It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s a 50-ft.-tall Jarome Iginla hanging off a crane! This is just one of several ‘statement pieces’ Toronto-based ad shop Taxi did for the new Nike 45 campaign, which aims to drive traffic to nikehockey.ca and features hockey superstars Iginla and Markus Naslund. Other impressive media buys include a 150-ft.-tall billboard in Calgary, one of the biggest outdoor pieces in history and a floating billboard circling around Vancouver Harbour.

Taxi worked closely with Cossette Media from the beginning to ‘marry our imaginations with reality,’ explains associate CD Lance Martin, adding that this is typical for all the work they do for Nike. ‘Nike is always striving to have new media [applications].’

‘We wanted to have statement pieces to get kids talking,’ says Martin, adding that the target is boys 14-17. ‘We just wanted to make training fun and exciting, not a chore.’ All executions feature one of the hockey stars working out in unique ways – for example, you might find a giant Iginla hanging from the rafters at your local gym, in ‘chin-up’ position.

The campaign also includes two 45-second TV spots. One features Iginla racing around the city dodging pucks being shot from rooftops by Naslund. The other shows Naslund testing out some Nike sneakers by doing leg presses with the sales guy.

Other unique outdoor media applications include: a resistance training ribbon connecting an Iginla billboard to a tree in Toronto; two billboards in Toronto’s Eaton Centre, each with one of the hockey stars, connected with ribbon and a several-storey-tall image of Naslund hanging upside down off of a Vancouver building.

The campaign is national, but the stunt pieces have just hit Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.