President's Choice launches 'colourful' campaign

Brown chocolate, purple cauliflower, pink grapefruit and green kale are the big stars of “Colourful,” Loblaw Companies’ new campaign for its President’s Choice brand.

The 30-second TV spot created by John St. is the keystone of the campaign announcing that PC has removed artificial flavours and colours from its products. Released Oct. 16, the campaign, with the central tagline “Food is colourful enough,” will run for three weeks, and also includes digital ad units, in-store signage, radio and print.

“We pledged to remove artificial flavours and artificial colours from all our products in 2012,” said Ian Gordon, senior vice-president of Loblaw Brands, Loblaw Companies. “It was a huge undertaking, but one that we were committed to making happen. We know that there is a growing interest amongst Canadians about what goes into their food and more importantly, what doesn’t.”

The agency has been working since February on a campaign to announce the fulfilment of PC’s pledge, said John St. creative director Angus Tucker.

“We thought it was just a simple way of explaining the thinking behind the no artificial flavours and colours initiative,” he said of the campaign. “Which is that food is beautiful all on its own, and wherever possible, let’s maintain the purity of it. We were just trying to bring out the natural colour and wonder and flavour of food in its natural state.”

Variations on the tagline in the print ads include “Green is green enough,” and “Red is red enough.” Research on the idea showed people considered it in line with perceptions of quality associated with the PC brand.

“It was something they expected of President’s Choice, to do this sort of thing,” said Tucker. “Very, very much in line with the brand.”

This article originally appeared in Marketing magazine.