Zellers finds a home for Zeddy

An "Everything Must Go" sale is unemotional, completely mercenary, and sometimes sad – especially for a Canadian retailing company like Zellers that had been in business for more than 60 years.

John St. wanted to give the closing business sale a sense of humanity, and make it interesting and shareable online. So Zeddy the bear (Zellers' mascot for 35 years) was included in the liquidation sale of items in its stores.

Two online films were released over three months. The first "Born Free" spot showed the "executive managing director" of Zellers driving the mascot bear out to the woods and telling him that everything must go, including him. The spot lived on the retailer's Facebook page, where people could also "want" featured products on sale for the chance to get a better deal.

A second spot, called "Adopt Zeddy," showed the bear in the woods (not doing so well), asking people to help by adopting him for their own. They could apply online through interactive banners, and some applicants even chose to make their own videos. A shortlist of adoptee contenders were voted on by Zellers' Facebook fans, with Camp Trillium, a camp for kids undergoing cancer treatment, chosen to take the bear home.