Who: Goodfood, with John St. for strategy and creative, with PR by MSL.

What: “A Goodfood Fantasy,” a Mother’s Day campaign built around three spicy (but not that kind of spicy) “novellas” about food.

When & Where: This was a mostly digital campaign, using Goodfood’s owned social channels, with some influencer outreach including printed versions of the stories.

Why: John St. and Goodfood were looking for a way to stand out for Mother’s Day, and very little Mother’s Day marketing touches on themes like lust and desire. So, Goodfood and came up with “A Goodfood Fantasy”—stories about what mothers really want for Mother’s Day: Good food delivered to their door.

The brand has adopted a “playful and sometimes irreverent tone,” said Cher Campbell, John St.’s chief creative officer. “And while Mother’s Day has never been treated quite this way by the brand before, it’s a tone that feels right.”

How: John St. writers Austin Parkin and Megha Kumar wrote three Harlequin-esque stories: The Temptation of Fast Groceries, Love at First Bite, and The Food She Desired. Rather than plots about passion, romance and sex, the Goodfood Fantasy storylines adopt the style of a romance novel, except they’re mostly about the lust and desire for good food.

“To the outside world, Ira has it all: a busy, high-flying law career, a doting boyfriend, and a beautiful house in the city. But after just one poutine bite from Goodfood, her whole life has been called into question. Suddenly, she has no idea who she is,” reads the teaser copy to Love at First Bite.

The stories play with prose inspired by romance novels: “Impulsively, she turned to David and kissed him hungrily, pulling his T-shirt over his head,” for example, before explaining what Ira really wanted. “But the more Ira tried to stay in the moment, the more she was being taken out of it. Something about this wasn’t working for her anymore. She realized she wasn’t hungry for this, she was hungry for something else.”

“This campaign completely eschews the common tropes of Mother’s Day—it speaks to moms, not about moms,” said Campbell. “It’s intended to make her laugh, it’s a gift for her in and of itself. It’s not trying to sell flowers to her kids or brunch to her partner.”

John St. also created a minute-long video ad with all the hallmarks of a late-night ’90s phone-sex line, such as a sultry voiceover, grainy video and a sensually sax-y soundtrack. The stories can all be read at the Goodfood blog, but a handful of influencers were also sent printed copies of the novellas to create posts with promotional discount offers ahead of Mother’s Day.

And we quote: “We hope these novellas brought a little joy to moms across Canada for Mother’s Day… Sultry stories with a side of sriracha, we want moms and household meal planners to see that Goodfood can help bring them delicious groceries delivered in minutes and meal kits that match the food they’re fantasizing about.” —Lauren Turchet, senior marketing and communications manager, Goodfood.