Cutting through the clutter

Media Experts’ consumer-centric approach pays dividends in brand building

WWITH 42 YEARS UNDER ITS BELT, MEDIA EXPERTS HAS BUILT A LONG history of putting consumers first. Its goal has always been to drive brand and business outcomes for clients and long-lasting relationships with some of Canada’s top brands.

However, as consumer behaviour has changed, so has the meaning of being consumer-centric. The emergence of new generations and channel fragmentation, all amid a global pandemic and economic downturn, has spawned new behavioural trends, making it increasingly difficult to capture consumers’ highly coveted attention. This has required a more personalized approach in order to cut through the clutter and ultimately connect with audiences.

In 2022, BMW had the challenge of promoting its EV offering in an increasingly crowded category. Despite being an early entrant to the electrification game and maintaining a true sustainability story in its business transformation, the brand was not considered a leader in the EV space. Between new entrants flooding the category and more complex messaging, it had become difficult for Canadians to emotionally connect to the EV industry. To garner trust and establish itself as a market leader, BMW needed to renew its EV brand.

Insert Media Experts, BMW’s media AOR of 12 years. The agency’s research found that integrating brands into content generates higher levels of emotional response. This was prevalent now more than ever, as content consumption was on the rise amid the pandemic and a shift towards emerging channels, particularly with the closing gap between linear and connected TV.

“Our strategy was to capitalize on this shift and use content to champion entrepreneurial, sustainability-focused businesses in Canada and associate BMW to the sustainability movement,” says Jennifer Douglass, SVP digital, head of audience and analytics at Media Experts.

Thus was born Forces of Nature, a longform branded content series in partnership with CBC, a trusted outlet that could lend legitimacy to the message. Hosted by Dragons’ Den star Michele Romanow, the six-part series highlights Canadian entrepreneurs’ innovative sustainability stories intertwined with BMW’s own sustainability efforts. To align with the shift in content consumption habits, the series ran on CBC Gem and was syndicated on YouTube and through social media.

The results showed significant increases in brand perception, association between BMW and the sustainability movement, and consideration.

Media Experts has built its business on this understanding of consumer behaviour. With 215 employees across offices in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, it has sharpened its expertise in the nuances across markets, enabling brands to authentically and successfully activate from coast to coast.

For Media Experts this means taking the road less traveled. While much of the industry is concentrated on delivering ads efficiently, the agency looks to create brand experiences and moments which it sees as integral to the new attention economy.

Another example of how Media Experts brought this to life is through its partnership with the Royal Canadian Mint. Last year, when the mint launched a limited-edition coin collection celebrating Alexander Graham Bell’s 175th birthday, it called upon Media Experts to devise a campaign to show why his impact is still relevant.

Research showed the agency that Canadians’ wellestablished affinity for experiences has been passed on to newer generations, and with the pandemic and emergence of the token-based functionality of Web3, audiences were leaning into digital experiences like never before.

This led to the Royal Canadian Mint virtual museum, an immersive experience dedicated to Bell’s inventions. Audiences were prompted to enter the museum using a virtual coin, which enabled them to access and interact with various exhibits centered around Bell’s legacy. The virtual museum drove 29,000 visits to the experience, 35% of which led to key interactions – a success in terms of garnering audience attention.

“Your audience must be at the center of everything that you do” says Karel Wegert, CEO, Media Experts. “This goes beyond just meeting them where they are, but also creating value for them in ways that will garner their attention. This has proven to not only cut through the clutter, but build bigger, more successful brands in the process.”

Left: For BMW, Media Experts forged a partnership with CBC to create Forces of Nature, a six-part series highlighting the carmaker’s work in the sustainability space. An approach combining emotional storytelling and product integration paid off with 75% unaided recall – 15% higher than the goal – and aided recall of 93%. Below: 1 & 2 For a Royal Canadian Mint coin collection celebrating Alexander Graham Bell’s 175th birthday, Media Experts brought his legacy to light by creating a virtual museum dedicated to his inventions. 3 UK eyewear company Specsavers was unknown in Canada. For the brand’s launch in B.C., Media Experts used formats including 45-second broadcast, digital OOH and a unique brand alignment on Vancouver Canucks hockey broadcasts. Specsavers’ brand awareness hit 51% in five months, seven months ahead of goal.

Canada’s OG advertising awards celebrated its 101st gala this past June at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and we couldn’t be prouder. Every year, the Marketing Awards jury brings together over 100 of the top creative minds from all sides of the Canadian advertising and design industry to curate the standout work in six main sectors: Advertising, Craft, Design, Digital (the first year with a dedicated jury), Multicultural and Public Service Advertising.

The Awards are also an opportunity to acknowledge those who have made fundamental contributions to our industries – via induction into the Hall of Marketing Gold. This year, we were proud to recognize the remarkable work of Judy John, Frank Palmer and Don Watt.

BY WENDY KAN

Judy John

With her impactful, culture-shifting work and a slew of firsts in the industry, Judy John has carved out a singular path.

John was the driving force behind the Always “Like a Girl” campaign, recasting the derogatory phrase as a compliment and racking up awards, including an Emmy and Black Pencil at D&AD, as well as a Grand Prix and Glass Lion at Cannes. She was the first to hold the dual remit of CEO for Canada and CCO for North America at Leo Burnett, and she was the rare multinational CEO to come from the creative side (who wasn’t a founder). In 2019, she was hired as the first ever Global CCO at Edelman, the position she currently holds.

You don’t receive those sorts of accolades without creating memorable, resonant campaigns. So, what’s the secret sauce to making a brand stand out? “We talk a lot about trust, building trust with all stakeholders,” she says. “But I’m also talking a lot about relevance. Are you relevant in people’s lives? Are you relevant in culture? I’m talking about relevance as a brand, as an icon in people’s minds, and how you maintain that.”

A key driver for John is to create work that is meaningful, incredible or motivating to help companies shape society for the better in the face of AI and other challenges. “There will always be the need for creativity, and the need for creativity to drive commerce,” she says. “We have to show our value as problem-solvers, innovators, entertainers, business-drivers, people-inspirers. That’s the point.”

Frank Palmer

An entrepreneur, agency builder, dealmaker and businessman, Frank Palmer is an industry legend. Palmer put Vancouver on the map with his award-winning agency, while grooming top talent who have gone on to found some of today’s most lauded agencies: Rethink, 123w and Broken Heart Love Affair.

Forming Palmer Jarvis in 1974, which merged with DDB and later saw its Vancouver office rebranded as PS&Co Brand Studio, Palmer cultivated a culture of possibilities. Chris Staples, a founding partner at Rethink who was hired by Palmer early in his career, recalls the learnings he took with him: Palmer let those who acted like leaders lead, gave creatives leeway, allowed people to make mistakes and was gracious to those who left to start their own agencies. Staples, who is now retired and sits on Rethink’s board of directors, says: “This comes up a lot with us [the board of directors] where we say, ‘What would Frank do?’”

At 82, Palmer remains a force in the industry. “He is so connected and so revered, that to this day, people are still calling him up for help,” says Patty Jones, partner and president at PS&Co Brand Studio. “When you consider the change that the industry has gone through since he started in 1969, he’s still on top of it. All of his insight and wisdom are still ridiculously relevant in 2023.”

And Palmer remains as passionate about the business as he ever did: “Today,” he notes, “it’s still exciting to show what you can do that others can’t.”

Don Watt (1936 - 2009)

If the measure of a posthumous Hall of Fame inductee is the legacy one leaves behind, there’s no questioning the honour bestowed on Don Watt, who died in 2009 at the age of 73. Watt pioneered a holistic approach to retail branding and design, injecting life into major retailers and their private brands.

“Don changed the retail business from a visual standpoint,” says Ed Shikatani, whose first job was working as a designer for Watt. “He controlled everything: the packaging, the store, store colour, the logo, what the building looked like. That was pretty unique at that time.”

For Loblaw’s No Name packaging, Watt created its simple yet impactful design, with its bold, black, lower-case text, Helvetica type and clean yellow background. For Walmart, Watt designed the Supercentre retail model, along with its Sam’s Choice, Great Value and Equate brands. For Home Depot, he developed its distinctive orange logo and store concept. Watt was the first designer to use photo-symbolism on packaging, for Nestle.

Brand after brand, Watt made the work look easy. And today, at Watt International, his impact lives on. “He was always thinking about the customer, how they shop, when they shop, the implications – then design,” says Alexa Retchkiman, VP of international client development at Watt International. Now, through the lens of history, the industry recognizes just how pivotal that thinking was.

Watt’s approach to design was integral to the development of some of Canada’s most iconic brands.