Challenge:

• On Mother’s Day 2012 (Sunday, May 13) Walmart Canada launched an ambitious annual program called the Mom of the Year Award as a new way to celebrate inspirational Canadian moms
• The program, which includes monetary recognition as well as a charitable component, aims to acknowledge everything that mom does for both her family and her community, while acknowledging a cause that is close to her heart
• Walmart turned to APEX to help them launch the recognition program during Mother’s Day – when attracting share of voice for brands is highly competitive – on a national level including Quebec, and encourage nominations

Strategic Approach:

• APEX recommended a multi-layered media approach to launch Mom of the Year, including a national media tour (Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax) featuring well-known Canadian mom spokespersons who could share their personal stories and parenting tips:
  • Hayley Wickenheiser  – Four-time Olympic medalist and mom to 12-year-old Noah
  • Karine Ewart – Editor-in-Chief of Today’s Parent magazine and mom of four children between the ages of six and 10
  • Natalie Choquette – A classical entertainer who is well known in Quebec for presenting opera with a humourous twist and who is also the mother of three
• To leverage Mother’s Day and encourage media attention, flowers (Mums) were sent to the desks of key journalists across Canada to pitch the story
• Hayley, Karine and Natalie were also pitched to print, online and radio outlets as key spokespeople for the Mom of the Year Award and overarching initiative