How Advertising Fueled Our Pride.

A breakdown of the Olympic ads that kept our nation strong.

Courtesy of Flickr

Were our 14 gold medals simply predetermined fate for Canada? Of course not. The red sea of fans that surrounded each Olympic event (and flooded the streets of Toronto last night) was clearly a driving force for our athletes. But where did all this Canadian pride come from? And where did our notoriously humble nature go?

Out the effing window.

The powerfully moving advertisements contributed greatly, but to give them full credit for our Olympic spirit would be cold and ignorant. It’s our love that did it. Our love for Canada, our love for our courageous athletes such as Joannie Rochette, and our love for each other. Our Head Cowgirl once belonged to the branding industry, so she took some time to decode her favourite Canadian Olympic ads. Here are her picks for bronze, silver and gold:

Bronze: Tim Hortons

Not quite as powerful as their legendary Proud Father ad, but Timmy Ho’s took the Olympics in an original and heart-felt direction that made several pony friends break down in sobs. Aside from the fact that the wife looks distraught by the cold weather she must now live in, the ad does remind us of our multicultural heritage we take so much pride in. And after watching this for the millionth time, I finally found myself standing in a Tim Hortons line-up at 8 a.m. to get myself a Double Double after avoiding it for nearly three years.

Silver: Molson Canadian.

This ad focused on the land of Canada – how our massive playground for a backyard has brought our country together. The heavy Mozart music builds the usual suspension we expect from a Molson ad, and the relationship between the land and the beer and their affect on Canadians makes for a strong and powerful message.

Gold: Coca Cola.

The build up is beautiful. The distant sound of fiddler music (a Canadian staple), the various shots of children and adults playing hockey in all different scenarios, the calls of each shot scoring into the net. This ad is perfect. As the music builds up to its climax, the copy reads: “Let’s make sure everyone knows whose game they’re playing.” It’s aggressive, it’s emotional, and it reminds everyone why we’re here. It takes the humble out of Canadians and pushes our pride to its fullest. This is our game, and there’s no other option than gold. And when we proved that to be very much true, there was a follow up ad with the copy reading: “Now everyone knows whose game they’re playing” and a congratulatory message to our Canadian hockey teams. Thank you Coca Cola. For an American company, you sure know us Canadians well.

XoXo
–The Cowgirls