting with website development and video production.
Mavis Huntley, director of digital innovation at John St., said WWF identified a need to come out with a more robust buzz-building effort in advance of the event. Last year, DraftFCB led a campaign in which Facebook users were invited to upload pictures of themselves in sweaters.
“I think what they struggled with last year, with it being the first year, is that people weren’t aware of National Sweater Day before the actual day,” said Huntley. “This year, the brief was to make sure Canadians were aware of National Sweater Day, that WWF was behind it and the reasons for it in terms of conserving energy.”
Loblaw Companies Ltd. is the presenting sponsor of National Sweater Day.
