Tree Canada has launched its first-ever nationwide awareness campaign, “Canada Grows Here,” with a shift from more traditional media to digital and video.
The campaign lives through digital ads on YouTube plus static and digital billboards rolling out across major cities (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver), with social media amplification on Facebook and Instagram. After the eight-week initial phase, it will transition into an evergreen phase that will run across all channels through 2026.
The emphasis on digital and video is a pivot for the organization, which has typically invested its budget mainly in direct mail, email and events.
Robert Henri, director of communications and brand at Tree Canada, tells Media in Canada the shift aimed to capture a less passive audience. “This wasn’t about creating one-time content. It was about creating a real brand film that people watch again and again,” he says.
Signifly Montreal led creative after winning a competitive RFP process this past summer and also handled the media buy. OOH was donated by Pattison with placements at their discretion based on Tree Canada’s target audience. Agence Bohème provided PR support.
The insights behind the campaign came from a pair of surveys that demonstrated how important our natural environment is to Canadians, Henri adds. In an Ekos Politics study conducted in the spring respondents identified nature as the top symbol (89%) contributing to their national identity, ahead of the flag and the maple leaf (both 83%) and health care (79%). An Ipsos study released last year found that a majority of respondents (79%) believe that protecting and restoring Canada’s forests is an effective solution to climate change.
That’s why the target audience for the campaign goes beyond traditional environmental circles and the related sectors Tree Canada typically speaks to such as forestry, government and community groups, Henri explains. “This campaign speaks to the general Canadian public, as we’re seeing a growing concern for the environment, a shared recognition of the importance of trees and a genuine desire to take action,” he says.
To reinforce the idea that trees are not just part of the landscape but part of who we are, the messaging speaks as much for trees as it does for Canadians: “We take root,” “We weather the storm” and “We turn over new leaves.”
Signifly Montreal creative director Will Mills says of Canadians: “They bend, they adapt, they keep changing and they just get on with it. They are just like the 318 billion trees they share the country with. That is what this campaign is about.”
Success for the campaign is tied to video views but will also be measured qualitatively through brand awareness and “the overall sentiment of Canadian pride,” Henri says.
Tree Canada, established in 1992, is a national non-profit organization that plants millions of trees each year to improve the health of the country’s communities and ecosystems.
