The canola grower organizations’ National Canola Marketing Program launched Hello Canola a year ago. In an omnibus survey of Canadians, powered by Leger, nine per cent of respondents said they recalled one or more aspects of the campaign. FHR, the agency guiding the campaign, calls that a win.

Millions get to know Canadian Canola

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Canadians met our friendly neighbourhood Canadian Canola a year ago through a digitally-led Hello Canola campaign targeting millennials aged 25-49 in densely populated areas of English-speaking Canada. Approximately one in 10 Canadians surveyed recognized the face and recalled the message. That’s a good start.

The National Canola Marketing Program (NCMP) is a partnership of SaskCanola, Alberta Canola and Manitoba Canola Growers that was more than five years in the making to secure program approval and funding, and align on a launch plan. “We wanted our grower directors to come to the table ready to let go of the old strategy,” says Jenn Dyck, market development director with Manitoba Canola Growers. “And on top of that, we needed to create a program that provided maximum impact for the budget, which meant important, and sometimes difficult, conversations to set expectations.”

Before launching Hello Canola, the NCMP used a Leger omnibus survey of Canadians to establish their baseline opinions, perceptions and understanding of canola. Following year one of the multi-year campaign, the program tapped Leger once again to determine the impact it had on Canadians. It was important to use the exact same questions when putting the survey back into market, to directly measure impact against the initial baseline. However, a qualifier was also added asking if people recalled seeing the campaign, which helped measure the effectiveness of the campaign spend.

Nine per cent said they recalled one or more aspects of the campaign. FleishmanHillard HighRoad (FHR), the strategic communications agency guiding the campaign, says that’s a win.

According to the Leger survey, five in 10 Canadians positively changed their opinion of canola upon learning it was Canadian

A bar graph describing mostly net positive and no change results for people exposed to ads and those who were not exposed to ads.

The love gets a lift

The Hello Canola campaign aims to move Canadians from apathy to love of canola among Canadians, and to show Canadians that canola is more than just a low-cost cooking oil. The campaign showed a lift in the canola connection to pet food, biofuels and beauty products.

Of those nine per cent who recognized the campaign, they showed a:

  • 13 point increase in overall familiarity with canola (51% to 64%)
  • 26 point increase in familiarity of canola as animal feed
    (23% to 49%)
  • 35 point increase in familiarity of canola as a fuel (20% to 55%)
  • 25 point increase in positive opinion having learned canola
    is Canadian (29% to 54%)

“Overall, the data shows that in most cases, Canadians who were exposed to our ads were more familiar with canola than those who weren’t,” says Lynn Weaver, market development manager with SaskCanola. “Our campaign did its job to highlight the various uses of canola.”

Hello Canola made these gains through targeted social media and digital tactics specifically targeting the millennial age group. Millennials use social media more than any other media outlet to discover brands, and they have high average income.

“Our tactics garnered 35 million impressions and our cost per impression went down compared to our previous efforts,” says Louise Labonte, public engagement and promotions coordinator with Alberta Canola.

Year two

Moving into year two, the goal remains firm: Make the knowledge of, use of and support of canola a near-universal fact for all Canadians.

The campaign will continue to lean on hand-picked social media influencers to support in driving awareness and engagement. Year one data showed that influencer content outperformed Hello Canola branded content when it came to driving engagements among the target audience.

“Influencers are key for meeting Canadians where they are and creating content that our audience will enjoy – while still being educational,” Labonte says. “Influencer relations will be a strong channel for us to continue using in year two, as we strategically look to add driving relevancy and consideration as measurable objectives alongside continued awareness.”

The campaign will continue to drive awareness for canola among Canadians, while also beginning to spur action and involvement. “We need to begin creating opportunities and spaces for Canadians to be part of the story,” Dyck says.