Objective
Our objective was to sell all units of the Can-Am Defender, an all-terrain vehicle designed for farmers and ranchers.

The Defender was sold out before the end of the summer

Increase in brand trust
14%
Increase in search volume YoY
40%
Impressions
10 000 000

Can-Am had a major hurdle!

How could it reach farmers & ranchers, an audience hard to intercept in mass media, without a strong set of primary data? The all-terrain vehicle (ATV) category has always targeted farmers, hunters, and ranchers. For this target, ATVs are more than recreational vehicles; they are essential to get their jobs done.

The pandemic changed the profile of this agricultural target. In fact, there was a tracked and noticeable increase of North Americans moving from the cities to rural areas. It brought new, young, digitally savvy consumers to the ATV category.

Our competitors did not capture the rapid evolution of North American agriculture and misrepresented North American farmers and ranchers in their ads. They still portrayed them as older, and unsophisticated. It was an opportunity for Can-Am to truly champion these inspiring new farmers and ranchers who wanted to live off the land.

While these new farmers brought fresh money to the category, they represented a major targeting challenge. They account for only 2% of the North American population, they are poorly reached by mass media, and most publications targeting them ceased publishing in the last decade.

First-party data could have helped capture these new farmers but Can-AM does not have its own network of dealers. What’s more, independent dealers rarely shared back sales data with manufacturers. We believed we could fill this data gap with a clever and innovative content strategy.

null
null
null

Content to the rescue

Can-Am celebrated this new agricultural lifestyle by creating Livin’ the Land, a 4-episode content series that takes an in-depth look at this new generation of farmers and hunters with a close connection to the land. Each episode features a cinematic, documentary-style narrative and explores what drives the next generation of agriculture pioneers, from sunrise to sunset.

We created a clever content strategy to understand this new generation of farmers, which media channels they consume, and what gets them engaged.

Livin’ the Land in four phases

null
null
null
null

Teaser

The first phase was a teaser campaign. It highlighted points of interest of the new agriculture enthusiasts such as sustainable farming and family-run agricultural inspiration. We also integrated a Youtube sequencing tactic that allowed us to find true farming enthusiasts with teasers and then expose them to a full-length episode.

Launch

We then broadcasted all four episodes in-content with the most influential agricultural TV station in the USA, RFD TV. We negotiated a memorable content integration; one of Can-Am’s brand ambassadors, Alex Templeton, a third-generation female farmer, told her story on Rural America Live in front of hundreds of thousands of American farmers. Finally, we leveraged a live audience through an open line that allowed viewers to speak directly with Alex.

Distribution

Each episode was also broadcast on Youtube and promoted by social, programmatic, and our targeted partnerships. This digital footprint allowed us to build new precise agriculture sub-targets (new versus legacy farmers, Northern vs Southern rangers, men vs women agriculture pioneers). As the campaign evolved, analytics guided what was the most relevant episode to push for each sub-target.

Retargeting

After a few controlled expositions to the documentary, we switched to promotional offers. The delivery of these promo offers was adjusted with the level of inventory per region and each consumer was directed to the nearest dealer.

A succesful campaign

Prix Idéa
2022
Integrated Campaign over 250k $
Prix Idéa
2022
Branded Content

Want to see how creativity can help you?

Get in touch!

Redefining

creativity

We are steadfast in our belief that marketing and media creativity needs to be constantly redefined. Because we are emboldened by the ever-more meaningful, memorable and impactful connections this creates between a brand and its audiences. And most importantly, because it drives business success.

Toronto

33 Bloor Street East, Suite 1100  Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1A9 

Montreal

3575 Saint-Laurent Blvd,  Suite 400  Montreal, Quebec, H2X 2T7