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Behind the Work in association withThe Immortal Awards
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How The Garden Helped Patio-Goers Trick Their Bosses

15/09/2022
Advertising Agency
Toronto, Canada
116
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The Garden’s senior copywriter Chris Lihou, strategy director Jenn Munoz, senior art director Cam Hopkins and SIR Corp VP marketing Anesie Johnson discuss targeting gen z, building a fake office pod, and creating an innovative patio season campaign, writes LBB’s Josh Neufeldt

As any Canadian restaurant with a patio will tell you, Canadians love when the sun comes out. It may be a short annual affair, but regardless, people always find a way to make the most of it. This is especially true in 2022, where citizens are once again going out for food, after two years of growing accustomed to team lunches and after-work drinks being replaced by sweatpants and leftovers. As such, Jack Astor’s wanted to celebrate this return to normalcy - encouraging people to get outside and taste the feeling of pre-pandemic patio life, as well as, of course, good food. 

However, doing this was not a simple affair. While many Canadian restaurants have leaned into the concept of getting one’s patio mojo back, for Jack Astor’s and The Garden, this all felt a little too familiar. Instead, they decided on a campaign called ‘Work From Patio’. Featuring a custom-built, soundproof booth, complete with a fake living room backdrop and 'Best Employee' mug, the restaurant company wanted to help employees fool their bosses - allowing them to fake being at work while on the patio. 

In addition to this, each of Jack Astor’s 37 locations was installed with custom ‘Work From Patio’ backdrops, and the pod itself was sent on tour across Ontario - with people being invited to tag their go-to Jack Astor’s location on Instagram for a chance to have the pod show up at their preferred patio location. The campaign was further supported by a series of headline-driven OOH, videos for TikTok and Instagram which showed the pod in action, and social posts which reminded people that Jack Astor’s is the perfect spot to slack off with their cameras on.

LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with The Garden’s senior copywriter Chris Lihou, strategy director Jenn Munoz, senior art director Cam Hopkins and SIR Corp VP marketing Anesie Johnson to discuss how this campaign was brought to life.


LBB> The idea of fooling one’s boss into thinking they’re working, when in reality, they’re at the patio, is probably an idea everyone has considered at some point. As such, what was the brief like for this campaign? And what immediate ideas came to mind?


Chris> Patio season briefs usually kick off with ‘Canada has a short patio season, so make the most of it’. Our strategy team wanted to acknowledge that, but find new ways of looking at what patio season meant in a post-pandemic era. Initially, we came up with lots of ideas centred around getting your patio mojo back. Ultimately, it all felt a little too familiar. However, the idea of transforming the patio into something new - that acknowledged the times we’re living through but wasn’t about getting back to normal - felt fresh to us.



LBB> What were your aims and ambitions for the project?


Anesie> With the transition to work-from-home lifestyles and the loss of post-work or lunchtime dining culture, Canadians have become more stuck indoors than ever before - missing out on precious patio season time. We’re known for our vibrant patios, but with the behavioural shifts we’ve seen post-pandemic, we needed a new way to invite Canadians onto our patios that better fit into their new daily routines. We wanted to drive awareness that our patios are open and get back to the roots of what made Jack’s famous in the first place - its irreverent sense of humour - and do something fun to celebrate the fact that we can actually have social occasions again.



LBB> Why were The Garden the right people to bring this campaign to life?


Anesie> The Garden creates advertising built on a shared emotional connection which goes above and beyond functional proof points. We have been working with them closely on the evolution of our Jack Astor’s brand positioning - from look and feel to tone of voice. We really felt they understood the brand and what it needed to evolve in order to attract a younger demographic, while also still appealing to the current loyal Jack’s user. We also loved that their creative director (Lindsay Eady) used to be a former Jack’s peep!



LBB> What was the research process like for this campaign, and what were the key takeaways? 


Jenn> We’ve been shifting the Jack Astor’s brand to connect more strongly with the gen z customer group, so we knew the summer patio campaign had to focus on them. We forecast that most patio-reliant restaurant brands would be taking a more generic, post-pandemic, ‘welcome back to summer’ approach, so we searched for an insight that would tap into the minds of our gen z target, yet would stand out in the irreverent way that Jack’s has become known for. The idea of being tied to your Zoom work meeting while the precious summer hours slip by came to the forefront.



LBB> The ads invite viewers to experience Jack Astor’s new 'Work From Patio' pod. Where did the idea for the pod come from, and how did this factor into the creative process for the campaign?


Chris> We knew that with our target, just talking about the idea of ‘working’ from the patio - even with all its inherent cheekiness - wasn’t going to be enough. That’s where the idea of the pod came in. It was a novel way to connect with our audience, but also something we could stand behind because it legitimately helped people fake out their bosses. So, naturally, it became the centrepiece of the campaign.



LBB> The pod is said to be custom-built, featuring a soundproof booth, a fake living room backdrop and a 'Best Employee' mug. As such, what was the design process like for the pod?


Cam> We knew work booths existed, so we just needed to retrofit one to suit our needs. To give it that playful Jack’s vibe, we wrapped it in custom vinyl, sourced the most generic home backdrops we could find, found funny accessories like those ‘best employee’ mugs, curated a selection of suit bibs which customers could quickly throw over their patio attire, as well as adding other small elements. Anything we could modify that helped complete the ruse and added to the fun of using the pod, we did.


LBB> The campaign is also supported by spots which show the pod in use. Tell us more about how these were made! How was the production process, and do you have any interesting stories or anecdotes from on location? 


Chris> The spots were always intended to feel more like organic content than a traditional ad. So, we leaned into that. We shot everything on an iPhone 13 - with a director and DP ensuring it all looked good. We also had a sound team to capture dialogue.

Our shooting location had the worst environmental noise I’ve ever encountered. We were on the corner of a major intersection, close to an airport, AND there was road construction a mere 50 feet away. It made timing with the performances extra challenging.



LBB> Director Clay Stang handled the spots. Why was he the right person to bring this campaign to life?


Cam> Clay knows how to stay nimble, adapt to challenges on set and work with small crews and small budgets - while consistently delivering the best. He’s also such a calm and confident presence, and that's great when you have an untraditional and agile set..



LBB> The big question is, how many people used the pod? Do you have any fun tales of people tricking their bosses?


Chris> We’re seeing a lot of positive feedback on the pod on social media, and comments about how people are using it to trick bosses and coworkers. From what we’ve heard from Jack’s, it’s getting daily use. We honestly thought people may just use it as a make out spot, but it turns out it’s as useful as we hoped it’d be.

Anesie> The pod has received lots of use at the various locations it visited: both for employees duping their boss, and vice versa. With our lofi versions, each of our locations took the idea and had fun with it. Some locations installed additional lighting with the introduction of desk lamps, some added pens and paper for note taking, and others added cushions to provide comfort during those extended Zoom calls.



LBB> Another key aspect of the campaign was Jack Astor’s sending the pod on a tour across Ontario, and inviting people to tag their go-to location on Instagram for a chance to have the pod show up. As such, what was engagement like? And as a whole, how did people react to this campaign?


Chris> We’re really happy with the level of engagement we’re getting. Pairing the notion of ‘work’ with ‘summer fun’ was inherently kind of risky. But, it seems to be resonating with Jack’s customers. We had lots of people across Ontario asking to bring the pod to their favourite location. I remember one comment on social that read, “If you aren’t working with a fishbowl, are you really working?” I gotta agree.

Anesie> Interestingly, we saw an 18% increase in guests aged 25-34 dining on our patios this summer. We couldn't be happier with the results, as well as the response we saw from both our people and our guests.

As with many industries, the restaurant business has struggled these past two years due to covid-19 - with only take out and delivery, lockdown restrictions and the need to keep people safe. It really felt great to be able to do something fun with this campaign and celebrate patio season again.



LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them? 


Cam> Honestly, one of the biggest challenges was securing and retrofitting the pod. They’re out there, but none are designed to withstand the elements on a patio, and most are so large they can’t be moved easily. At one point we considered getting scrappy and building the pod ourselves, but in the end we just needed to find the right partners to work with to bring it to life.

Anesie> Logistically, the pod weighs over 700 pounds, and sometimes the height and weight became prohibitive in which locations would be able to physically admit the pod onto the patio.



LBB> What will happen to the pod once the campaign is over?


Anesie> The pod will retire and live out the rest of its days in a sunny, gated community. (The Garden office).



LBB> Did anyone at The Garden attempt to use the pod to trick their bosses?


Cam> It’s hard to trick a boss who signed off on our idea. However, we did take multiple Zoom calls from the booth on location while we were working on the campaign, but the meetings were in fact, about the pod. So you could say we tried to trick the boss while talking to him about tricking the boss.



LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?


Anesie> We also installed custom ‘Work From Patio’ backdrops at each of our 37 locations across the country, giving everyone a chance to fake out their boss while patio-ing like one too.


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