How can we deliver the right content at the right time, knowing that during an election period, the news and issues are constantly changing? Radio-Canada's News department opted to create an ecosystem of dynamic, reactive content in order to cover all the topics and issues related to the election campaign: fact-checking, Vote Compass, the news app, news content by region, and an informative video platform for young voters.

Knowing that consumers automatically go online to find answers to their questions, the communications planning agency PHD Montreal worked with Radio-Canada to boost content discoverability. Using the slogan “You have questions, we have answers,” the agency developed a data-activated media strategy that followed the news in real time, attracting and directing consumers to the appropriate content while increasing loyalty to the Radio-Canada ecosystem.

Conducting a campaign in real time meant changing the usual MO of those in charge of content (Radio-Canada's News department), the client (Radio-Canada's Communications department) and the media agency. As was the case for all the political parties, the communications strategy was set each morning and could change over the course of the day. Key messages were decided on at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day. Since content had to be manually posted online, the agency put in place an agile process allowing for real-time reactivity.

With 15 million impressions and over 150 creative switches in 39 days, the campaign succeeded in attracting and retaining new visitors to Radio-Canada's digital ecosystem. On election day, October 1, 2018, Radio-Canada.ca got close to 1.5 million visits — the site's second busiest day since January 2015 and a 27% increase over previous provincial elections. These impressive numbers aside, we were also able to answer the public's questions without a trace of fake news!

As per Infopresse.(in French)