Three well-known Quebec TV personalities are temporarily trading in the studio for the showroom in a new campaign for Mazda developed by Bell Media Mix.
Created in collaboration with JWT and Mindshare, the “Grand Duel Mazda” campaign runs through mid-April. It is built around a series of weekly webisodes featuring RDS personalities Frédérick Plante and Yannick Bouchard, and VRAK TV personality (and former Montreal Alouettes player) Étienne Boulay.
“It has a very Quebecois feel,” said Alex Durocher, group manager for Bell Media Mix in Montreal. “People here like their local celebrities, and all three are well-appreciated. Women love Étienne Boulay and guys are big fans of the RDS guys. It’s a great fit with the brand.”
Each webisode places the three men in a car showroom, where they humorously attempt to highlight some of the key features of Mazda vehicles to customers. In one recent webisode, for example, Boulay shows off his Grey Cup ring in order to impress a potential client.
Visitors to the site are asked to vote on their favourite seller for a chance to win a new Mazda.
The campaign is being promoted across Bell Media’s French-language assets, including TV channels Canal Vie, Séries+ and RDS, as well as 15-second spots on its NRJ radio network, with a particular emphasis on morning and afternoon rush hour. Online ads are appearing on Ztele.com, RDS.ca and AutoFocus.ca, along with targeted email marketing.
Bell is also promoting the contest through its Astral Out-of-Home division, with ads appearing on 12 digital billboards throughout the greater Montreal region.
“We get a lot of requests for campaigns using all of these options,” said Durocher. “It makes for a huge campaign when we put them all together.”
This is the second straight year Bell has worked on a custom multiplatform campaign for Mazda.
