Loblaw Companies Limited - President's Choice
Eat Together Day

The Challenge

In 2017, President’s Choice launched the #EatTogether movement as a way of demonstrating the power of food to bring people together at a time when world events and technology seemed to be pulling people further apart. The #EatTogether film became the most wide reaching video in Facebook Canada’s history and was one of the most awarded Canadian campaigns of 2017. In 2018, the brand wanted to build on this momentum with an initiative that would make people want to actually #EatTogether.

The Insight

Today, over 40% of adults report feeling lonely. In fact, loneliness is said to be one of the biggest health epidemics we are facing – more deadly than even smoking and obesity. Humans are inherently social beings, yet as we grow up, our lives become more individualized. So much so that even eating has become a solitary activity – as 42% of meals eaten are eaten alone (up from 38% in 2012). Further, according to a 2017 study by Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, 41% of meals at work are eaten alone at people’s desks. This was the behavior the brand felt it could change.

The One-line Idea

“Nothing brings us together like eating together. So let’s eat together on Eat Together Day.”

The Plan

The brand wanted to give people something specific to rally around. So it gave them a day – Jun. 22, National Eat Together Day. The campaign launched on New Year’s Eve 2017, with a 90 second film that asked why, after growing up sharing our meals together with family and friends, we suddenly stop when we start working? The film aired in several high-impact events like the World Juniors, the Grammy’s, and the Golden Globes.

At the same time, eight Canadian filmmakers were asked to create their own films that explored the meaning of Eating Together from a variety of cultural and socio-economic perspectives. These films were distributed via social channels in the months leading up to Eat Together Day. In the month leading up to the Jun. 22, national full-page newspaper ads spoke to the importance of eating together, whether PC was at the table or not.

Critically, the campaign needed to be executed at the store level, and stores across the country were encouraged to hold their own Eat Together events on Jun.22. This was very important, as any retailer will tell you that operator buy-in is critical to the success of any program. Lastly, experiential “Eat Together” pop-ups were executed about the country to encourage customer interaction and press coverage.

The Results

Over 250,000 Canadians ended up sharing a meal together on Eat Together Day. #EatTogetherDay trended nationally on Twitter, and in total, the campaign generated almost 60,000,000 impressions (outperforming the target benchmark by 190%). Internal engagement with the program was off the charts - over 160,000 Loblaw employees participated in the program, and almost 750 Loblaw stores participated. Moved by this initiative, other companies like Google, Indigo and WE jumped on the bandwagon and held their own employee EatTogethers. And while the campaign was not meant to be a sales driver, since the start of the campaign, President’s Choice’ sales have grown three times faster than national brand sales.