Chicken Farmers of Canada’s latest spot features real birds helping locals in everyday situations, along with bird mascots to create a buzz.

The campaign reinforces that Canadian chickens are “raised right,” with the hero spot showing the birds holding the elevator and giving up their bus seat to a pregnant commuter.

JJ Hochrein, director of brand marketing for Chicken Farmers of Canada, tells strategy the campaign had a specific purpose in mind, to target Gen Z and younger millennial families, who while they consume a high level of chicken, also can have negative perceptions about the protein.

The Chicken Farmers of Canada, the national agency responsible for the orderly production and marketing of chicken and chicken meat, wanted to communicate that farmers raise chickens to some of the highest standards in the world, while also producing marketing that will make people smile.

The work is by new agency partner, LG2, which won the remit late last summer. Hochrein says Chicken Farmers of Canada previously had “lots of different smaller agencies touching the brand,” and the organization needed to become more focused in its marketing and target who it was going after, while ensuring its messaging was consistent. LG2 was a strong partner for the brand because it had strong category experience, and was robust in both English- and French-speaking Canada.

The “Chickens Raised Right” campaign includes a public activation, which saw a brood of chickens popping up all over Toronto, picking up trash in Trinity Bellwoods park, cheering on Toronto Marathon runners, holding open the door at Union Station, and of course, helping pedestrians cross the road.

The chicken mascots were all about creating a buzz in the marketplace and to get people talking before the ads rolled out, Hochrein says, as “social media can play a strong role in spreading that message.”

English and French spots for broadcast, online and social, a landing page online and refreshed “Raised by a Canadian Farmer” logo work.

The organization is working with restaurants, processors and retailers to get its “Raised by Canadian farmers” core brand into market on menus and packaging, much in the way Dairy Farmers of Canada has done, as a quality imprimatur.

“We are Canada’s number one meat protein and we want to continue to be that for Canadians.”

PR support and public activation coordination was provided by Craft Public Relations. Video capture of the activation was provided by Triple Threat Entertainment. Media strategy and execution by True Media.

There was an adjustment, tactically speaking, on the media side, skewing more digital this time around, Hochrein says. The buy includes a combo of linear and connected TV in English and French.

The timing of the work coincides with the kick off to summer BBQ season, and the spend is consistent with past work with the difference being this is more of a focused approach.