Stride — The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum — was Cadbury’s top priority launch in Canada in 2008. We were hired to develop a PR launch campaign that would create public awareness, secure branded media coverage, and contribute to the success of Stride gum in Canada. Research showed that new gum products attracted little media interest unless a creative, high-impact campaign was wrapped around its launch. We developed an engaging, uniquely Canadian campaign to launch Stride gum in Canada that leveraged the brand’s name to clearly differentiate it from its simultaneous launch competitor. The result: The Ridiculously Long Lasting Road Trip Across Canada featuring the Stride Guys — two college graduates travelling across Canada in a 1966 VW Van equipped with Stride gum and a ping pong table, looking for Canadians to play a ridiculously long round of ping pong.The integrated campaign achieved its goals and exceeded objectives, generating more than 36.65 million media impressions across Canada (population 33 million) and included 2+ hours of branded broadcast coverage. PR made a significant contribution to building awareness, driving Stride gum to market leadership position of 8.6% market share within launch, exceeding business targets and outperforming its launch competitor.

We created, managed and executed the 9,710 km, 59 day, Stride Guys road trip across Canada. Beginning in St. John’s, NL, on April 24, the Stride Guys visited a ridiculously long list of cities to meet Canadian ping pong lovers. The national tour ended on June 21, 2008 in Victoria, BC. We secured and refurbished a 1966 VW van and named it STRIDEY. The Stride Guys wore branded retro Stride track suits, head/wrist bands and t-shirts throughout the tour. We sourced and designed branded ping pong balls, paddles and commissioned a custom-made, branded ping pong table. The Stride Guys chronicled their adventures on a blog on www.STRIDEgum.ca. From April to July, 2008, we conducted a proactive, national, bilingual media relations program to support the launch of new Stride gum, the RLLRTAC and the Dancing Matt Video Launch. Originally budgeted for a 10-city Media Tour, we added another 18 cities into the budget due to strong media response. We worked closely with Cadbury legal to ensure STRIDEY conformed to all insurance & road safety regulations.

The Stride campaign exceeded its sales targets and its objectives. It differentiated Stride gum in the market by generating outstanding on-brand media coverage from coast-to-coast.

• Stride gum achieved leadership position with an 8.6% market share with the launch, outperforming the forecast and launch competitor (significantly above the share achieved in the U.S.) • 125 positive, branded media stories (exceeded target by 47%)• 45+ online articles• Cost per contact was $0.0094 (exceeded target by 81%)• 36.65 million media impressions• 2+ hours of morning TV/radio coverage in local markets• 100% of coverage used Stride gum name/brand image• Campaign was featured in Marketing Magazine “Putting PR First – How two brands flipped the standard marketing formula on its head”• Stride Guys attracted 5800+ Stride Fans on the road and played 500+ games of ping pong.• Over 8 weeks, blog received 20,000+ visitors with the average visit lasting 11+ minutes.