BGC Canada is looking to convey that it is more than a place for after school sports.
BGC Canada (formerly Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada), in partnership with Toronto-based agency Round, released “UnShareable Stories,” with a hero spot in which two girls torment another by reading her diary before dumping it into the trash.
The new campaign is focused on the real-life experiences of kids, such as bullying, and also conveys how BGC helps across a variety of areas, from food insecurity, to gangs, settling in a new country, and more.
“We’ve been long associated as an after school place for sports, and I don’t know that the general public really associates us enough with the variety of issues we deal with for youth across the country,” says Rachael MacKenzie-Neill, BGC’s former VP of marketing who moved into a new VP of development and public affairs role in March.
MacKenzie-Neill tells strategy that BGC Canada’s insights found that youth report a club makes a difference in their lives, boosting their confidence and activity. “The numbers are incredibly high in all these impact areas,” she says, adding that services have become increasingly important to youth affected by isolation and learning loss during the pandemic.
The awareness campaign is targeting corporate Canada and the federal government, its primary sources of revenue. It builds on the “Systemic Opportunity” and “No More Barriers campaigns” to showcase the outsized impact that its clubs can have. It also comes on the heels of the organization’s fall “Unbelieveable Impact” campaign, focused on national survey results that demonstrates how it creates positive change.
The “UnShareable Stories” campaign will run across digital, radio and out-of-home platforms, including at Billy Bishop and Ottawa International Airports. Epitaph is the media buyer, with MacKenzie-Neill saying it is the biggest media investment it has made “in a long time.”
The organization is in two flights of being in market this year, with this campaign launching ahead of its national awareness day on June 2, as well as the end of the school year.
BGC is Canada’s largest child and youth-serving charitable organization, with it clubs servicing over 200,000 young people in nearly 800 communities nationally.
#BGC #Canada #school #strategy
