President’s Choice had something to talk about and they wanted me to be a part of it. Honoured, I headed out to Toronto to meet their marketing team and was treated like a star as I waited to see what the big news was.
I flew out a few days early to check out Toronto in more detail as it had been forever (more soon on that as I am seriously behind on posting), and then headed to Yorkville to check into the hotel for this Loblaw news experience. I was greeted with a big basket of fruit and snacks (food is big at Loblaw) and even late that night after a more than satisfying welcome dinner, I returned to my room to milk and cookies. Thank god I did a lot of walking on this trip.
And the news? Loblaw introduced a new era of its President’s Choice brand, under the rallying cry “CRAVE MORE” celebrating what Canadians are craving – the discovery of new, complex and global flavours; the knowledge to judge what is healthy and what is not; information about where their food comes from and how it is made; the chance to seek, share, and assess food information online and through social media; the perfect combination of quality, taste and trust. A lot to….digest (pun intended).
In support of the brand’s new era, Loblaw launched a campaign including a modified brand position, an innovative television and print campaign, and a re-imagined digital and social media presence. It also re-invented its pc.ca web site, which now includes a focus on content, an online community for food discussions, and a regionalized Canadian food-trend tracker, the Food Pulse Index™, created through a new initiative with Google Canada. Check our the Discoveries community board and have some fun discussing your food.
A couple shots of the PC Execs voicing what the new Loblaw mindset looks like.
In order to celebrate local food writers and bloggers, and those imported for the event, enjoyed an evening at the Loblaw flagship store in Toronto in their cooking studio. If you haven’t been to Loblaw Toronto, it’s a lot different from the PC stores out west. There’s an incredible bakery, lots of beautifully styled aisles and displays, and the cooking class room is pretty damn great; I think I could live there.
We sampled some of the favourite PC dishes and some new ones and were some of the first to hear the news right from PC executives. Sadly missing was CEO Galen Weston, who I have had the pleasure to meet once; he’s quite a personality and no wonder he inspires the team around him to innovate.
We did catch up with the always charismatic Tom Filippou, the Executive Chef of President’s Choice. He’s always a treat to watch, adding a large dose of humor while cooking up a storm.
What will this new initiative mean to you? Nothing if you don’t participate, but lots of fun if you do. For me I’m all about the digital interaction and you can catch mine and other online junkie’s tweets and instagrams with the hashtag #pcdiscoveries. Join the conversation and find out what is crave worthy!
