Who: Hardware retailer Rona, with Sid Lee for strategy and creative; Circonflex for music; Starcom for media.
What: A national campaign that Sid Lee says is about “reviving” the hardware retailer’s brand in Canada. It’s timed for what is widely acknowledged as the season of renewal.
When & Where: The campaign launched on March 4, and is running across TV, online, out-of-home, radio, print, and social media.
Why: Sid Lee creative director Julie Desrochers described the campaign as a “pre-spring season launch” that will be followed by advertising related to more specific warm-weather activities, such as barbecuing.
The campaign is serving two distinct audiences, said Desrochers. The brand is well-known in Quebec, where it started in 1939. “It’s really well-embedded in our collective imagination,” said Desrochers. “We’ve known what it stands for, for many years.”
But it’s less well-known throughout the rest of Canada, having only recently completed the transition of 56 of its stores from the Lowe’s brand to Rona+. “The connection Canadians have with Rona doesn’t really start from the same place,” said Desrochers.
“This campaign is centring the brand around where it comes from, what it stands for, and where we’re going,” she said. “We need to plant a flag and affirm once and for all what are we made of.”
How: The creative approach is quite literally built around the idea of putting Rona at the centre of everything related to the home, from simple gardening projects to more ambitious renovations.
Opening on a visual of a backyard deck covered in snow, it then transitions to scenes of home renovation projects big and small that begin with the super “Spring is for the…”
All of the people portrayed in the spot are described as being…. “on a mission.” The payoff comes in the last third of the spot, as the last letter of their title, “homeowner,” “builder,” “demolisher” etc. is combined with the words “on a” to form the Rona name.
Making the professional personal: Desrochers described working on the Rona business as something of a “calling,” having previously worked as a cashier at her uncle’s Rona store when she was just 15.
“Rona is kind of personal,” she said. “In my family, it’s very big. My father worked there, my brother worked there, my uncle was there seven days a week. It was a really small community, and Rona was at the centre.”
Desrochers said that it was important to show the pride of Rona merchants and liken it to the pride that its customers take in completing household tasks to the best of their ability.
And we quote: "The brand is inseparable from the message, the moment that you discover the word Rona there’s a big impact," said Desrochers. "This platform will always be a work in progress. There are as many possibilities as there are artisans. We need to keep it democratic and allow people to make it their own."
—With files from Emma Johnston-Wheeler
