To Canadians the products and services needed to prep your car for winter are well established. Winter tires, washer fluid and an engine check. This doesn’t include a new battery because to consumers “if the car starts, it works”. Unfortunately this is problematic because shifts in winter temperature can cause a battery that works fine at +7 degrees to fail at -7.

But Canadians don’t think that way, and batteries are viewed as a grudge purchase not a proactive, preventative one.

To achieve our objective of growing MotoMaster Eliminator AGM sales by 10%, we knew we needed to drive a new consumer behaviour. We had to convince Canadians to care about the battery in their vehicle.

We did this by putting our battery through the most extreme test; starting a truck made from 11000 pounds of ice, proving only Canadian Tire has the products made for life in Canada.

To prove none of it was a hoax every stage of the process was filmed for a making of documentary which we posted online and touted through our social channels. Additionally, we took the ice truck on a 2 km drive through the northern Ontario town of Hensall in front of its cheering residents.

Finally, when all was done, we melted the truck and let people watch online.

When we launched the campaign on January 1st, during the NHL Winter Classic, the Media and consumers took notice in a big way.

PR impressions totaled over 80 million; YouTube views 3.5 million+; and it was seen around the world via CTV, CBC, the New York Times, Fox News, CNN, the UK’s Daily Mail, plus some of the top news outlets in Germany and Australia. Even Ripley’s Believe It or Not picked it up.