Maple from Canada Picks up the Tab for Americans Going on Brunch Dates with Canadians

Maple from Canada, a brand representing over 13,300 maple farmers, wants to keep encouraging Americans to indulge in pure maple syrup. 

With cuffing season ongoing, the organisation knows many Americans will be looking for date ideas and they want to offer them a sweet deal: if Americans invite a Canadian to a brunch date, Maple from Canada will pick up the bill as part of their initiative called Maple Mate.  

Indeed, many popular dating apps such as Bumble report that the period from November to February is their busiest time. Maple from Canada wants to take advantage of this high dating season to continue building on their efforts to create awareness across the United States on the differences between pure maple syrup and its popular high-fructose imitation, table syrup. 

Maple from Canada has decided to take a bold approach by leveraging single Canadians living in the US to educate their American dates on this beloved national delicacy - what they now call brunch with benefits! 

“Through our research we found out that many Americans aren’t aware of the difference between maple and corn syrup. Last year, we offered to cover the usual extra fees for maple syrup in breakfast joints to remove that barrier to trial,” said David Marino, director of promotion and market development at Maple from Canada. “This year, we’re going further and we are activating our diaspora of single Canadians living in the US and using them as ambassadors to get Americans to embrace pure maple syrup. We believe that if Americans fall for Canadians, chances are they’ll also fall in love with maple syrup.” 

Following their research, the American market became one of the organisation’s priorities as the US is the largest importer of pure maple syrup. For the second year in a row, Maple from Canada collaborated with Rethink in Montreal to launch a campaign tailored for the US. Last year’s initiative called Bill the Maple undoubtedly became their most impactful effort in the history of the organisation. Less than a week after its launch, major outlets covered the news, and pure maple syrup sales increased by around 4% in select tracked supermarkets such as Kroger and Winn-Dixie. This year, the hope with Maple Mate is to continue creating awareness and consideration for pure maple syrup as a whole. 

“We are on a mission to make Americans fall for pure maple syrup and make them forget the fake stuff they have known and loved all their lives. The real challenge is to find interesting ways to drive them to trial,” said Xavier Blais, ECD and partner at Rethink. “We think we have found the sweet spot here. Many people in the nation will be going on dates and we are offering them the ultimate brunch with benefits - a nice date with a Canadian, learning maple syrup facts and no one picks up the bill.”

Rethink, led the campaign on strategy, creative and PR.