TBWA Chiat/Day has announced the 1996 North American ad campaign for Evian, which includes the first television advertising for the brand in Canada.

The campaign coincides with the North American launch of the new Evian bottle which has the French Alps sculpted on it and is designed to be easily compacted to save recycling space.

The television ads, consisting of national and spot TV, commence May 27th and run until September 16th. Radio and outdoor will begin earlier in May, while print ads begin in the April issues of Toronto Life and Toronto Life Fashion.

Two 30-sec. tv spots show a woman swimming in a pool coming towards the camera. As she comes closer, the voice over says ‘Something as essential as water should be as pure as Evian.’

According to Victoria Littler, account supervisor for Evian at TBWA Chiat/ Day in Toronto, the scene creates a feeling of heightened sensuality in order to drive the brand image.

The focus, she explains, is to promote the feeling of health and fitness but not to be the personification of it.

Whereas previous campaigns have emphasized the health aspect of the product (‘Evian. Another day, another chance to feel healthy,’) the new campaign attempts to embody the purity of the brand without ever mentioning the word health.

‘Return to the source’ is the tag line on the print ads, and the copy reads the same as the tv voiceover.

Creative for the print ads consist of stills taken from the television spots, depicting the woman enjoying the purity of the water. Billboard ads will be similar to print but will have only the tag line. All ads display the new bottle.

Two 30-sec. radio spots were created for the Vancouver market to promote local promotional events. Littler says radio was a challenge creatively because the visual, almost cinematic representations were difficult to translate.

She explains that the original poetry was used in the radio spots to ‘inspire the feeling of sensuality and purity.’

Working with its New York office, TBWA Chiat/Day Toronto developed an overall creative brief for North America. It was important, says Littler, to develop a positioning statement that would apply to both the Canadian and American markets.

All creative development for the campaign was done in New York with the exception of a new trade ad developed in the Toronto office, highlighting the new bottle.

The tv, print, and outdoor ads are being adapted for the Quebec market by Montreal-based Bos.

Great Brands of Europe, which handles Evian in Canada, transferred the account to TBWA Chiat/Day from DDB Needham in June of 1995.