WestJet’s friendly employee faces are a mainstay of urban OOH in Canada’s major centres, but never have so many been represented than in the latest "Owners" campaign launched by the airline this week.

The company filmed 385 of its staff members – whom they call "owners" thanks to the company’s employee stock-option program – telling the public how they would "Care-an-tee" good customer service. Hundreds of the videos are now up online on the brand’s YouTube page , with more being added as the six-week campaign rolls out. As this article was being written, the channel had so far garnered almost 150,000 views. Clips from the videos also form the basis for the rest of the campaign, which crosses TV, online and in-theatre. Creative was handled by Taxi in Toronto, and media by Media Experts, also of Toronto.The strategy behind the campaign was to get the voices of as many WestJet "owners" as possible into the public, Lauri Feser, VP marketing, WestJet, tells MiC .

"We have a really unique brand and for us it’s about showing the depth of the WestJetters and how they make our brand come alive," she explains. "One of our challenges has always been, how can we expose that, and educate people, on what WestJet is about? Social media and YouTube were a perfect way to get that out to the market. But getting almost 400 WestJetters on YouTube – you always wonder, is this going to work?"

As Feser says, YouTube provided one of the only viable media through which they could accomplish such a feat, and the concept of an owner-powered "Care-an-Tee" campaign was born.

The videos will get national promotion through the rest of the media buy, which includes French and English spots on specialty and conventional television, online big-box display ads on social media sites and major portals, and digital videoboards in WestJet terminals in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City and Calgary. The campaign will also include ads in over 1,000 movie theatres during the "pre-show."