Celebrating 150 years of being nice
Canadians are ‘nice’. We’re polite, friendly people that say sorry when you bump into us. But being nice is so much more. During the past 150 years, we’ve shown the world what it means to be nice through our bravery, strength, pride and confidence. We encourage all of Canada to continue to be nice and celebrate Canada 150 with pride.
"2017 year marks Canada’s sesquicentennial. And to celebrate, lifestyle brand Roots is flaunting its biggest quality—niceness.
Kicking off the “Be Nice” campaign, a video titled “Celebrating 150 years of being nice” is narrated by Kim Cattrall (Samantha from Sex and the City!), who’s Canadian herself. Created alongside The Garden—the agency that gave us the cavity-inducing “Tell America It’s Great”—it’s a cockles-warming manifesto about what it means to commit to kindness, paired with moments when the country’s largesse helped define its identity.
“‘Nice’ acknowledges 150 years of extraordinary Canadian historical events that challenged the status quo and brought change nationally and globally,” Cattrall says. “We continue to redefine the word ‘nice’ as an active verb.”
The video will raise funds for WE’s Indigenous Youth Empowerment Programming, a nonprofit operation raising awareness and sensitivity around issues faced by aboriginal young people."
- Ad Campaign Celebrates Canada’s Lauded History of Niceness, and Hopes to Find Its Nicest Person Roots makes the most of the sesquicentennial
By Angela Natividad, April 26, 2017, Adweek
The campaign achieved 286 MM impressions across Canada
Achieved a MRP score of 95.13% and received coverage in over 60 media outlets
Raised over $150,000 for WE's Indigenous Youth Empowerment Programming
Broke through the noise during Canada 150 celebrations nationally
“An integrated 360° marketing campaign allowed nice to become a larger brand narrative that wove through every touchpoint of Roots owned and paid channels.
Assets delivered included: in-store signage, cinema pre-roll, social media roll-out, pop-up store experience, influencer seeding kits, buttons (included in Grammy bags), limited edition t-shirts, branded keychains, custom leather goods and radio spots.”
Experiental Seeding Kit
To launch the message, Roots sent out a custom experiential seeding kit. The kit was sent out to some of the world’s most famous Canadians, like Drake, Ryan Reynolds and our very own Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Charitable Partnership: WE
WE is an organization that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the world. 100% of the profits from every purchase of a Roots Canada nice™ button or limited-edition enamel pin supported Indigenous Youth Empowerment Programming run by WE. Roots Canada reached their goal of raising $150,000 for this nice cause by selling nice™ buttons or pins and encouraging their customers to wear it proudly.
The Roots Search for Canada's Nicest Person
Canadians are ‘nice’. We’re polite, friendly people that say sorry when you bump into us. But being nice is so much more. To celebrate Canada’s birthday and 150 years of being nice, we’re looking for Canada’s Nicest Person—an individual who makes a positive impact among their peers, within their community or for all of Canada. The winner will receive a $10,000 donation from Roots Canada to a charity of their choice, a $500 Roots Gift Card and a custom Roots Award Jacket. The person who nominated the winner will also receive a $500 Roots Gift Card. Canada’s Nicest Person is someone who: - Makes a positive impact for Canada, their community or peers. - Practices and encourages acceptance, love, diversity and equality. - Volunteers or devotes their time to others. - Demonstrates bravery, heroism or niceness.