2021 Winner
2021 Winners
Campbell Canada - Goldfish
Feeding Imagination
Anyone with kids knows Goldfish crackers. The brand has been part of children’s snack time for decades, and it is the number-one kid’s cracker in Canada. Kids love them because they’re fun, and parents love them because they’re a healthier choice than many other snack options available in the market.
One of the biggest challenges involved in being number one is knowing when to move on from a well-established positioning. After several years of successfully positioning Goldfish as “the snack that smiles back,” signs were emerging from tracking that Goldfish was becoming less engaging. Add to that, sales pressure from a growing list of healthy competitors and there was concern that the brand might come to be seen as interchangeable with the increasing number of healthy options in the market. Rather than wait for the beloved snack to drop from its leadership position, it was time to explore the next phase of the brand’s trajectory.
The challenge was to turn Goldfish into even more of a leader by developing a new positioning with the ability to both increase its relevance and brand equity and grow sales by an ambitious 7.2%.
Knowing that it’s time to evolve is one thing. Knowing how to do it is another. Starting from a belief that the brand needed to shift from an attribute-based positioning (“the snack that smiles back”) to a more emotional one, they began to explore the notion of imagination. Goldfish’s playful nature inherently sparks creativity and imagination in kids. They believed an approach grounded in kids’ emotional experiences connected to the product had the potential to differentiate Goldfish and create sustained brand preference.
Through quantitative research, they delved into parents’ perceptions about imagination and the ways in which Goldfish is able to ignite it. The study found that virtually all Canadian parents see imagination as important, but half of the kids surveyed had difficulty creating their own ideas and 60% of parents needed help sparking their kids’ imaginations.
They also explored snack time and what it meant for both parents and kids. For kids, snack time is obviously a functional necessity, but research revealed just how much kids played with their fish when snacking. With this, they saw that snack time could be so much more than physical fuel. It could be an emotional space for kids to unleash their imaginations.
Inspired by what can happen when you combine an open mind, a whimsical fish-shaped cracker and snack time, Goldfish launched the purpose-fuelled “Feed Imagination” platform that turns snack time into imagination time. Normally, the family fridge plays host to kids’ artwork, but they thought it deserved a bigger stage, so they put the art out there for the world to see on the biggest platform they could find.
They documented three real children’s impromptu storytelling moments. These “Feed Imagination” video stories were brought to life, surprising their young talent, on an outdoor billboard, in a published storybook and as a playable video game launched on Snapchat.
Content of these uplifting stories was documented and amplified in a mix of short- and long-form digital content using a tease, echo and amplify YouTube strategy along with cross-platform social ads.
They took it a step further to “Feed Imagination” with Canadian kids in a contest where parents across the country could submit their child’s original artwork or story for a chance for it to be featured on a billboard or in a digital book. Eleven winners were ultimately selected based on their creativity and imagination. Turning their media space into an imagination gallery, winning entries were showcased on national billboards and in digital storybooks online and on social media.
Local and national news publications featured the story of how local kids had the opportunity to have their artwork on display.
To establish its commitment to kids’ imaginations, Goldfish developed the first-ever “Imagination Index” survey, measuring and tracking the value of kids’ imaginations among Canadian parents. The program further engaged parents with a Snapchat Lens showcasing imagination through the eyes of one of their hero children.
“Feed Imagination” has brought a fresh energy to the Goldfish brand and immediate impact to the business. It had a 9% increase in sales, +1.0 market share growth, purchase intent at 17% above norm, brand love measures at 20% above norm, engagement for digital video at 19% above norm, and contest submissions were +1,000% over target. The campaign generated 13 million PR impressions, including local coverage in The Globe and Mail, CBC and Toronto Star and was covered by global trade press, including Ad Age’s Editor’s Pick of the Day and Contagious Magazine’s World’s Best Creative.
One of the biggest challenges involved in being number one is knowing when to move on from a well-established positioning. After several years of successfully positioning Goldfish as “the snack that smiles back,” signs were emerging from tracking that Goldfish was becoming less engaging. Add to that, sales pressure from a growing list of healthy competitors and there was concern that the brand might come to be seen as interchangeable with the increasing number of healthy options in the market. Rather than wait for the beloved snack to drop from its leadership position, it was time to explore the next phase of the brand’s trajectory.
The challenge was to turn Goldfish into even more of a leader by developing a new positioning with the ability to both increase its relevance and brand equity and grow sales by an ambitious 7.2%.
Knowing that it’s time to evolve is one thing. Knowing how to do it is another. Starting from a belief that the brand needed to shift from an attribute-based positioning (“the snack that smiles back”) to a more emotional one, they began to explore the notion of imagination. Goldfish’s playful nature inherently sparks creativity and imagination in kids. They believed an approach grounded in kids’ emotional experiences connected to the product had the potential to differentiate Goldfish and create sustained brand preference.
Through quantitative research, they delved into parents’ perceptions about imagination and the ways in which Goldfish is able to ignite it. The study found that virtually all Canadian parents see imagination as important, but half of the kids surveyed had difficulty creating their own ideas and 60% of parents needed help sparking their kids’ imaginations.
They also explored snack time and what it meant for both parents and kids. For kids, snack time is obviously a functional necessity, but research revealed just how much kids played with their fish when snacking. With this, they saw that snack time could be so much more than physical fuel. It could be an emotional space for kids to unleash their imaginations.
Inspired by what can happen when you combine an open mind, a whimsical fish-shaped cracker and snack time, Goldfish launched the purpose-fuelled “Feed Imagination” platform that turns snack time into imagination time. Normally, the family fridge plays host to kids’ artwork, but they thought it deserved a bigger stage, so they put the art out there for the world to see on the biggest platform they could find.
They documented three real children’s impromptu storytelling moments. These “Feed Imagination” video stories were brought to life, surprising their young talent, on an outdoor billboard, in a published storybook and as a playable video game launched on Snapchat.
Content of these uplifting stories was documented and amplified in a mix of short- and long-form digital content using a tease, echo and amplify YouTube strategy along with cross-platform social ads.
They took it a step further to “Feed Imagination” with Canadian kids in a contest where parents across the country could submit their child’s original artwork or story for a chance for it to be featured on a billboard or in a digital book. Eleven winners were ultimately selected based on their creativity and imagination. Turning their media space into an imagination gallery, winning entries were showcased on national billboards and in digital storybooks online and on social media.
Local and national news publications featured the story of how local kids had the opportunity to have their artwork on display.
To establish its commitment to kids’ imaginations, Goldfish developed the first-ever “Imagination Index” survey, measuring and tracking the value of kids’ imaginations among Canadian parents. The program further engaged parents with a Snapchat Lens showcasing imagination through the eyes of one of their hero children.
“Feed Imagination” has brought a fresh energy to the Goldfish brand and immediate impact to the business. It had a 9% increase in sales, +1.0 market share growth, purchase intent at 17% above norm, brand love measures at 20% above norm, engagement for digital video at 19% above norm, and contest submissions were +1,000% over target. The campaign generated 13 million PR impressions, including local coverage in The Globe and Mail, CBC and Toronto Star and was covered by global trade press, including Ad Age’s Editor’s Pick of the Day and Contagious Magazine’s World’s Best Creative.