On Tuesday, August 2, a giant billboard went up at Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square.
The ad read:
FOR TRADE: One Cheestring
Accepting trades for one Cheestring. Marble flavour. Still in original packaging.
No lowballs. I know what I have. 647-407-0938
[For those who don’t have them in their supermarkets, Cheestrings are, as the name suggests, skinny tubes of cheese (each about 20gms) that can be peeled into strings. In Aus, they’re called Stringers, and each would cost about 60c if they could be bought separately.]
The billboard was up for three days and has so far received over 1,000 offers ranging from the serious to the ridiculous, the latter including two Persian cats, a broken lawnmower, Shaquille O’Neal Rookie Cards, someone’s pregnant girlfriend, a golden gorilla statue, and a yacht.
The news media took notice, and media coverage started to come in from outlets including Narcity, CityTV, New York Post, Breakfast Television, Global News and HuffPost. The phone number on the ad directs to an actor, Joey Harlem, hired to play the role of a 48-year-old professional trader named Angel Domingo. One New York-based radio station even offered Mr Domingo his own show as a trade.
The stunt is the brainchild of agency, Broken Heart Love Affair, and part of Keep it Cheesy, a new campaign created for Black Diamond Cheestrings.
“We all remember trading snacks like Cheestrings at school when we were kids,” stated Jordan Hamer, creative director, Broken Heart Love Affair. “We wanted the billboard stunt to help adults remember their fun side.”
Some of the mad trades offered:
The Keep it Cheesy campaign is supported by a TV spot, OLV, a social campaign and OOH. The TV spot, Lunch Trade, uses the insight that Cheestrings make every day more playful. It features office workers all trying to one-up each other on a trade for a Cheestring, with offers including pirate’s treasure, a cloning machine, and a (**spoiler alert**) finale offer of Cthulhu the World Eater.
Cheestrings has traditionally built its marketing around its brand mascot, Cheesy, but worked with Broken Heart Love Affair to develop the new strategy, noted Enrique Larez, marketing director, Black Diamond & Tablespreads, with Black Diamond.
The work is built around the insight that every peel of a Cheestring brings out the kid in everyone, and trading lunchtime snacks is a quintessential childhood activity.
“We’ve maintained the magic of the brand that captured our hearts nearly three decades ago. Cheestrings are fun. They represent happiness and silliness, and each peel is really an invitation for play. It gives us permission to bring out the kid in everyone,” Larez commented. “This is just the beginning of a transformational brand platform that will live on for years to come.”
Credits:
Brand: Cheestrings
Vice President, Marketing – Cheese & Tablespreads – Lactalis: Sabrina Zollo
Marketing Director, Black Diamond & Tablespreads: Enrique Larez
Creative Agency: Broken Heart Love Affair
Chief Creative Officers: Carlos Moreno, Denise Rosetto, Todd Mackie, Craig McIntosh, Jaimes Zentil
Creative Directors: Jordan Hamer, Spencer Ryan
Writer: Jordan Hamer
Art Director: Spencer Ryan
Chief Business Officer: Bev Hammond
VP Strategy: Kristy Pleckaitis
Broadcast Producer: Erica Metcalfe
Integrated Producer: Demi Veselinovic
Production Coordinator: Olivia Cousineau
VP, Client Success: Joline Matika
Supervisor, Client Success: Annabel Harding
Production Company: Partners Film
Director: Fugitives
Executive Producers: Gigi Realini, Aerin Barnes
Line Producer: Jeff Schwartz
Director of Photography: Mikhail Petrenko
Assistant Director: Michael Metcalfe
Editing House: Saints Editorial
Editor: Brian Williams
Assistant Editor: Corinne Grans-Wood
Executive Producers: Michelle Rich, Mackenzie Goodwin
Post-Production House: Darling
Colourist: Kassi Bellamy
Colour Assistants: Will Culverwell, Jesse Hilton
Executive Producer: Stephanie Hickman
Producer: Faith Clark
Flame Artist: Lauren Rempel
Audio House: OSO
Creative Director: Daenen Bramberger
Executive Producer: Hannah Graham
Casting: Mann Casting
Media Agency (Activation): Epitaph
Media Agency (TV/OLV): Zenith Media
