Matte PR Brings Home Two ACE Awards from the Canadian PR Society

Matte PR is excited to announce it has won two bronze ACE Awards from the Canadian Public Relations Society. The annual ACE Awards celebrate the best innovation and skill in public relations and communications in the Greater Toronto Area. There were a record breaking 188 award entries in 2021.

Hania Kuzbari’s retail debut in Canada won Matte PR bronze for Best “Pivot.” nixit’s Canadian launch won the bronze award for New Product or Service Launch Campaign of the Year. This is the second award won by Matte PR for its work with nixit.

Hania Kuzbari’s Pandemic Pivot

In September 2019, we introduced Hania Kuzbari’s fine jewelry collection at Toronto Fashion Week (TFW). After this smashing success, Matte PR was assigned the task of opening a standalone retail experience for the brand. 

At the beginning of 2020, Matte PR set its sights on Yorkville Village for Hania’s pop-up store and IRL shopping moment. Creating a truly personalized and luxurious experience, this pop-up shop was set to expand the brand’s presence in Canada with the same success seen at TFW. The shop opened on March 3, 2020. Needless to say, it was not open long. 

So we pivoted mid-campaign from a retail experience to a fully digital experience, analyzing Hania Kuzbari’s existing e-commerce platform and refining it to embody the luxurious Yorkville pop-up shop. Informed by our research of other luxury and bespoke brands, we initiated the idea of the Virtual Showroom, a service that allowed Hania to personally meet with prospective clients over video call and present curations of the brand’s fine jewelry items.

While our KPIs were mainly social-media focused, Matte PR managed to surpass its targets for Hania Kuzbari. We earned two pieces of traditional Canadian media, reaching 1,217,886 readers. While still open, the in-store event earned 320 pieces of social media and media coverage combined, reaching 3,306,042 people and exceeding our goal by 109 per cent.

nixit’s New Product Launch

nixit isn’t like any other period product brand. From its one-size-fits-all, suction-free menstrual cup design to its focus on destigmatizing periods and being inclusive of all those who bleed, we knew this partnership would be magic from the start.

Our vision for nixit was to launch with an unexpected media and influencer campaign, targeting people who hold the brand’s values close to their hearts as much as we do. The objectives were three-fold: destigmatize talking about your period, reach like-minded customers and position the brand for growth in the Canadian market. 

The strategy prioritized connecting with menstruators on a deeper level. Specifically, we sought out people willing to use their voice to destigmatize period myths and advocate for those left out of dominant period narratives. Through our research, we understood micro-influencers were most effective, but we took it a step further. We chose to work with influencers who have a purpose and who are activists online and offline. We reached out to journalists and editors who truly ‘get it’, knowing they will be the best vehicle for sharing nixit’s story and cause. 

Matte PR helped nixit stand out by strategically choosing influencers to work with. As such, we created a special “club” of people who are ambassadors for the brand and the values it espouses. As a result, we smashed our KPIs. The coverage we secured had a total reach of 159,134,161, with 157,925,621 coming from online media and 1,208,540 coming from social media.

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