Navigating rough waters: CPG marketers need an agile data-driven media strategy amidst economic uncertainty

Canadians have been encouraged to shop local during the pandemic, but current events have instilled a stronger sense of Canadian pride than ever before, and significantly impacted patriotic consumption habits. This relatively extreme shift in consumer behavior makes it imperative for brands to adopt a more agile advertising strategy, keep an eye on their competitors, and, most importantly, measure the impact of their media spending on actual sales.

The "Buy Canadian" trend offers a unique opportunity for CPG brands to build stronger connections with Canadian consumers. I work with many of the top CPG brands in Canada alongside our agency partners at Publicis - they are some of the highest media spenders in Canada but often struggle to measure the true impact of branding and awareness campaigns on offline outcomes.

Programmatic advertising offers our clients a powerful advantage in this environment - enabling brands to stay agile, localize messaging in real time, and optimize spend based on real-world signals.

This is why we’ve introduced MiQ Commerce, a solution that empowers advertisers to measure the impact of their brand campaigns on in-store sales based on FSA-level point-of-sale data on a monthly cadence. Enhanced with MiQ’s rich audience and media insights via leading Canadian data partners, brands can engage consumers with dynamic omnichannel campaigns that can target audience segments based on what they watch, browse, and buy.

Today, CPG marketers especially need to be able to pivot quickly amidst trade policy changes, affordability crisis, and fluctuating customer loyalty. A recent survey by Interac Corp shows that 80% of Canadians believe in supporting local products versus imported goods, and over 57% would still buy made-in-Canada products even if they may need to spend more to do so.

I recently spoke at an event hosted by the Canadian Marketing Association in partnership with Environics Analytics on how this period of uncertainty can be an opportunity for CPG brands to adapt to this trend. Here’s a short video that includes snippets from the presentation:

One of the key themes we discussed were top strategies that both Canadian and non-Canadian brands can follow to stay agile.

Here’s a quick summary:

2025 media strategy for Canadian brands

• Amplify “proudly made in Canada” by leveraging Canadian data and insights to reach consumers who have a strong sense of national pride
• Leverage real-time data to target relevant consumers at a hyperlocal level across channels with custom brand and creative messaging using dynamic creative optimization
• Build on loyalty: remain top of mind for your existing and returning customers with deals and product recommendations based on their past purchase data 
• Conquest competitor customers by analyzing their sales data, customer spending habits, purchase preferences, and media investments

2025 media strategy for non-Canadian brands

• Focus on performance campaigns using programmatic tactics to drive conversions and sales while optimizing your ad spends for guaranteed outcomes - maximize reach while only paying for media that gets you incremental customers or sales for 
• Target your brand loyalists: invest in customer loyalty with personalized experiences, exclusive offers and timely messaging
• Lean into mobile-connected campaigns and hyperlocal DOOH to drive in-store visits, capture real-time intent, and optimize toward high-performing, purchase-ready audiences

Looking to run outcome-led campaigns? Or looking to leverage powerful sales data and consumer insights to optimize your campaign performance? We’d love to help.

Get a demo of our Commerce Intelligence solution by reaching out to your agency contacts, or connect directly with MiQ Canada’s Commerce Product Lead, Darius al Haddad.