Maple Leaf Foods

Maple Leaf Foods has been feeding Canadian families for nearly a century, and their age was showing. In 2019, we brought the household name into the world of social.

Food for Thought With Dr. Karyn

The pandemic led to a shift in social towards educational, expert-led content. We partnered with Dr. Karyn Gordon, a family and relationship psychologist, to be the credible voice for Maple Leaf’s parenting audience to turn to for non-judgemental support. Through Reels and Stories, we introduced Dr. Karyn as a reliable personality that parents can keep coming back to for support.

My role was to manage the collaboration with Dr. Karyn, from brainstorming relevant topics, to directing remote shoots via zoom and WhatsApp. We built a strong relationship with Dr. Karyn and she continues to work with Maple Leaf to this day, creating engaging, educational content, strengthening the audiences trust in the brand.

Climate Champs

In 2021, Maple Leaf Foods became the world’s first major food company to go carbon neutral. To communicate this sustainability milestone beyond one corporate announcement, we partnered with Canadian teachers to create quick climate change lessons for kids. The series lived on IGTV so parents could take their kids through simple activities, lessons and experiments to start important conversations about climate change at home.

My role was to manage the relationship with the teachers, beginning with sourcing education leaders across Canada with an interest in content creation and climate change. I briefed them on the Maple Leaf brand, brainstormed relevant topics for their videos, and managed the feedback process between creator and client.

THE ASK

Carve a space in the crowded social landscape for Maple Leaf to build an engaged community of Canadians and communicate the “Real Food Movement”.

THE STRATEGY

Maple Leaf’s primary audience of time-strapped parents are responsible for 3 meals a day for 18 years per child. That’s exhausting. As if that wasn’t enough, parents on social media are navigating an overwhelming amount of advice that’s riddled with guilt and shame tactics.

Our opportunity was to use Maple Leaf’s social content as a mirror to shatter the everyday pressures of perfect parenting. We leaned into the real side of parenting: messy, exhausting, unpredictable, and most importantly, rewarding. Through relatable parenting memes, quick recipes, and educational content, we grew their community from 2,000 to 10k followers, connecting with parents across Canada in meaningful ways.

Throughout the year, we’d pitch new content series on a quarterly basis to continue to adapt the strategy to meet Maple Leaf Food’s business needs. Examples below of some of the many series we brought to life.