Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

OVATION Awards Winning Entry
Communication Management
Media Relations with budget greater than $100,000
AWARD OF MERIT
Entrant’s Name: Nadia Beale
Organization’s Name: Indigo Books & Music Inc. and MSL Canada
Division/Category: Division 1/Category 4c
Title of Entry: Holiday Moments with Indigo – making Indigo the ‘go to’ destination for holiday gifting
Time Period of Project: August 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011 (inclusive)
Brief Description: As Indigo Books & Music Inc. (Indigo), Canada’s largest bookseller, transitions to being top of
mind as an “enrich your life” destination, the importance of positioning Indigo as the one stop destination for
books, inspirational gifts, entertaining essentials, and toys has become increasingly important. The Holiday
Moments with Indigo campaign was designed to blanket the Canadian media landscape with an array of offerings
that would meet the needs of every holiday gift‐giver while reinforcing Indigo’s positioning as the country’s best
one‐stop Holiday shop both online and in stores.
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1. Business Need/Opportunity:
Christmas is the busiest retail season with retailers from coast‐to‐coast vying for the spotlight in the
country’s top print, broadcast and online media. Delivering 35% of the company’s annual revenue,
Indigo’s key Holiday business objective was to reinforce its growing position as a one‐stop destination
for gifts to touch the heart, mind and soul. As Indigo has begun the transition to become the leading
cultural department store, the holidays provided a key opportunity to assert the brand’s revitalized
position and showcase Indigo’s breadth and depth of product offerings. A comprehensive media
relations program was required to engage Canadian media leaders during this period. Short‐lead, longlead,
online publications, and broadcast outlets would be exposed to the new offerings resulting in
Indigo and their assortment being featured widely, thus educating Canadian consumers nationally on
Indigo’s product evolution.
The success of this program would provide Indigo with both short and long‐term benefits, including
incremental sales during the holiday period and an opportunity to position Indigo as a premier gift
destination and resource for life‐enriching products.
2. Intended Audience(s):
The intended audience was the premier gift purchaser in most Canadian households ‐ women aged 35
plus. As Indigo has appeal across the Canadian population, the secondary audience was established as
all potential gift givers ‐ men and women over 18 years of age.
The aim was to reach these audiences via targeted influential media, primarily by being present in every
media vehicle that provided editorial coverage on gifting solutions. The primary goal was to be included
in all major gift guides in national daily newspapers, long‐lead magazines and inclusion in broadcast
segments and news stories. Online media and lifestyle bloggers were identified as secondary media
targets.
Indigo’s national footprint demanded inclusion in national print publications and broadcast outlets along
with targeted features in key markets including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto,
Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax.