Who: Discount supermarket chain Super C, with Cossette for strategy and creative, Septième for production, and Touché for media.

What: A new campaign using what Cossette describes as “olfactory marketing on dogs.” It is supporting Super C’s ongoing support of the Mira Foundation, a non-profit that provides guide dogs for the visually impaired. The organization has provided more than 3,000 dogs since its inception in 1981.

When & Where: The campaign is in market now, using decidedly unique out-of-home (see below), which is being complemented by digital out-of-home, in-store signage, radio and online. It is also using Super C’s social media channels.

Why: Super C has supported the Mira Foundation for more than 20 years, and this campaign continues its efforts to build consumer awareness of the fundraiser and the partnership between the two brands. The goal is  to get consumers to go to a Super C store and make a donation to Mira.

How: You might call this the literal embodiment of a dog walker campaign, anchored by a series of billboards situated at doggo level and specifically designed to attract canines and, by extension, their owners.

Working with the out-of-home vendor Publicité Sauvage, Cossette coated billboards in what Olivier Charbonneau, director, business, describes as an “aromatic blend of ingredients” specifically designed to attract dogs (the secret ingredients: Tuna oil and, in some cases, peanut butter). The boards feature the message “flaire-le don” (roughly translated “smell the gift/donation”), alongside both the Super C and Mira logos.

Dogs, of course, are well-known for their keen sense of smell, possessing about 300 million olfactory receptors compared to about 6 million for humans.

To get people to make a donation at the cash register, point-of-sale advertising features a troupe of five dogs—Muffin, Ramen, Creton, Sésame and Roquette—that Mira says will directly benefit from all of the funds raised.

And we quote: “The Super C campaign is precious to Mira, because it rallies both grocers and customers, who have shown tremendous generosity year after year. The cause is important to them, and they understand that the money raised has a direct impact on our ability to provide dogs to people in need.” — Nicolas St-Pierre, general manager, Mira Foundation.