Mondelēz Canada surveyed Canadian Olympic athletes to find out how fans can best cheer them on. The survey was part of the snack giant’s “Pride & Joy” campaign leading up to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
More than three-quarters of athletes (77%) said that hearing their fans cheering and shouting motivates them most when competing, followed by holding signs of support (73%) and dressing up in red and white (71%).
“When we were talking with the [Canadian Olympic Committee] we realized that they had never really asked the athletes how important fan support is to them,” said Aditi Burman, senior consumer promotions manager at Mondēlez Canada, whose brands include Oreo, Ritz, Dentyne and Cadbury. “So our idea was, ‘Why don’t we do a survey and see what fans mean to them and how important fan support is their performance?’”
The survey, which was sent to athletes through the COC’s newsletter, also served another purpose: to find Olympic spokespeople for Mondelēz Canada. Jennifer Botterill, a four-time Olympian in hockey, was chosen as the “Pride & Joy” ambassador for English Canada. Isabelle Charest, a former Olympic speed skater, is the ambassador in French Canada. Botterill is also working for CBC as a commentator during the Olympics, while Charest will be working with Radio-Canada.
Botterill took part in a media tour in Toronto on Jan. 17, including an appearance on Breakfast Television and spots on a number of radio stations. Charest’s media tour took place on Jan. 20 in Montreal, where she was interviewed by Salut Bonjour! the Gazette among others. The Olympic ambassadors talked about the survey results and the “Pride & Joy” campaign on the tour.
Burman said the survey was a way to provide media with an interesting angle. “Saying [we] have joined forces with the Olympics is not that exciting [for the media]. Information nuggets are always appreciated in today’s media world and the results were newsworthy because the COC had never done anything like this before.”
Mondelēz Canada, which was spun off from Kraft Foods in 2012, announced its four-year partnership with the COC last November.
“Joining up with the Canadian Olympic Committee is the biggest thing we’ve done in our short history and it’s exciting on so many levels,” said Burman. “It is the one thing that we have done completely independently with this new company. It is something that we can leverage across nearly all of our brands and it’s really a way for us to say that we are a snacking powerhouse.”
The overarching idea behind the “Pride & Joy” campaign is about “the lighter side,” said Burman. “Our brands inherently are all about joy, fun and celebration. So our approach to the Olympics was to be on the lighter side versus performance.”
The campaign also includes four limited-edition Christie products, in-store displays and the Pride & Joy interactive app. The app will alert users in real-time of “amazing moments” during the Games, giving users the chance to win thousands of instant prizes. Users who download the app before Jan. 24 will have the chance to win the grand prize: a trip to the men’s gold medal hockey final. Mondelēz Canada will also donate $1 per download to the Canadian Olympic Foundation up to $50,000.
Animated characters named “Pride” and “Joy” will bring the campaign to life through various Mondelēz Canada brand Facebook pages (Cadbury Dairy Milk, Oreo, Dentyne and Ritz Crackers), in-store displays and the app.
A partnership with CBC/Radio-Canada includes a broadcast integration of the media ceremonies, which will include the Pride and Joy characters.
MediaVest is the media buying agency of record, Jungle Media is the strategic planner for the partnership, The Hive is the creative agency of record and Edelman is the public relations agency of record.
