Bell Canada is paying tribute to the Canadian armed forces and its 184 employees who died serving Canada in World War I and World War II with a new Remembrance Day campaign.
Created by Leo Burnett and Brooklyn-based director Miles Jay, the “Poppy” spot coincides with the 135th anniversary of Bell’s 1880 founding.
Over a simple piano score, the wordless spot tells the story of a young girl – played by Ella Querin (Stage Fright, Murdoch Mysteries) – who is riding the bus when she sees a veteran selling poppies.
A subsequent Google search on the significance of poppies produces images from the two world wars, and leads her to strike up an email correspondence with someone living in Europe who sends her an actual poppy that she then presents to the veteran.
The spot ends with an evocative shot of the late-evening sun streaming through the poppy, accompanied by the super “Lest we forget.”
“I got to benefit from some enormously talented directing and some enormously talented short-form storytelling,” said Rick Seifeddine, senior vice-president, brand for Bell in Montreal. “I think [the spot] is sober and autumnal and in keeping with remembering.”
The spot has generated overwhelmingly positive sentiment since it debuted on Sunday, with Seifeddine sharing with Marketing a note he received from a viewer: “I have tears in my eyes as I watch your new Remembrance Day spot for the first time. As the son and brother of a veteran, I couldn’t be more touched. Thank you for getting this so right.”
The spot features actual World War II veteran Norman Cash, 96, who served with the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, and who landed at Normandy with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division just after D-Day. Cash helped liberate France, Belgium and Holland while also freeing concentration camp survivors.
Also featured in the spot is Aida Gabriel, a retired captain and 23-year veteran of the Royal Regiment of Canada, who was born in Moscow before her family came to Canada in 1981. Gabriel deployed to Bosnia in 1997 as part of Canada’s contribution to the NATO Stabilization Force, and later served in Afghanistan as part of the National Command Element.
The spot began airing on CTV, and will continue running through Remembrance Day on Bell Media’s English and French specialty channels, as well as Radio-Canada and V Télé.
The spot is also available online at Bell.ca/RemembranceDay, though Seifeddine said it is intended to be viewed on TV. “It was never intended as a social campaign – it was intended as a TV campaign,” he said. “Many people will see it in HD on a 52-inch screen, and that’s how it should be seen. That will bring people to remembrance in the most impactful way.”
The spot also updates the company’s long-running “Dieppe” commercial, which debuted in 1990s. That ad, which ran as recently as last year (with a super reading “From our archives), showed a young man walking along one of the D-Day beaches in Dieppe and subsequently calling his grandfather to thank him.
“It didn’t run in heavy circulation [last year], but we felt the sentiment was still valid,” said Seifeddine, who said he saved money “here and there” throughout the year to create the new spot.
Bell is part of the Hire a Veteran program, which gives qualified veterans priority in hiring in partnership with Canada Company’s Military Employment Transition (MET) program. The company has hired 64 veterans and reservists since 2013, and was recently recognized by Canada Company and the Canadian Armed Forces as a top five MET employer.
Bell’s Let’s Talk and True Patriot Love also created the $1 million Bell True Patriot Love fund in 2013 that works to improve access to mental health care for Canadian military families. It has provided 32 grants to date.
“Between this and Bell Let’s Talk, the company has given me a lot of reasons to feel great about my work,” said Seifeddine. “Helping diminish the stigma around mental health, helping support the people who give so much, is a great use of corporate resources.”
