Share Joy

Gay Lea Foods, Ontario’s biggest dairy cooperative, is launching its new brand campaign in support of its butter, sour cream and whipped cream product lines in an effort to grow its share of Canada’s $15.9B dairy products sector. The new campaign, created by Blackjet, is the first to be anchored by Gay Lea’s 'Share Joy' brand positioning.

Blackjet was appointed as Gay Lea’s AOR in March 2022 and, together with True North Media, has been working with the brand team at Gay Lea to develop and produce the new campaign to coincide with the fall-winter surge in home baking.

Focusing on the use of Gay Lea products for home baking, the campaign emphasizes the joy of sharing food and highlights Gay Lea’s roots as a farmer-owned dairy co-operative.

The strategy emerged from consumer development research that underscored the importance of consistent product quality to delivering the emotional reward that home bakers seek. Increasingly, however, consumers judge food quality not just by name familiarity but by the transparency and ethics of its supply chain and Gay Lea’s farmer-owned structure feeds directly into positive quality perceptions.

Running in digital and traditional channels the creative dramatizes the highs, lows and emotional rewards of home baking. The creative takes a refreshing approach to well-trodden territory, highlighting the stress, mess and mistakes that accompany food preparation, all of which is often glossed over in other creative from this category. The creative ultimately demonstrates why we spend hours agonizing over new recipes and slaving over hot stoves; to share joy with the people we care about.

The creative was produced in collaboration with Impossible Studios, and features an original, note-to-frame composition designed to create and maintain a sense of stress that gives way, in the end, to ebullient joy.

Commenting on the campaign, Rob Galletta, CEO and CCO of Blackjet said, 'Gay Lea is one of those brands that everybody recognizes but nobody really knows. The team at Gay Lea wanted the brand to have point of view that’s relevant to consumer needs but also ownable and distinctive. I’m super proud of the way the creative brings that ambition to life.'