Athletics Canada is looking to drive mass awareness for the upcoming Olympic Games, by reminding viewers that Olympians and Paralympians of today were regular kids not too long ago.
The “Just Like You” campaign, which touts the slogan “They were you. You can be them” features home vide of current Canadian athletes as children, acting like normal kids performing wobbly cartwheels or clunkily dribbling soccer balls. The spot is meant to show that you don’t have to start out as an athlete toe end up as one.
The campaign hero video also features national team members from multicultural backgrounds and para-athletes to show how people can succeed in athletics, regardless of their circumstance.
“Team Canada’s athletes weren’t always stars,” says Mathieu Gentès, CEO at Athletics Canada, the national governing body for athletics in Canada, which includes track and field, cross-country and road running. “At one point, they were just regular kids doing regular kid things. And we thought there was something very relatable and inspiring about that.”
Bryan Collins, co-founder and ECD at longtime agency partner One Twenty Three West, says the biggest hurdle is convincing people that athletics is for everyone.
“You’re not born athletic, you train to become athletic,” Collins says. “It’s also the lowest barrier to entry sports so it’s very important we show that everyone from every background is welcome and can thrive here.”
The shop says Athletics Canada was very helpful in communicating with the athletes and their parents, to get footage from their childhood as well as archived footage of athletes.
The campaign was created in French, English, Mandarin, Punjabi and Hindi, targeting diverse communities across Canada. This initiative was funded by a small government grant aimed at increasing sport participation for newcomers to Canada and athletes with disabilities. One Twenty Three West sourced assistance for diversity outreach by working with Vancouver-based Captus Advertising.
“They reviewed our concepts early on to ensure it was going to transcreate into the multiple languages needed, as well as they worked alongside us and our production partners to produce the Punjabi, Hindi and Mandarin creative, post copy, etc.,” One Twenty Three West group account director Matt McGarva says.
The video-led campaign that also includes social and digital creative is live nationally in time for June’s Athletics In Canada Day events, as the organization targets students in late elementary and those starting or midway through high school.
“Our main medium was YouTube, supported by Meta placements on Instagram and Facebook. With our young target audience, these formats are effective for us, particularly YouTube,” McGarva says, adding that it wanted to utilize the companion banners on YouTube to help the message resonate and motivate people to click and see where the nearest “Athletics In Canada Day” events are to them.
“We want to get Athletics on more young Canadians’ radar and encourage them to try it at a young age,” he says.
