CIBC paid tribute to retiring soccer legend Christine Sinclair during her final game for the Canadian national women’s team on Tuesday night (Dec. 5).

Sinclair’s 190 goals scored in international competition makes her a world record-holder among both men and women. To celebrate this, CIBC invited 190 girls to walk onto the field and welcome Sinclair with applause as she stepped onto the pitch. Her final game was played against Australia at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver.

CIBC took the act further with a 12th minute takeover – a tribute to Sinclair’s jersey number 12 – with a message of gratitude to Sinclair appearing across the B.C. Place Stadium’s displays.

The campaign was developed in partnership with CIBC’s AOR Courage, with the goal of reflecting both Sinclair’s outsized impact on women’s soccer, and CIBC’s “guiding belief that every ambition matters.”

“For a big brand like CIBC, which works every day to emphasize the importance of ambition, we knew we had to craft a ‘thank you’ that was fitting,” Courage co-founder and CCO Dhaval Bhatt said in a press release for the campaign. 

“Our biggest goals here were to honour the special relationship between Christine and CIBC and for a legend to leave the field knowing just how much her ambition has impacted Canadians and sports fans around the world.”

The effort from CIBC is supported by social media posts, and was complemented by a $190,000 donation to the Christine Sinclair Foundation, which supports girls and women to pursue their goals. The same tribute video that played at Tuesday’s night game will be posted to social media, followed by another video in the next few days summarizing the whole event, to show the scale of what CIBC and Courage did.

In July, CIBC announced Sinclair would serve as an ambassador for the bank, following a multi-year sponsorship agreement that CIBC entered into with Canada Soccer last year. 

“We hope that all Canadians will notice this campaign and appreciate Sinclair’s tremendous impact on soccer,” Greenlaw tells strategy. “And of course, we’d love for another takeaway to be that CIBC celebrates any and all ambitions.”

Courage partnered with the agency Oliver, which supported with in-game collateral material, including animating digital assets for the 12th Minute Takeover, and Kiddo, a prodco that helped capture the content at the game.