The Lung Health Foundation (LHF) is making every breath count in its first national brand campaign, as part of an effort to raise awareness in sync with the Paris Summer Games.

“Our Lungs Make Our Lives” asks viewers to think about the 22,000 breaths our lungs take on average each day, understanding how they fuel singular and collective milestone moments, such as  blowing out birthday candles (one breath) to rocking a baby (521 breaths).

The work also heroes Olympic champion swimmer and lung health advocate Maggie Mac Neil, who is one of the 3.8 million Canadians who live with asthma.

“Moments define our lives, and the strategy of this campaign is to spotlight those moments and how they connect to our breath,” says Laura Sikorski, LHF’s VP of marketing.

For this work, agency partner Edelman Canada calculated the number of breaths Mac Neil takes during her training and projected these numbers across her entire swimming career to undergird the spot.

Sikorski explains that the message is about reintroducing the LHF as an organization. That means building on the century-long legacy of the Ontario Lung Association, after it rebranded to its new name in 2020. Its latest creative is the LHF’s first major national brand campaign under its new name.

“We still have work to do outside of Ontario, and we are hoping with the likes of Mac Neil and with a strong and impactful message, we will be able to do that,” Sikorski says.

Awareness is the LHF’s number one objective, she explains, telling strategy Mac Neil is very passionate about her story and has been forthright about her sports-induced asthma.

Ultimately, the campaign is also about generally putting lung health on the map, compared with more specific work that LHF typically does on focus areas like asthma, immunization, COPD or lung cancer.

Edelman worked with LHF for 10 months on the new campaign, and handled the buy side too, primarily though Meta and YouTube outreach. The campaign website and videos will lead up to the Olympics with social and paid media exposure that includes potential national TV spots, and static imagery.

A key priority of the foundation’s digital-first campaign is to encourage all Canadians, including those without health issues, to prioritize their lung health through the organization’s programs, research and advocacy efforts.

The campaign is also informed by insights from Lung Health Foundation by Edelman Data and Intelligence, with respondents sourced through the Leger Opinion panel, revealing that while 80% of respondents strongly agree that lung care is important, only 14% think about their lung health daily. Also, a mere one in four Canadians are confident that you can have an active life if you have a lung condition.