Home Improvement Brand RONA Celebrates Entrepreneurial Heritage

Sid Lee is proud to contribute to the new creative platform reviving RONA’s iconic brand. It’s an ambitious campaign celebrating RONA's renewal, just in time to welcome in the spring. 

By placing the brand’s identity right at the centre of their communications, literally, Canada's best home improvement retailer aims to celebrate their entrepreneurial heritage while rallying creators and builders using original motivators: the joy of the work, camaraderie and the ability to redouble efforts in the face of adversity. A smart platform that reflects the brand's experience and connection with local communities with a refreshing frankness, even a little philosophical twist, never taking itself too seriously. 

"Our vision is to put the RONA brand at the centre of all our marketing offensives, since we benefit from 85 years of history and trust. Sid Lee played a key role in this project. The agency was able to capture our brand's DNA and deliver a powerful narrative to our customers, employees and RONA-affiliated merchants. Since the launch of the first ad on March 4th, reactions have been extremely positive," explains Catherine Laporte, senior vice-president, marketing and customer experience at RONA inc. 

Embracing the process is also what inspired Sid Lee to create the messages. The videos incorporate authentic scenes and a methodology similar to that of renovation: make a plan, hit a wall and find creative solutions. The end result is a product both atypical and strangely familiar. The music composed by Circonflex unifies everything. With imperfect instruments and voices, it conveys the energy of the moment rather than the obsession with the result. 

"The brand is inseparable from the message, the moment that you discover the word RONA there’s a big impact," adds Julie Desrochers, creative director at Sid Lee. "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." 

The campaign is being rolled out across the country, on a variety of platforms including out-of-home, television, radio, internet, print and social media.