Woe, Canada: No Stanley Cup Winner Since 1993

Screens shatter and wires fly as hockey fans smash their TV sets and radios across Canada.

Yep. It’s NHL Playoffs time again. And our northern neighbors are feeling a tad frustrated, as no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since 1993.

Boston Pizza would like to make a suggestion: Canada’s fans should unite, and root for all of their nation’s teams in the playoffs.

It’s a radical concept. But what the heck. Might stave off the heartache of defeat for at least another round.

“On set, our executive producer ran over multiple old TVs with a pick-up truck,” recalls Mike Blackmore, creative director at Camp Jefferson, which developed the campaign. “The Samsung in particular proved to be both impressively and annoyingly durable.” (Take that, Sony!)

Here’s an idea: How about Boston Pizza—which is based in Richmond, B.C., and operates just a handful of U.S. locations—changing its name to Canada Pizza for a few weeks? Always just a little bit confusing.

Anyhoo, it’s a cute campaign that pretty accurately captures the heartbreak of true sports fans. Nice use of music, too, with the obscure “Suzanna” by Donald S. Seigal and Bill Baker adding to the melancholy mood.

Even mega team boosters like the Maple Leafs’ Dart Guy and Canucks’ Green Men get in on the action:

Aw, now they’re pals.

“The funny thing is that despite our competitiveness, we’ve all been suffering together for decades,” says Ian Barr, SVP and strategy head at Camp Jefferson. “For a brand that’s about bringing people together, we thought it would be fun to leverage that shared suffering.”

Such a polite, friendly solution. How Canadian!

“The actors were given direction to react the way they would if they were interacting with someone from their nemesis team, so all the reactions are genuine,” says James Kawalecki, VP marketing at Boston Pizza.

The work breaks across TV/OLV, radio, social, digital and OOH.

CREDITS

Client: Boston Pizza
SVP Marketing & Communications: Peter Blackwell
Vice President, Marketing: James Kawalecki
Director of Marketing: Niels van Oyen
Marketing Manager, On-Premise: Sean Megna
Associate Marketing Manager, On-Premise: Taylor Campbell

Agency: Camp Jefferson
EVP, Managing Partner: Peter Bolt
SVP, General Manager: Edith Rosa
SVP, Director of Creative: Julie Nikolic
SVP, Director of Strategy: Ian Barr
Creative Director: Mike Blackmore
Creative Director: Chris Obergfell
Strategy Director: Joseph Elkouby
Integrated Production Director: Lily Tran
Account Director: Heather Mirynech
Associate Creative Director: Robyn Crummey
Associate Creative Director: Ashley Babcock
Associate Creative Director: Brendhan McCarthy
Account Supervisor: Kristina Figueira
Account Executive: Sierra Haddleton

Production Company: Undivided
Director: Nikki Ormerod
Director of Photography: Zachary Koski
Executive Producer: Scott Houghton
Photographer: Nikki Ormerod
Producer: Christa Lindsay

Editorial Company: Saints Editorial
Editor: Mark Paiva
Executive Producer: Emily McKay
Assistant Editor: Nick Coleman, Jadon Williams

Audio: Ta2 Sound & Music
Voice & Music Director: Drew Frohmann
Executive Producer: Dana Gadsden, Drew Thomas
Engineer: Andrew Fumerton

Online / VFX: Darling VFX & Colour
Colourist: Patrick Samaniego
Colour Assistant: Eric Kingsbury
Flame Artist: Paul Binney
VFX Assistant: Alyssa Schmidt, Michael Pitruzzella
Executive Producer: Kristen Van Fleet, Morgan Campbell

PR: Heads & Tales
Media Agency: UM