The Bridgestone NGHL Winter Classic telecast, the giant annual outdoor New Year’s Day hockey jamboree, was chosen as the launch platform for the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) to unveil its new Sochi 2014 campaign – ‘We Are Winter’.
A month and a half before the Winter Olympics kick off (well, or slide off) in Russia, the COC began rolling out its largest campaign ever starting with the 8.75 million strong CBC audience for the 2014 Winter Classic.
Reported to have cost in excess of $14m, the integrated campaign features two 60-second TV spots, four 30-second spots and one 15-second spot, as well as print, digital and OOH ads.
Built around captivating, motivational and inspiring imagery, the creative is dominated by the iconic frozen tundra as a backdrop, with several of the country’s elite Winter athletes at the forefront, the campaign combines both English and French language executions (and hashtags) – #WeAreWinter / #Noussommeslhiver
The blockbuster eight-week campaign runs until the end of February.
Comment
The campaign’s objective is to generate support for the athletes, build excitement around the Winter Olympics and to provide unprecedented exposure to both the Canadian Olympic Team and its corporate partners.
The COC’s main sponsors, which include Adidas (the official supplier of high-performance apparel and footwear), Sport Chek (a Canadian Tire company), and Oakley (the official high performance optical wear supplier), all seem likely to benefit from the media exposure generated by the campaign.
As these brands benefit from onscreen logos.
For example, 20-year-old snowboarder Mark McMorris pulls off massive big air tricks in Oakley goggles, while bobsleigh champion Kaillie Humphries sports an Adidas speed suit. Both brands’ COC Olympic product ranges can only be purchased at Sport Chek.
Thus these spots feature fairly seamless product integration.
One week after the campaign’s official launch, the spearhead TV spot had racked up 45,000 YouTube views.
Links
Canadian Olympic Association Website
Sochi 2014 Website
