Labatt is inviting consumers to raise their cans of Blue—and smartphones—in celebration of Canada Day through a packaging, print and in-store execution that uses augmented reality to bring iconic Canadian landscapes to life.
By placing a smartphone over the creative materials, which were developed by Publicis Toronto, consumers are given the choice of viewing one of four Canadian locations: the Rockies, the Prairies, Niagara Falls or Peggy’s Cove, complete with celebratory fireworks.
The print portion of the “Cheers to Canada” campaign runs exclusively in Metro on Wednesday and Thursday this week in major cities: Ottawa, Toronto, London, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
This is the first time the free daily newspaper has run AR creative, which presents its own obvious challenges from an execution point of view. Robyn Payne, director of marketing and research, Metro English Canada, said the effort “involved a lot of internal players, including our account management, production and marketing teams. We had to do a lot of print test runs to make sure the AR would actually work.
“[AR] is a different way to interact with the advertising, along the same lines of the infotainment trend,” she said.
The campaign has been regionalized for maximum local impact. The Toronto ad featured Niagara Falls and B.C. showcases the Rockies. “It’s really cool the way the beer can goes into 3D, and in the Toronto execution, there’s a little plane that flies around the can with a banner behind it,” added Payne.
