Connected to the
life and love
of quebecers.

SERVICES

Strategy
Media recommendations
Creative
Design
Social networking
Experiential production

From the hunting camp to moving day, for every festive occasion and important moment, metro has long accompanied and inspired Quebecers. It is a relationship that has been cultivated over many years with the help of the agency &CO.

Introduction

metro, a Québec grocer that is also present in Ontario, wants to maintain a close relationship with Quebecers and maintain its position as a truly useful brand. Working together with metro's awareness campaigns and other communications programs, &CO is developing a range of local and regional activities that bring the brand closer to its regional markets and consumers.

Challenges

  1. Constantly propose new ways to increase the visibility of neighbourhood metro stores through their signature positioning: «metro my grocer, always there to help me ».
  2. Promote metro's various services and programs and increase long-term loyalty and retention of consumers.
  3. Develop an activation ecosystem that can adapt quickly to the needs of different markets, targets and events. 

SOLUTIONS

  1. Identify everyday restrictions and occurrences such as: allergies, special diets, moving, back-to-school, etc., and turn them into new communication opportunities.
  2. Reach Quebecers at the right time and in the right place. Sometimes before the targeted activity, sometimes on the ground. Reinforce the brand’s usefulness by offering consumers value-added content, tips, advice and discounts on existing speciality platforms like Camping Québec, Manège and Moving Waldo.
  3. 
Bring the brand closer to its consumers through collaborations with local partners.
  4. Leverage these partner’s ecosystems within local markets to maximize the visibility and effectiveness of regional campaigns.

« Their proposals are always very creative and they are excellent guides for our strategic thinking. »

– Dominic Audry, Local & Regional Marketing Manager, metro Richelieu

PROCESS

For over 10 years, &CO has been working with metro to develop and produce some 30 local and regional plans a year. The team dedicated to this account understands the realities of the merchants and their target audiences and leverages that knowledge to increase the brand's visibility in the regions.

  1. The metro and &CO teams first collaborated to identify Québec-specific occasions or activities where food needed to be.
  2. 
Once these were identified (camping, skiing, hunting, moving house, student life), we created consumer profiles focused on their habits and interests.
  3. This information allowed us to determine the best ways to reach them. We then developed a content strategy for each activity allowing us to accompany consumers from discovery to conversion with content relevant to their interests. Finally, to influence decision-making, we proposed various incentives, such as contests and offers, that would require them to visit their local metro and sign up for the metro and Me programme. 
  4. To optimise the various contact points, we developed specific consumer paths for each of the initiatives. This work was done in close partnership with the local and regional metro marketing teams.
  5. Finally, our production team was tasked with producing a multitude of campaign pieces and content that worked with the current national campaign. 

Every day, &CO helps increase metro’s usefulness in the lives of Quebecers through acquisition, commitment and brand loyalty.

RESULTS

Recurring campaigns which, due to their effectiveness, are optimised year after year.

A reactive and proactive team able to respond to and anticipate needs.

6 campaigns, over 30 plans and over 645 pieces each year.