In a two-phased campaign, Coast Capital partnered with Daily Hive Vancouver to support small businesses in the face of ongoing COVID restrictions that impacted the entire sector significantly. Motivated by a desire to support the credit union’s small business members, the campaign focused on the stories of struggling small business owners and a call to action asking British Columbians to support local when shopping, dining or considering service providers.
Phase I centered on a four-part editorial-style content series featuring Coast Capital small business members to captured and convey the emotional depth and challenge faced by local businesses navigating the COVID pandemic. The content was then amplified through both Coast Capital’s owned channels and employee brand ambassadors.
In the lead up to the 2020 holiday season, phase II was executed with another Daily Hive editorial-style article, this time in the form of a shop local gift guide. Featuring five Coast Capital small business members, the gift guide offered inspiration for people looking to support local while doing their holiday shopping. Again, the Daily Hive content was also leveraged both through both Daily Hive and Coast Capital’s social channels, Coast Capital’s blog and an internal employee-facing campaign. To drive further engagement, a fulsome, multi-pronged contest strategy was executed giving away beautifully curated, Coast Capital branded holiday stockings filled with goodies purchased from Coast Capital business members.
The content and amplification strategy helped created urgency among readers, encouraging those interested to click through to support the featured businesses, and more generally, the provinces small business sector as they negotiated the various health authority orders and restrictions while keeping their doors open.
The incredibly relevant pieces were released to directly coincide with increased consumer interest in supporting local businesses within their own communities, which led to outstanding engagement online, through social media channels and internally with Coast Capital employees.
Daily Hive articles:
