For most of the two weeks that the Olympics are in Vancouver, members of the Rockport Canada street team are manning seven branded rickshaws and offering free rides to Vancouver pedestrians in exchange for the opportunity to tell them about the company’s limited edition ‘Lorraine’ women’s rain boot.

The boot is a patriotic style that the team thought would resonate with Olympic-goers, says Rachel Starkman, account supervisor, Element Eight, the Toronto-based creative agency behind the campaign, which started last week and runs till the end of this week.

Although the brand is not an official Olympic sponsor, Starkman tells MiC that Element Eight brainstormed the rickshaw idea after realizing that the easiest way to get around the city during the Games was either by foot or public transportation. So the brand decided to turn people-moving into an advertising opportunity for both the brand and the product, Starkman explains, adding that all the rickshaw drivers wear Rockport-brand boots as well.

In addition to the rickshaw campaign, former Olympic women’s hockey team member Cassie Campbell-Pascal was hired as a brand spokesperson, making an in-store autograph appearance and figuring in some in-store POS displays.

‘She was chosen to be a spokesperson based on her recognition, and she is really the brand’s target right now – the busy metropolitan professional woman,’ says Starkman. ‘We felt she was a perfect match.’