Here’s How this Brand Is Pulling Out All the Stops to Help Canadians Tackle the Daily Grind
If you live in Canada, you’ve heard of President’s Choice. Not only is the food label instantly recognisable as something that’s offered at all of the Loblaw-owned stores across the country (from Shoppers Drug Mart to Loblaws to Atlantic Superstore), but its additional services, from banking to loyalty to healthcare, are used daily by many across the nation. In short, truly, it’s a brand that comes close to touching the lives of almost all who live here.
Of course, any brand of such scale needs to keep its finger on the pulse. So, when research by President’s Choice found that Canadians are feeling overwhelmed by the daily grind, it knew that it needed to respond and act accordingly. And to this end, it worked with Zulu Alpha Kilo to launch a new brand platform that not only celebrated its 40-year history of helping Canadians, but the ways in which its current services are designed to continue this. Titled ‘Possible Lives Here’, the campaign is headlined by a 90-second spot directed by Spy Films’ Henry Scholfield. Featuring multiple scenes with moving parts and shifting locations, it serves as a fun, visually-striking way of demonstrating how a brand like President’s Choice can be there for both the big and small moments, providing a constant and supportive hand from behind the scenes.
To learn more about just what it took to bring this immense campaign to life, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Zulu Alpha Kilo’s chief creative officer, Brian Murray, as well as President’s Choice’s vice president of marketing – control brand, social media and loyalty marketing, Lindsay Cook, for a chat.
LBB> Creating a campaign of this scale is no small task! So, what was the brief, and what immediate ideas came to mind?
Lindsay> The President’s Choice (PC) brand has been 40 years in the making. Starting with a love of food and a curious ambition of how we could get more chocolate chips into a single cookie, PC began to earn its way into the coveted ‘every day’. Through a passion and commitment for being relentlessly innovative, while never wavering on trusted quality, the PC brand added to the portfolio of offerings, PC Financial, PC Optimum, PC Express and PC Health. Now, the time felt right to bring the PC family together and tell the story of how the brand helps to alleviate those daily tensions and frictions that are a natural part of life.
We instantly connected with Zulu Alpha Kilo during our search – it was almost like love at first sight! The team’s pitch was incredibly thoughtful, perfectly aligning with our vision. They brought a level of talent that not only met our needs for big, high-level storytelling, but also had the meticulous design expertise to help tell the important story of PC while maintaining the discipline and rigour needed to expand and strengthen our PC brand toolkit.
Brian> The campaign idea was actually inspired by a script we shared in the initial presentation. When it comes to platform thinking, we like to get into executions pretty quickly and see where they lead.
LBB> Notably, the work is based on research which looked at Canadians’ developing needs. What were the biggest takeaways, and how are they influencing your brand’s approach at this present time?
Lindsay> We wanted to make sure we had a thorough process that allowed time to explore a wide range of areas, including conducting significant research with customers. What we learned is that there’s more to do to establish PC’s role beyond the one it’s known best for – food. We want our audience to know that PC brings innovation and incredibly high standards of quality to more areas in their lives – loyalty, ecommerce, and banking being examples.
LBB> The idea of visually showing a world through the perspective of consumers and creating such an interconnected universe is super fun! What made this the best way to resonate with audiences?
Brian> We wanted to create a construct we could plug any PC product or benefit into, but also one that would give us a canvas for storytelling. We liked the idea of using ‘home’ as a metaphor, but a conventional house was limiting and didn’t feel as ownable as a platform device. Showing deconstructed homes as sets in a ‘PC universe’ felt more visually impactful and gave us the flexibility to use different talent in every scenario.
LBB> From here, what was the writing process like? How did you come up with such detailed scenarios to showcase all of PC’s offerings?
Brian> It was very much an iterative process, not just internally but with our clients too. Once we had the construct, the scenarios were easier and more fun to come up with. It was really just about finding the most charming and relevant ways that the PC employees could appear to make someone’s day better.
Lindsay> The PC team had strong input into the customer insights at the heart of each spot, because we knew it was crucial to capture genuine customer moments. The brief outlined each of the business units we knew the campaign should highlight, but beyond that, the products and services were chosen primarily for their ability to demonstrate the PC brand’s ability to elevate the everyday. This is a long-term brand platform intended to tell a larger story about what connects the PC brand at the highest level. Products and services fit into this, but more as proof of our overall role.
LBB> And what should more Canadians know about how PC can help them in their daily routines?
Lindsay> Our research shows that people’s understanding of PC is very heavily anchored in food, so our focus is on highlighting total PC offerings. For example, we want Canadians to know how PC Express can add more convenience to grocery shopping to help them find more time in the day for themselves and their families. And that with PC Health, they can be easily connected to a pharmacist who can provide advice for many of the most common ailments, as well as prescriptions, making their care more convenient and accessible.
LBB> Moving back to the spot, what made Henry Scholfield the right director for the job? And what was working with him like?
Brian> We’ve been longtime fans of Henry’s work and were fortunate that the stars aligned to work with him on this project. His knack for crafting beautiful stories made him an ideal fit.
LBB> Tell us about the shooting process as a whole! Where did it occur, how long did it take, and do you have any anecdotes from on set?
Brian> The shoot took place over four days in a massive warehouse where each ‘home’ was built in a large tapestry. Mark Connell (production designer) did an amazing job at crafting the little details to give each set a lived-in feel. If you look closely, each room contains tiny details like ‘family’ photos of our cast members superimposed in different environments.
LBB> Some of the moving parts are amazing, like the lifting bed, or the shirts falling out of the sky. How did you achieve these effects practically?
Brian> All credit to Henry and the production team for pulling those off. It was important to us that there was a magical realism associated with each action – that everything happening was based in reality and not just VFX. Not only were these effects tested before the shoot, the team also made sure that the speed of each effect would work within the time we had in each spot.
LBB> Equally so, the sequences showcasing all the shifting locations and how they’re connected to the PC employees behind the scenes are super intricate! What did it take to bring this aspect to life?
Brian> The production team built all these spaces together as a master floor plan, which was crucial for orchestrating the camera moves between each scene and the action of the PC employees within and around the sets. The distance between sets needed to be tight enough so that it felt natural while still offering enough space to move lights and backdrops into. It takes an amazing production team and visionary director to plan for these things ahead.
LBB> What was the editing process like? How did this all come together in post, and how did you find the right soundtrack for the work?
Brian> Editing began on set on day one. This was largely to meet our timeline, but also so Henry and the editor could work out timing and help inform the following shoot days. In the end, we had three editors on the piece.
We also wanted the music to play into the concept, so we explored a bunch of different approaches with our partners at Oso Audio. As soon as we landed on ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe, we wanted to make it our own. We loved the idea of having a string quartet recreate the song. The vocals are sung by Donovan Woods, a well-known Canadian singer songwriter.
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Lindsay> We encountered the usual and expected challenges one would anticipate when attempting to tell a matrixed brand story this big! What made the curveballs and few bumps easier to overcome was our close partnership with the Zulu team. They were true partners and at every step in the process. The agency was incredible at collaborating to problem solve along the way, while never compromising the creative integrity of what was being developed and what we were all after.
LBB> What lessons have you learned in the making of this campaign?
Lindsay> There are lots, but a couple of things that stand out. First, our hunch that there was an untapped story to be told about the PC brand was bang on, but the potential of it was even bigger than we had realised. Additionally, the importance of the creativity and the craft of the campaign became more and more evident to us as we moved through the process. PC is a brand that’s about innovation and quality, and the way we present ourselves to the world has to reflect that.
LBB> What has the response to the campaign been like?
Lindsay> The campaign really has just launched, so most of the response so far has been from our internal audience. Across all our business units, it has been fully and enthusiastically embraced – everyone is very excited to see the full PC story finally being told.
LBB> How does this campaign fit into your brand plans for 2024?
Lindsay> This campaign will ride out until we launch the ‘PC Holiday Insiders Report’ in November. The reimagined rally cry for ‘Possible Lives Here’ is just getting started. More to come!
LBB> Finally, do you have an element of this campaign you’re most proud of?
Brian> Rebranding a company as iconic as PC is a rare opportunity. The level of craft the team put into every detail made a huge impact on the overall output.
Lindsay> It really is hard to pick just one thing. So much thought went into every aspect of the project, from research and strategy to concept and execution. However, I’m most proud of the creative bravery that came through trying to tell an important and complicated brand story, and of building a story that has true staying power.
