The last Olympic campaign from the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), launched ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, declared proudly: “We Are Winter.”
The COC is continuing that line of messaging for the Rio Games, due to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Aug. 5 – 21. Though athletes will compete in the blistering heat, the organization turned again to Canada’s cold winters for inspiration for its new campaign.
The cornerstone of the campaign is a spot by Cossette, shot in February and released Wednesday, that sets 12 of Team Canada’s summer athletes against the chilly backdrop of Ontario’s Georgian Bay in their less-than-seasonal summer sporting gear.
Rather than shy away from Canada’s association with winter, Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Cossette, said the ad was designed to show how harsh winters have made Canada’s summer athletes strong.
“We’re defined by our environment,” Ignazi said. “Yeah, it’s cold, yeah it’s harsh, the wind blows and stings, but we feel this makes us tougher. It makes us who we are.”
COC CMO Derek Kent said the campaign was informed by a series of interviews with Team Canada members about what it means to be a Canadian athlete.
“What came up time and time again was growing up in this country, forged by winter, made them who they are,” he said. The rowing team, for example, often trains paddling through ice, he said. “They would tell you that makes them tough, ready and raring to go.”
The spot was directed by Mark Zibert, the same director behind the COC’s “Now Or Never”campaign for the 2015 Pan Am Games. There are 30 and 60-second versions of the new spot in both English and French, as well as seven 10-second vignettes intended for social media.
The 12 athletes featured in the campaign are a mix of well-known names and up and coming medal hopefuls from a variety of sports including swimming, boxing, beach volleyball and diving. Among the most famous of the group is tennis player Milos Raonic, one of the best-known athletes to ever be featured in a COC ad.
The campaign also includes OOH and digital display. It’s launching on the COC’s digital properties this week and in July will run on donated ad space arranged by OMD. In terms of projected reach, Kent said it is the COC’s largest summer Olympics campaign to date.
The campaign launch follows the unveiling of the Team Canada collection for Rio 2016 from Hudson’s Bay. The COC broadcast the event live on its Facebook page using Facebook Live. According to the COC, the video has been seen almost 800,000 times across multiple social media platforms.
