Canadian Olympic Committee's new marketing campaign. Kia Nurse is the athlete featured.Canadian Olympic Commitee
Just more than a month before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the Canadian Olympic Committee launched its new brand campaign on Monday, themed “Glory from Anywhere.” It weaves together stories of Olympians preparing to compete in Japan, alongside those of Canada’s community heroes.
The campaign went live across TV, digital video, print, social media and other, out-of-home advertising, such as road-side billboards and bus shelters.
The COC collaborated with Toronto-based creative agency Camp Jefferson on the campaign, beginning in 2019, while Montreal agency K72 was responsible for the French-language version. The concept was conceived and produced before the pandemic hit in early 2020 and the Summer Olympics were subsequently postponed by a year. But the COC says it takes on new relevance in light of the pandemic and hopes Canadians can see themselves reflected in it.
Jennifer Abel.Canadian Olympic Commitee
It includes a 60-second television ad featuring several Olympic medal hopefuls, such as diver Jennifer Abel and decathlete Damian Warner – mixed with the accomplishments of other inspiring Canadians, and the message “inside all of us lies the potential for glory.”
Alongside the leaps, dives and spikes of the athletes, the TV spot also features Canadian workers, such as firefighter Shawn Morris, who pursued the profession after watching first responders during 9/11; Lee Martin, a teacher who helps get drinking water and care packages to disadvantaged communities; and Miranda Kamal, a survivor of sexual assault whose healing included the creation of a volunteer-run boxing gym for at-risk youth.
“The message has really taken on a new meaning for all of us, from the bravery and sacrifice of front-line workers to the determination of our athletes,” said Jacquie Ryan, the COC’s chief brand and commercial officer. “This is the time for us to rally together in the nation, support our athletes and also showcase that all Canadians have the potential to be ‘Olympic’ and reach their own version of glory from anywhere.”
Skylar Park, a 22-year-old from Winnipeg, is one athlete that Canadians may be seeing for the first time in the campaign. She is heading to her first Olympics with potential for gold.Dave Holland/The Canadian Press
In the past year and a half, athletes have faced cancelled and postponed competitions and have had to reimagine their training during lockdowns. Overseas spectators have been banned from attending the Tokyo Olympics, and questions about the major sporting extravaganza’s viability and safety have dominated the news. Now, 38 days away from the opening ceremony, it appears these Games are on course to start in July.
The stories of other Canadian athletes are featured across the COC’s campaign, including: Kia Nurse (basketball); Félix Auger-Aliassime (tennis); Ellie Black (artistic gymnastics); Andre De Grasse (track and field); Annie Guglia (skateboard); Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan (beach volleyball); and Skylar Park (taekwondo).
The stories of Canadian athletes are featured across the COC’s campaign, including Kia Nurse.Jim Young/Reuters
Park, a 22-year-old from Winnipeg, is one athlete that Canadians may be seeing for the first time in this campaign. She is heading to her first Olympics with potential for gold. Park won the 2016 world junior taekwondo championships just months after she watched the 2016 Rio Olympics on TV, and has made the podium in her sport many times since.
“It was kind of surreal when I first heard that they wanted me to be part of this campaign, along with some incredible athletes that I’ve looked up to and watched many of them win medals on TV,” Park said. “When I was younger, I would see these kind of Olympic ads and they would give me chills and make me say to my dad, ‘Let’s go train.’ ”
Park’s family operates Tae Ryong Park Taekwondo Academy in Winnipeg, opened by her grandfather and her father in 1993. The family had moved from South Korea to Canada when her father was 8.
Park is one of 16 members of her family who have black belts – including both of her parents and two brothers. She took up the sport at 2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the family has weathered the intermittent closings of their small, family-run business during the lockdown months. Her dad, who will be her coach at the Olympics, trained her during that time in the basement of their family home, with her brothers as sparring partners.
Skylar Park.Handout
She was travelling back from a competition in Mexico on Monday as she spoke by phone, and was excited to get back to Canada and see the new billboards and TV spots, making the Olympics seem all the more real.
“It’s been the values of bravery and determination that have helped us as Canadians throughout this pandemic, whatever that may be for all of us during this time. I know a lot of people had to kind of redefine what that meant for them, and just focus on what they could control,” Park said. “While I’m reaching my goals, I hope to inspire as many other people as I can, especially young kids.”
Rachel Brady