For its back-to-school campaign this year, SportChek wanted to showcase the anchoring role that sports can play in the lives of young people who might otherwise be experiencing a lot of change.

That was the “human truth” at the heart of the brand’s latest campaign, “Welcome Back to Sport.” Developed with recently-named AOR Cartier, it centres on a 30-second TV spot set to a cover of David Bowie’s “Changes.” The creative tells the story of kids readjusting to the school routine, but finding their footing – and perhaps new friends – in sport.

“For families, back-to-school often feels like a second new year. Sometimes it can mean literal newness: a new school or new routines,” explains Stephanie Wall, VP of marketing for the retailer. “Sport can feel like an anchor when navigating the new. It can play that role when people are transitioning from one routine to another.”

The spot is just one part of a larger campaign that also incorporates targeted digital messaging (including through TeamSnap), in-store and OOH, the latter being “the first time we’ve done brand equity in that channel for some time.”

“We know our customer drives 20km per week more than the general population, because they’re driving their kids to all of these activities,” explains Wall. “So we wanted to be more broad thinking with our mix.”

Ultimately, she adds, the campaign offers the brand one of its first real chances to speak about the return to the classroom since the COVID-19 pandemic, and “we wanted to make sure we are thinking about them and what their life looks like beyond that.”

“We’re back to reality – and back to sport,” Wall adds. “We wanted to make sure that we remain top of mind for them.”

Touché! handled the TV and OOH buys for the campaign, while the Canadian Tire Digital internal team handled the digital one.