Staples Canada is looking to establish itself as Canada’s back-to-school expert with its latest campaign for the lead-up to the school year.

With media by MediaCom, creative by MacLaren McCann and digital by Crucial Interactive, the campaign is targeted at moms with kids, aged seven to 17. It relies primarily on TV spots that will air across specialty and conventional channels like CTV, W Network and HGTV.

The spots feature a new version of the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and depict Staples employees as they prepare to celebrate back-to-school time and transform their store.

The TV spots are supported by digital ads on sites like Blogher.com, Espn.com and Techrader.com, in-store signage and product preview spots, and cinema pre-roll at 159 theatres across the country.

Sandy Salmon, director of advertising, Staples Canada, says this campaign marks the first time the retailer has used cinema pre-roll for its back-to-school campaign. She says cinema was added to the mix because more moms take their kids to the movies during the summer, making the medium a good complement to TV.

Salmon adds that now was also the right time for the retailer to roll out cinema because it has become less cost-prohibitive, noting that in the past brands were required to create new spots for cinema and couldn’t simply use their TV spots.

The campaign kicks off today and runs for six weeks.

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