We needed to first benchmark the Manitobans’ level of awareness and belief in the potential benefits of mining, along with gaining an understanding of citizens’ greatest concerns.
6P designed a multi-input research approach. Beginning with an analysis of global mining, as well as in-depth research interviews with Manitoba industry experts to deliver a provincial quantitative study (representative of all regions).
Key insights were: 89% identifying themselves as “not informed” about the mining industry and 42% believing Manitoba does not have a large resource of valuable metals and minerals. Despite this, 52% of the population believes that growing the industry could be “good for Manitoba.” Based on this, 6P recommended all efforts focus on the “moveable middle”.
The research identified the mining sector benefits of most value to Manitobans included: creation of high quality, high paying jobs, generating funding for vital services (like healthcare, education), and a valuable contributor to driving Manitoba’s transition towards a green economy. With these top benefits in mind, 6P developed a positioning strategy to guide Public Trust messaging.
To be successful, we required joint messages from both the mining sector and the province. 6P recommended the creation of an ‘initiative-specific’ entity and website by the name of “Uncover Prosperity MB” with the descriptor of “Manitoba’s Critical Minerals & Metals”.
With the challenge of making the topic intriguing and relatable, 6P’s creative team expressed each critical mineral/metal, in human form. An influencer-themed concept with each mineral or metal represented by an actual model, both a custom image and video. Creative delivered a bright and impactful colour palette and contemporary examples that proved minerals/metals are essential to our way of life.
Our goal was to get the message in front of our target audiences; a multi-platform campaign employed out-of-home placements like transit ultra tails, billboards and superboards. At the same time, online marketing and advertising pursued the public from placements in the Google ad network, social platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok, Reddit and more.
Every call to action led to the website. Deeper dives into website content dispelled mining myths, answered frequently asked questions, provided blog posts, and delivered dedicated pages on economic impact and sustainability.
Both project partners (MAMI, Province of Manitoba) were impressed and fully satisfied with the research, Public
Trust positioning, quality/impact of the creative, media investments, and overall campaign outcomes - as a combination of online and traditional mediums/platforms, created over 131 Million impressions.
52 Million online impressions were generated across 13 digital platforms. A commitment to invest all funds as effectively as possible was demonstrated by the online leg of the campaign delivering a $0.87/cost-per-click (CPC) metric as compared to an industry benchmark of $4.66/CPC for Google Ads. Online campaign ads were seen between 8 and 20 times per platform, resulting in 192,000 ad clicks and over 124,000 visits to the campaign website. The remaining 79 million impressions were generated by traditional mediums such as transit, print ads, advertorials, radio, and billboards.
