Zulu Alpha Kilo

Client: HomeEquity Bank / Royal Canadian Legion
Product: HomeEquity Bank / Royal Canadian Legion
Title: Orders of Sacrifice
Media: App, Digital, OLV, Direct
Country: Canada
Date Of Campaign: 10th of November 2021

Background: HomeEquity Bank (HEB) is the only financial services company in Canada exclusively serving seniors. In 2021, The Legion National Foundation, its CSR partner, was looking to raise awareness and drive donation support for war veterans. Since the First World War, November 11th has been a day to honour veterans around the world and to raise funds to support veterans in need. However, the tradition has begun to fade in Canada among younger generations. With awareness and donations on the decline, we wanted to connect with this young audience to help increase donations for the Legion.

Idea: With COVID-19 limiting traditional Remembrance Day observations, we had to find an innovative way to intercept a younger audience and create a connection to veterans. We forged that connection in an unexpected way, using the food delivery digital platform DoorDash. Young adults can hardly imagine the incredible sacrifices veterans made during the war. Today, food delivery apps make having any meal we want, whenever we want it, effortless. This is in stark contrast to veterans who faced not just death but also hunger. A design-driven solution was the key to educating our young audience: we recreated Second World War ration kits that were historically accurate and offered them up on Door Dash. Young adults could experience what soldiers ate and understand how much they sacrificed in their daily lives during wartime. Working with the Legion, we crafted the Orders of Sacrifice rations kits. Each one included hardtack biscuits, chocolate, tea bags, sardines, evaporated canned milk, and canned corn beef. A Second World War historian consulted on each item in the kit to ensure its accuracy, giving Canadians a taste of authentic battlefront food while supporting our veterans and their families. The kits were priced at $100 to commemorate 100 years of Remembrance Day with all proceeds supporting our veterans. On November 10 at 11:00 a.m., we distributed the rations kits in select neighbourhoods via DoorDash. Each rations kit had a QR code that navigated to an unboxing video featuring commentary from our veterans. We promoted our cause through influencer outreach to connect with younger generations. This helped drive more orders on DoorDash as well as giving people across Canada a small taste of the hardships past generations faced in a unique way.

Results: Orders of Sacrifice immediately drew attention to Canadian veterans and their experiences. Despite a media budget of only $3,500, the campaign generated significant broadcast and online media coverage across Canada with over 5.4 million media impressions, including Toronto Sun, Global News Toronto, and CHUM 104.5. Breakfast Television Toronto aired an extended 7-minute segment featuring the kit and its goals. Influencer content created for Instagram created additional reach of over 107,000. Ultimately as part of HEB’s Remembrance Day activities, contributed towards raising $458,000 in individual donations for veterans and their families.