Whoa, Canada! Some Thoughts on the Olympics
I am a proud Canadian who’s spent an eye-opening few weeks experiencing my first Winter Olympics through the lens of American media – ironically, a Games hosted by my native land.
It would be far too easy as a smug Canadian to use this blog as a forum to mock the “gee whiz” tone of Today Show segments on poutine (“Canada’s national dish!”) or Brian Williams’ travelogue about bear-watching in the Arctic.
But I won’t. Instead, I’ve been thinking a lot about the brands of the teams from my native country and my adopted one.
Brand Team USA has an overwhelmingly dominant share of voice in the US media – and if that seems completely unremarkable to you, you’ve probably never watched the Olympics on TV from a living room in a “challenger brand” country like mine.
Even in winter sports, Canada can’t historically compete with the superpower athletic teams from Russia, Eastern Europe or America; as a result, Canadian media tend to paint a more dispassionate picture, dividing air time and column inches among all countries’ notable athletes.
It’s got me thinking about all our various brands at MMC. Many are leaders in their category. When those brands enter the PR conversation, “showing up” as the big cheese has both assumptions and implications riding on it.
What if one day a challenger brand turned the tables? I’m reminded of a call I had last week with a cool, smaller client; they came into a PR strategy discussion assuming that humility was the only brand character they could own. I talked to them about Team Canada, who decided to make “Own the Podium” their mission statement in the countdown to these Olympics. Beyond the literal push (to get more Canadian athletes up on the medal podium), it was a seismic shift in brand communication. It was a new call to action for us quiet Canucks: wave our red mittens! Scream at the hockey rinks! Cry at the skating rinks! Sing “O Canada” from the mountaintops!
Own the Podium has attracted a ton of attention and media ink – and yes, it’s made Canada a target of a little trash-talking, as clearly the Americans will own the podium at the conclusion of these games (cue the “Canadian time share” jokes here). But overall it’s been a fascinating conversation ignited by a big, bold, unprecedentedly patriotic branding move – and my favorite part of these Games to follow.
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