General information

Campaign objectives: Patrick Morin is a Quebec-based hardware store, operating 22 branches in the province. The main objective was to create top-of-mind awareness and promote the in-house expertise of Patrick Morin hardware stores by taking a humorous approach to demonstrating situations where people received poor advice.

Context

For some time, Patrick Morin had been running a creative platform that featured scenes of DIY renovations gone wrong. The ads signed off with the message that customers should ask for advice from a Patrick Morin expert before starting a project.

In addition to the 15-second video spots, longer social media videos provided backstory, showing the protagonist of from the brandsell ad visiting “hardware store X” (a drama on the channel) and receiving disastrous advice from Sy, a character from Patrick Morin’s social ads who is an unreliable employee featured in these videos. The social media content serves as a flashback, explaining the problem presented in the TV commercial. The aim was to leverage the awareness and goodwill of Radio-Canada’s hit ‘’Plan B’’ TV series to amplify the reach of the Patrick Morin hardware store.

Creative Minds

The concept was to sponsor Season 4 of Plan B and develop a contextual ad tied into the series. The series is based on a time-travelling concept. In each season, a protagonist enlists the Plan B agency to travel back in time, correct their mistakes, and shape a new future.

The recurring scenario in the campaign features the calling the Plan B agency, followed by a doorbell ring, twins abducting them into the back of a van, and the van speeding off in reverse. By the fourth season, this kidnapping sequence had become a signature element of the show.

The big idea was to develop a new TV spot that referenced this recurring scene and used it as a lead-in to the client’s brand-sell about the failed renovation. Just like in Plan B, the commercial’s protagonist makes a phone call, their doorbell rings, and they’re kidnapped by twins who look like Sylvain Rénove, the unreliable hardware store employee featured in the social media video. The person is then thrown into the back of a van that drives off in reverse, and viewers are invited to follow the rest of the story on social platforms via a QR code.

The campaign was innovative because they secured the approval of Radio-Canada and the producer to recreate the series’ trademark time-travel sequence and incorporate it into the sponsor’s contextual ad. As a result, the material already produced and broadcast on TV and social media took on a whole new meaning.

In addition to the excellent fit between the series and the client’s campaign, they gave the contextual ads prime positioning in commercial breaks so they would run adjacent to the parallel scenes in the show.

Radio-Canada’s Media Creativity team pitched using the time-traveling van for the Patrick Morin campaign. The La Bande creative team then took the concept to the next level. Radio-Canada was in charge of approvals and negotiations with the series producer.

They were able to get a producer on board for this project. It was a real win to bring together all the different players and make the campaign successful.

The La Bande ad agency and the Radio-Canada Media Creativity team were responsible for developing and delivering the campaign.

Campaign video

Results

The campaign generated over 1.9 million impressions on television, and the video received more than 1.3 million views on social media. The results exceeded their targets and objectives. The client was very satisfied and inquired about the possibility of a fifth season of Plan B.