With we get closer to the Sochi 2014 Olympics, Canadian Tire has launched their latest campaign with the help of Toronto-based agency cleansheet communications. The campaign is centered around Canadian hockey superstar Jonathan Toews, an Olympic Gold Medal winner, Team Canada member, and two time Stanley Cup winning Captain of the Chicago Blackhawks. The campaign aims to create the world’s biggest Team Photo and places Jonathan Toews and his community team of 300 real people, not actors, who helped his hockey dream flourish at the center of the ice. The team photograph itself forms the shape of a maple leaf, which is reminiscent of the belief that the best of sport brings out the best in the community and nation.
“There has always been the classic definition of a team photo, that being the players and the coaches,” says Neil McOstrich, Creative Director and founding partner at cleansheet. “What we were trying to accomplish was the real team photo! The one that includes the people in the community who helped get the athlete where he is today. Every athlete in the world has one, this one is unique to Jonathan Toews.”
The campaign appears in three television ads (see ad spots below), digital advertising and hub, documentaries, electronic ‘thank you odes’, print, outdoor, subway dominations, Canadian Tire stores and their flyers.
https://youtu.be/UAaOiEvjcGM
https://youtu.be/EXUXGE7solM
The “We All Play for Canada” campaign debuted during the World Junior Hockey Championships and will continue to run leading up and throughout the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The inspirational Toews Team Photo commercial, which carries the message that there is no such thing as an unassisted goal, was filmed in Jonathan’s hometown of Winnipeg at the MTS Centre. It begins with a tight shot on Jonathan Toews, the arena announcer saying: “Jonathan Toews’ goal assisted by…” the viewers are expecting another hockey player to be revealed as in on the goal, but to their surprise, they see his parents, community rink builders, fundraisers, sponsors and carpoolers instead. The announcer credits them with the assists along with everyone else whose actions prove “there is no such thing as an unassisted goal.” The commercial ends with the written and spoken title, “We All Play for Canada.”
A microsite located at www.weallplayforcanada.ca was also created where visitors can explore a digital version of the Toews Team Photo and click on it to discover heartwarming documentaries about the people in the photograph at At the end of each documentary, the viewer is invited to tell their story about his or her contributions to helping others enjoy play.
[adrotate banner=”6″]
