They were great on the demo tape. But little did I know when I got into my car to drive to Stouffville, Ont. at the crack of dawn on that October morning that I was about to fall in love with the Stouffville Clippers atom hockey team.

It was the first day of filming the 16 eight-year-olds (including one girl) who were set to become the stars of our new Canadian-made MasterCard ‘Priceless’ television commercials.

The Clippers spots, like all ads produced by MasterCard around the world, follow the Priceless theme, which launched in October 1997. It airs in 99 countries, in 47 languages, and at last count, more than 220 individual executions had been produced.

When you’re a small operation that’s part of a huge multinational company, being locked into a set brand often comes with the territory. So you keep your fingers crossed that the brand will play well in the market you’re working in. For us, Priceless has been a natural for adaptation in Canada.

Here are the five keys that have made it work:

Recognize an adaptable brand when you see one, and work it for all it’s worth. Just before Priceless launched in 1997, we had conducted some independent brand equity research about what was important to Canadians. We had learned Canadians wanted a card product that was relevant and meaningful and that spoke directly to them.

In the middle of this, the marketing team from the U.S. flew in to brief us on the new Priceless campaign. Globally, MasterCard needed a brand that allowed consumers to relate directly to their credit card.

Sitting in the meeting, we Canadians in the room looked at each other and thought, ‘Is it possible that they got a leaked copy of our brand equity findings?’ It was uncanny how well the messaging of Priceless fit with what our survey showed us.

It’s not enough to simply know your customers. You have to know what they value. When we heard Priceless was coming, we were a bit leery. We may look and sound a lot like Americans, but as a marketer who’s worked for a multinational company headquartered in the U.S. for a dozen years, I can tell you we’re just not the same.

Priceless is about life being a rich experience, rather than being about rich lifestyles. What makes Priceless so rich in Canada is that the ads mirror our lives, showing us Canadian brands, settings and people we value and love: hockey, cottage country, icons like Bobby Orr and women’s national team captain Cassie Campbell, and uniquely Canadian products like Tim Hortons doughnuts and butter tarts. It’s this local colour that makes Priceless valuable to Canadians.

Keep it fresh. Priceless will celebrate its seventh birthday this year. To ensure the campaign continues to speak to Canadians, each year MasterCard Canada has launched new, Canadian-tailored elements, such as the Clippers ads this year, or last year’s ‘The Talk’ spot. Set in classic Canadian cottage country, the spot shows a father and son having a heart-to-heart about the birds and the bees.

For maximum impact, extend your brand down all marketing channels.

We know that using household names and products has been a key element in the connection Canadians feel with Priceless. Making Priceless itself a household name would only further cement that connection.

To achieve that, we use Priceless across all our marketing channels. In 2002 we launched the MasterCard Priceless Index, a PR campaign that centres on an annual national survey about what Canadians consider to be priceless. We’ve also developed the Priceless Seasons promotion, a quarterly contest designed to take advantage of the strong feelings Canadians have about each of our four seasons.

Adapt your adaptation for Quebec.

Before we decide to launch any campaign in Quebec, we take a close look at it to make sure it will play well there.

Next we adapt the campaign to the unique characteristics of that market. For example, when we launched the Priceless Index in Quebec, we adjusted both our survey content and our launch dates to account for the fact that Quebecers celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste Day more than Canada Day.

We’ve also adapted creative, such as the Europe-produced ‘First Apartment’ ad, for Quebec, and not elsewhere in Canada.

We have the advantage in Canada that we’re on the same continent and work primarily in the same language in which the Priceless campaign was originally developed. That said, if you want people to really understand that ‘there are some things money can’t buy…for everything else, there’s MasterCard,’ you have to say it in a way that really speaks to them.

Tracy Hanson is VP marketing at MasterCard Canada in Toronto. One of the original three to open MasterCard’s Canadian office, her responsibilities encompass strategic direction and planning, creative development, sponsorship, and promotions. Hanson’s experience also includes positions with a number of advertising agencies. She can be reached at tracy_hanson@mastercard.com.