Canadian grocery giant Empire – the parent company of Sobeys, IGA and Safeway – leveraged its status as an official partner of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in January with an integrated Winter sports extension of its ‘Feed The Dream’ initiative.
Launched a month ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which begin on 4 February, the ‘Feed the Dream’ Olympic platform was initially introduced for the Tokyo Summer Olympics in Spring 2021 and the winterized version launched on 10 January and will run through both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The activation seeks to tie together ‘food, family and sports’ in what parent company Empire refers to as ‘a movement’ and the creative focuses on showing how the support of families and coaches is instrumental in feeding the dreams of athletes who make it to the Olympics.
The ads feature some of the athlete ambassadors sponsored by Empire as they train and compete being cheered on by their family, while additional scenes and images feature child athletes starting out in their sports and being supported by their family and their coach.
The campaign was developed in harness with creative agencies BBDO and FCB, with PR and influencer work handled by North Strategic, media by UM Canada and athlete management through XMC.
The campaign assets span TV, online, social, outdoor and through its in-store retail stable, as well as across an interactive website at FeedTheDream.ca and most carry the #FeedTheDream and #Beijing2022 hashtags.
The programme is hubbed around a bespoke ‘Feed The Dream’ site at https://feedthedream.ca/ and promoted through an integrated campaign spearheaded by a hero ‘Dream Forward’ 60-second spot which dropped on 11 January set to an adapted a version of the Crosby, Stills and Nash classic ‘Teach Your Children’.
The hero ad was supported by shorter, individual athlete- and team-focused 15-second digital and social spots with additional supporting social content backed by OOH executions and print ads some of which ask viewers to fill in the blank to the question “What does it take to feed the dream?” with words such as ‘dedication’, ‘commitment’, ‘support’, ‘hard work’ and ‘family’.
A further strand of the activation programme is a ‘Family Viewing Kit’ competition held across its social channels which extends the fill-in-the-blank concept so that visitors can submit their own answers for a chance to win food, grocery cards and memorabilia.
“All athletes have a unique story about what it took to make their Olympic and Paralympic dreams a reality,” said DeHaas. “‘Feed the Dream’ was created to bring these stories to life, helping Canadians connect with our athletes and get to know them on a deeper level. The platform’s content highlights our athletes’ determination, discipline and the power of family on their journey from backyard skating rinks and local ski hills to the biggest stage in sport.”
“Our consumer research shows that in year one, Sobeys is already on par with other Team Canada sponsors and does particularly well at driving positive brand consideration compared to other sponsors,” said Sobey’s Marketing VP Erika DeHaas. “Feed the Dream demonstrated strong overall performance with solid breakthrough in awareness and successfully influenced brand favourability.
“While our athletes remain a key focus of the film, we wanted to celebrate the notion ‘behind every dream, is family’ by showcasing the real families of both our athletes and everyday Canadian families who are feeding and nourishing their child’s dreams,” added Chief Creative Officer at BBDO Canada Max Geraldo.
Comment
‘Feed The Dream’ was the company’s first Olympic campaign after becoming an official COC sponsor back in 2019 and the Beijing 2022 campaign has the same theme and creative thrust as the Tokyo work.
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