Canadian Tire shovels it forward

Canadian Tire wanted to lend a helping hand by tapping into the simple gesture of clearing a neighbour's driveway.

So DDB took the retailer's highest-rated snow shovel and cleared the driveways of 100 unsuspecting Canadian families in seven cities across the country. Shovels were left on the cleared driveways, along with instructions to "Shovel It Forward" and pass on the kindness. The brand captured footage of surprised Canadians, which was then shared across Canadian Tire's owned media channels.

Shovel recipients could share their experiences on the brand's website and via the hashtag #ShovelItForward. A launch video, posted on social media, showed a father and his daughter shovelling their driveway, and also their elderly neighbour's.

On the website, users were encouraged to check-in with their own "Shovel It Forward" experiences using a Google Maps dropper, which tracked the acts of kindness across the country. A partnership with The Weather Network also used weather-triggered ad units (dependent on local snow levels) to drive users to the site.

Canadian Tire experienced a 24% increase in snow-removal related sales. There was an overall 11 point lift in ad recall and 16 point lift in campaign awareness, and "Shovel It Forward" generated 13 million impressions.