A mock-up of the exterior ad face of a Toronto transit shelter.
What We’ve Been Up To!
It has been a while since we’ve posted to our blog. We’ve been really busy with a major advertising campaign and community outreach program that has been in the planning phase for many weeks.
And as of Easter Monday, that campaign has launched! We’re very, very excited and proud of what we’ve accomplished and we wanted to share with our readers all the details.
Creative for interior ad faces.
Outdoor Advertising
We have placed 42 transit shelter posters in key locations throughout the city of Toronto - North America’s fourth largest urban centre. There are two versions of the creative. The first one (seen in the mock-up above) is for exterior faces where sight-lines are long and read times are short. The other creative is for interior faces only and contains a multitude of descriptions about the many illnesses and conditions hens forced to lay eggs endure. The central image is of a “spent” hen whom we’ve called “Lucy”. Lucy is representative of the millions of hens condemned to lay eggs in barns all over the world. Our campaign is using the hashtag #thisislucy.
This campaign will run for 4 weeks with a 2 week bonus. We already have some local followers who have spotted our posters and have begun sending us their selfies alongside them.
We hope in the coming weeks, the millions of commuters who will see these posters will appreciate the realities of egg production and will visit our website, begin to look for alternatives and make compassionate food choices going forward.
“Egg-Free Get Started!”
On Saturday, April 27th, 17,500 copies of our egg-free starter kit will be distributed through The Toronto Star - Canada’s largest circulation newspaper! This full-colour, 8-page, digest sized booklet will feature delicious egg-free recipes and baking tips, a chance to meet Lady Heisenberg of Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary along with an invitation to visit the farm. Our booklet will also include information on the truth about modern day egg production.
A sample of our 8-page, full-colour booklet.
On the back cover, and with the courtesy of the good folks at Follow Your Heart, there is a $1 OFF coupon for any Follow Your Heart or Earth Island product including VeganEgg! These delicious, cruelty-free products are now available in most major grocery store chains and specialty grocery stores in Toronto.
Social Media
Starting Tuesday, April 23rd, a major social media ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram will invite users to visit a dedicated page on our website where Lucy asks them to “Leave Eggs OFF their plate . . . for HER!”. There will be additional animal welfare information related to egg production, links to other information on our website and a PDF, downloadable version of the 8-page booklet which we have also made available for our readers here. Note: only the colour, printed version inserted into the Toronto Star has the $1 OFF coupon - if you are in the Toronto area, be sure to try and pick up a copy of the Saturday edition of The Star.
Image courtesy of Vegan Outreach.
Street Campaigns
With the assistance of the volunteers at Cube of Truth, we will be conducting an ‘Egg-Cube-of-Truth’ at two major intersections in downtown and midtown Toronto: Yonge-Dundas Square and Yonge & Eglinton on Friday, May 3rd. Here passer’s-by will be able to view video of standard industry practices at hatcheries, layer facilities and slaughter houses. They will also be offered a copy of our 8-page booklet.
In early May, Vegan Outreach will be leafleting our booklet in several key locations in Toronto as well. We anticipate they will be able to distribute approximately 1500 booklets!
In addition to helping to educate consumers about the true nature of egg production and create awareness around egg-free alternatives, we hope to demonstrate the impact our campaign will have. If we can establish proof-of-concept, we hope to be able replicate this same campaign in other cities across North America with the support of donors.
If you would like more information on our campaign, please feel free to reach us via our Contact Us page. We are always receptive to those seeking to help coordinate other efforts in other locations across Canada and the U.S.
Best regards,
Nigel Osborne
Executive Dir., Egg-Truth