As part of its “Celebrate Team Canada” campaign, The Royal Canadian Mint recently launched a 30-second spot that urges viewers to “celebrate achievement with a 2014 Lucky Loonie.”
The loonie has become a sign of support for Canadian athletes. In 2002, a dollar coin was buried at centre ice before the Salt Lake City Winter Games; both our men and women’s hockey teams won gold that year. Since 2004, the Mint has made commemorative loonies for the Games as an official supplier of the Canadian team.
Voiced by Greg Westlake, the captain of Canada’s national sledge team for the upcoming 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, the new spot features hands shifting the new commemorative coins around in ways that illustrate Westlake’s narration. (In one shot, for example, the coin is used to form the hand of a clock as Westlake mentions time standing still.)
The campaign also includes French spots featuring Alexandre Bilodeau, Pierre and Alex Harvey and Marc Dorion.
The spots are part of a broader campaign by creative agency Cossette that also includes web banners, social media and a microsite.
The coin, which was released last month, features a loon sitting on a lake with its wings spread, and also includes the Canadian Olympic Team logo and the year 2014. Five million of the coins have gone into circulation.
