Although TikTok is a successful global platform, there hasn’t been much innovation when it comes to localized approaches from advertisers. Canadian Tire was able to crack the code and tie itself to local communities and millennials through live experiences that were promoted via the popular platform & enabled us to build human connections.

With 100 years of history, Canadian Tire has a strong relationship with Canadians, one that has been reinforced through its loyalty program: Triangle. However, there was a clear gap among millennials specifically as only 24% of Triangle members were under the age of 39- a key growth segment for Canadian Tire.

Knowing that 83% of millennials are loyalty members, but that they didn’t represent a significant proportion of Triangle members, Canadian Tire needed to increase relevancy with this growth segment.

Research shows that 78% of millennials and Gen Z prioritize experiences over ‘stuff’, Canadian Tire was faced with the task of strengthening its relationship with this core audience in new ways that had not previously been explored.

Canadian Tire has the oldest loyalty program in Canada. Most Canadian millennials remember this loyalty program for its ‘Monopoly style’ paper money.

The loyalty program has since been digitized into the Triangle loyalty card, but the money remains a nostalgic memory for most Millennials today. In fact, many millennials were given Canadian Tire money as an allowance or did Scouts fundraising asking for Canadian Tire money.

Leveraging a distant memory in millennials' minds and the iconic Canadian Tire money, the brand decided to develop a playful approach to engage this generation in a uniquely Canadian way.

Leaning into the highly popular #FindMoney trend and understanding that vintage throwbacks were growing in popularity, Canadian Tire set out to create the ultimate adventure around a core pillar of their loyalty program and one of the most memorable vintage pieces in our 100-year history- that even millennials could identify…our iconic Canadian Tire Money!

For Gen Z’ers & Millennials, TikTok is not just a social platform, it’s the one they turn to when they’re looking for answers. Where to find limited edition vintage items? TikTok has your answer!

When looking at previous TikTok trends, and reviewing the platform history, it was also clear that the content was very globally focused and was missing innovative approaches when it came to localized trends.

A National Treasure Hunt was therefore created on TikTok and across Canada. Canadian Tire bills were scattered across 19 major cities near landmarks that represented a moment in Canadian Tire history.

We concentrated all our investments on TikTok and married the first-of-its-kind physical treasure hunt with a social game of Clue to create one of our most engaging campaigns of all time.

The brand pulled out their most Nostalgic piece of memorabilia from the vaults, hiding 100 CT $100 bills across major Canadian cities near landmarks that represented a piece of Canadian Tire history such as the location of their very first store, Canadian Tire Centre, Jumpstart Playgrounds and Olympic Village to name a few.

To promote the once-in-a-lifetime event, teaser posts were released on Canadian Tire’s TikTok page on September 21st revealing our plans to give back to communities by hiding $100 bills and encouraging consumers to return for more details.

Then came the big launch on September 23rd, influencers were key to our strategy and delivered clues daily as to where the bills were hidden. Street teams were also available on-site, ultimately ensuring that all hidden bills were found & giving Canadians the chance to relive their childhood memories and visit a CT store!

The campaign was a huge success, allowing us to resonate with our millennial audience- leading to an 18% increase in Triangle Reward members aged 30-39 and a 28% lift among Triangle members under 30! Canadian Tire also recorded a 9% sales lift among members under 30 years old.

The high-impact placements on TikTok helped to drive above-norm results for a variety of key metrics, including a 14% increase in program awareness (8.7% above TikTok Canada Norm) and a 28% lift in ad recall (16.4% above norm), as well as 2x in awareness compared to Canadian Tire norms despite the shorter than average flight.

Additionally, the event accelerated a 6000% increase in TikTok followers on Canadian Tire’s main channel during the campaign period and was a trending moment across Canada with over 5 million earned media impressions via popular social and news outlets covering the one-of-a-kind event!

In a world of over-stimulation and short-lived trends, it’s hard to get people’s attention – especially millennials.

As a brand committed to serving individual communities and bringing them closer together, we understood the importance of marrying millennials' love of experiences and TikTok.

So, we created a one-of-a-kind social event – powered by TikTok – giving Canadians within local communities the chance to join our celebration and collect a CT $100 Bill.

Our strategy helped us connect with young people and build a human connection based on a localized approach – putting a millennial twist on a “vintage” trend.