Since 2016, Substance has proudly partnered with SICO, collaborating with the brand on the creation and execution of its content strategy across all social media channels. Building upon its existing and trusting relationship, Substance was designated the brand's 360 agency (Agency of Record) in 2019.
MANDATE
In 2022, SICO came to us to help the brand carry out its entire annual planning process from start to finish. With a new range of products set to be launched, Substance was tasked with planning, creating, and rolling out brand campaigns, promotional calendars, and an always-on strategy designed to reach target audiences at multiple touchpoints along the consumer journey, all while establishing SICO as the benchmark for paint in Canada. To introduce the new products to the English-Canadian market, a brand awareness campaign was launched, demonstrating everyday situations made easier by SICO products. The goal: Highlight the premium quality of these new paint products while engaging diverse audiences.
"This campaign was aimed at Quebec audiences with the goal of demonstrating how the brand is always close to them. We did this by highlighting the nuances that show Quebec as the unique market that it is by referencing the names of various SICO products. On our agenda: Emerging talent as co-collaborators, all supported by media creativity and a major contest to get the SICO community more involved."
OUR APPROACH
In light of TikTok's popularity, we tailored our social media strategy by adopting a video-first approach, drawing inspiration from the platform's latest trends to feed our content across various channels. TikTok's fastest-growing community of followers happen to be women aged 25 to 44, also a key target for home décor and painting projects. With 82% of web traffic generated by video, pivoting our content to a more dynamic format was essential. In a post-pandemic world, many folks had already completed their major home renovation projects during lockdown. We therefore found ourselves entering an era of finishing touches, compact spaces, and hybrid environments. All our always-on content was designed to embrace this, especially highlighting trends in home offices.
In Quebec, a new generation of comedians have been on the rise and gaining popularity. This has sparked a renewed interest in comedy. As a result, we launched a targeted campaign with comedian Mégan Brouillard at the helm, designed to better reach audiences and strengthen ties with Quebecers.
In order to win back audiences, we knew we needed to stand out in a big way. Partnering with Mégan Brouillard helped us step up our game. We launched a video series centred on Quebec's unique and colourful expressions and sayings. We also developed a fun card game, conceived and designed by our internal team. The game was offered as a gift to the SICO community. It tapped into Quebecers' love of all things playful, drawing inspiration from the enormous success of card games like Cards Against Humanity. By developing an innovative media strategy around the card game, we successfully rolled out the initiative province-wide.
In media, achieving a balanced media mix is necessary for success. We focused our attention on out-of-home (OOH) placements near paint and hardware retailers. Furthermore, our digital placements were strategically geo-targeted to drive conversion and guide people to nearby retailers.
In our always-on strategy, we linked these two approaches: delivering humourous and colourful yet always useful content that highlights the expertise and innovation of SICO paint products. With a mix of inspiring and actionable content, targeted at general audiences, we simplified projects to inspire our audiences during the consideration phase, encouraging them to embark on renovation adventures by choosing SICO paint.
Media and tactics used included:
- Contextual placements (Expedia, Tinder, Narcity, Bell Media TV banners, Pelmorex)
- Branded content partnerships with Narcity
- Out-of-Home (Festival Mural, Néo trafic)
- Promotional planning for publications
- Creative media (La Presse+, Ricardo media, coasters, coffee sleeves, etc.)
- Production of a SICO game
THE RESULTS
Facebook : increase in traffic
30%
from social
Facebook : engagement rate of
0.16%
vs 0.06% target
Instagram: engagement rate
2.79%
vs 1% target
Pinterest: engagement rate
3.2%
vs 1% target
