Hasta La Creative!

While it may be hard to relate on this sunny, unseasonably warm February day, JWT Canada found a way to turn disgruntled obscenities hurled at the weather into something productive with its “Winter Swear Jar” for Hotels.com.

So how does it work?

Every time a really fucking cold Canadian tweets cursing about the winter weather, Hotels.com will add a quarter to its “Winter Swear Jar.” Every time the total reaches $1,000, they’ll send a Canadian a gift card for that amount so they can escape to someplace warm and forget about the fucking snow for a bit.

It’s a fun stunt that invites plenty of social engagement with the brand, along with the promise of a chance to escape the harsh northern climes. The tweets shared in the spot are funny and relatable (even if you don’t live in Canada) and give an idea of what the campaign is all about while encouraging disgruntled Canadians to join in the fun.

While the function of a swear jar is normally to dissuade people from swearing, Hotels.com’s effort is intended to have the opposite effect, as the more people swear about the weather on Twitter, the more likely another Canadian will escape to someplace warm for a vacation. While it may not be quite as cold down here in the states, especially at the moment, we’re pretty taken with this swear jar idea. And we assure you we’ve done plenty of cursing this winter.

“Social media provides us with the most culturally relevant environment to engage our consumer beyond a more traditional one-way dialogue,” JWT associate creative director Laurent Abesdris told AdFreak. “We plan to measure the shift in brand sentiment over the course of the campaign.”

Credits:
Client: Hotels.com
Project Name: Swear Jar
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Ryan Spelliscy
Associate Creative Directors: Denise Cole & Laurent Abesdris
Art Director: Jose Rivas
Copywriter: Kyla Galloway
Brand Engagement Director: Victoria Radziunas
Digital and Social Strategy Director: Adam Ferraro
Community Management and Influencer Relations: Jolie Featherstone, Rannie Turingan
VP, Integrated Broadcast: Andrew Schulze
Senior Project Manager: Joanne Sincich
Account Team: Darrell Hurst, Chitty Krishnappa
Client Team: Melissa Postier, Mike Wolfe, Josh Belkin
Executive Director, Digital and Agency Technology: Kawal Singh
Group Technical Director: Kevin Tam
Group Director – User Experience: Stuart Thom
Production Company: Sauce
Post-Production: Think Tank
Editing House: Saints
Audio House: TA2
Media Agency: MEC