Canada Dry Celebrates their
100th Year Anniversary

The Client

In 1890, a pharmacist and chemist named John J. McLaughlin opened a small plant in Toronto, Canada, to manufacture soda water. But McLaughlin was thirsty for a better product, and in 1904, after conducting hundreds of experiments, struck gold with the perfect formula for a drink he liked to call Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale.

Today, Canada Dry lives on under the ownership of Plano, Texas-based Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, the largest non-cola soft drink enterprise in North America and the largest subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes plc. And though much has changed in the past century, one thing hasn’t: the clean, just-north-of-everyday taste that John J. McLaughlin made famous 100 years ago.


The Case

To commemorate 100 years of Canadian refreshment Canada Dry thanked Canadians from coast to coast with a 100 day celebration that included many sparkling events and their biggest web-based contest ever.


The Challenge

Due to the importance of the selling season, the challenge was for Canada Dry to stand out in the midst of numerous competitive soft drink promotions. Could a 100 year old drink compete with the newer kids on the block?


The Signature Solution / Strategy

Cadbury Beverages wanted to increase consumption through repeat purchase so Signature delivered exactly what they wanted by designing a web-based game that would encourage people to buy Canada Dry every day during the promotion. To accomplish this we printed PIN codes on the back of specially marked labels, which consumers would then use to access a special contest website where they played a game to win prizes.

The game involved selecting three of ten fun Canadian landmark signs including outdoor activities like hiking, waterskiing, and camping. If the player found three matching prizes behind the signs they instantly won that prize. Over 1,000 prizes were awarded including one lucky winner who drove away with a brand new Ford Escape XLT!

The Payoff

This was one of the most successful web-based promotions in Canadian history with over 135,000 PINS played across the country thereby driving consumption.

The AOR for Cadbury Beverages Canada, The Marketing Channel (TMC) who designed and executed the 100th Anniversary Program partnered with Signature on the overall game design and development of the site. Rob Hindley, President of TMC said:

"When you're putting together a program of this scope the multitude of partners and prizes represent significant financial exposure and execution complexity. You want to ensure that you're working with experienced professionals that are used to dealing with the big brands and have the technical expertise to ensure flawless execution. The net desired result is that the consumer has a fun and involving brand experience. This was accomplished as demonstrated through our results. Once again Signature delivered excellent site design and management."

We have established a partnership approach with Signature One-to-One to the development and execution of on-line promotions. We include them at the initial concept stage as they have the experience to provide insights that will add value to our programs. The results have been outstanding.

Rob Hindley
The Marketing Channel