Athletes wearing logos created by corporations is nothing new. So, we flipped that notion on its head and asked instead that the athletes create the logo themselves.

We invited eight Olympians and Paralympians to take equipment from their sport, dip it in red paint and make a unique imprint on canvas. Each impression was a singular work of art. But the real purpose of the design was revealed when these individual impressions were assembled to create a maple leaf, Canada’s national symbol and a fitting metaphor for a team and a country coming together.

The leaf became the signature element across Canadian Tire’s entire Rio Olympic ad campaign. We shared the creation story of the leaf through Canadian Tire’s social channels and we even created an app to let Canadians create custom versions of the leaf to superimpose on their social media profile photos.

The leaf logo became the signature element across our entire campaign, and appeared prominently in all of Canadian Tire’s Olympic advertising accompanied by the words We All Play For Canada. It appeared on subway installations; across all social media channels; branded media partnerships, as the sign-off on all Olympics broadcast creative and on store staff shirts which prominently featured the logo design. The staff shirt design struck such a chord with Canadians that thousands of requests for them were received on social media.

The idea was so popular that we turned the experience of making these impressions with sporting goods on canvases into a travelling experiential activation so that everyone from Canadian Tire employees to children at a Toronto-area Boys & Girls Club could experience the art of sport.

Canadian Tire owned the Olympic podium, surpassing all objectives and achieving unprecedented levels of success for an Olympic campaign in Canada.

1. Build awareness of Canadian Tire’s sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic Team.

• In only its second year of Olympic team sponsorship, earned “Tier 1” sponsor awareness amongst long standing global sponsors like McDonalds and VISA(1)

• Campaign hashtag earned highest consumer recall among all COC partner activation programs and was used more than all other COC partners combined(1)

2. Generate positive engagement and emotional connection to the brand.

• Ranked “#1 most favourable brand” among all host broadcaster’s Olympic partners(2)

• Inclusivity-centric TV spots rated #1 and #2 for “Most Enjoyed Ad” and “Connected With Me” respectively, among all Olympics broadcast ads(1)

• #1 in positive net sentiment and activity volume on social media during the Games(3)