McCain Foods awarded for brilliant sweet potato ad

McCain Foods (Canada) has won two awards for its advert for its Sweet Potato Superfries® varieties.

The sweet potato ad won two Bronze 2011 CASSIE awards - one for Best Launch and the other in the Packaged Goods - Food category.

The CASSIES are Canada's only advertising award show based on proven business effectiveness and backed by rigorous published cases. They are dedicated to recognizing, rewarding and improving the business effectiveness of advertising.

Advertisements from across the country were reviewed by a panel of 31 judges including ad agencies, clients, media, academic, interactive, international and research disciplines.

McCain's winning advert told the sweet potato story in a unique and humorous way. It started out showing a farmer in the soft, early morning light, pulling sweet potatoes out of the ground and putting them into a basket. The voice-over narrative provided a flowery description of the sweet potato, talking about the "natural sweetness that comes from being wrapped in the Earth's embrace and gently caressed by the hands of loving farmers." At that point, the farmer had enough and interrupted with "Whoa, this ain't no romance novel, it's just a sweet potato."

Heather Crees, Vice President of Marketing for McCain Foods (Canada), said the TV commercial delivered on three major objectives.

"We wanted to accomplish several things with that single ad, and we did. We wanted to show that our Sweet Potato Superfries can be a great meal addition every day, not just at holiday dinners.

"We also wanted to show that our fries, made from 100 per cent real potatoes, contain the goodness of the sweet potato. And finally, we know that parents want to give the best to their families and we wanted them to know that they can feel good about serving our sweet potato fries and that they have a place in their freezers alongside our regular McCain Superfries®."