The Canadian Cancer Society is tapping into Canadiana and community to tell a heartwarming story about how it takes a village, or rather, a society, to deal with serious illness.

The hero spot shows a father playing street hockey with his daughter and getting her geared up for practice, while he undergoes chemotherapy with support from family and friends.

“It’s a story of many different people… playing different roles in the community, coming together to support a cancer patient,” says Pamela Mollica, executive vice president of marketing and communications for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS).

The new brand platform, “It takes a society,” supplants the organization’s existing “Life is bigger than cancer” platform, which launched in 2019.

“We shifted a little bit in terms of our organization strategy,” Mollica explains, noting the organization moved away from a vision where nobody fears cancer to embracing unification and inspiration.

The previous campaign honed in on people not wanting to be defined by their illness, but with this evolution, it’s more about togetherness and the idea of everyone having a role to play to battle cancer’s complexity.

“We innately understood it would resonate deeply,” she says.

To support the new platform, CCS has released a multi-channel, bilingual ad campaign, which is digital first, but also includes a linear TV buy to target donors. There is also display, as well as a bit of OOH, search and OLV.

“The majority of our donors are older… 50 plus,” she says, telling strategy there is an opportunity to go after the 35-plus set too.

This campaign is about raising awareness and getting people involved in different capacities, driving to cancer.ca. There’s also an “It takes a society” landing page, which includes info about advocacy, volunteering and participation in key annual events like Relay for Life and the CIBC Run for the Cure.

The creative is by Juliet, with Media Monks handling the media buy. Media Monks began working with the charity in July of 2023. The campaign is timed to launch ahead of World Cancer Day, running until the middle of March and in advance of its spring Daffodil campaign.