Igniting a nation

Although Bombardier has numerous global engineering accomplishments to its credit, the Canadian media often portrays the firm in a negative light, due to the involvement of Canadian government loan guarantees in the aeronautical bidding process.

With the 2010 Olympics taking place in Vancouver, Bombardier wondered if by leveraging the momentum of Canadian pride the Olympic platform could be an opportunity to illustrate the brand's commitment to Canadian business and prosperity.

Bombardier and the Olympic movement share the same ideals, vision, drive, passion for excellence, commitment to training and development, and technical skill, which is all tested on a global stage against the greatest competition the world has to offer.

Bombardier makes the engineering excellence connection

Although the parallels were evident, and Bombardier could benefit from the brand synergy, this alone wasn't enough to use the brand's limited budget. However, Bombardier came up with the idea to connect the engineering excellence of the branding strategy to the heart of the Canadian Olympic movement for the 2010 games.

The Olympic Torch is the most powerful and unifying symbol of the Olympic Games. Bombardier boldly decided to become the first Olympic Sponsor to design and manufacture the Olympic Torch and leverage this involvement in through the cross-Canada torch relay. This platform would enable Bombardier to compete against Olympic advertisers spending dramatically more.

In order to fund the Olympic Sponsorship, Bombardier also sought to secure the value of the torches towards the Olympic Sponsorship cost.

The creation of the torch to handle all Canadian weather possibilities was used as a metaphor for Bombardier's overall engineering and manufacturing excellence. As the torch was carried across Canada, Bombardier would be at the heart of igniting Olympic pride in one Canadian community at a time.

The first part of Bombardier's two-phase engagement strategy started in October in order to connect Bombardier with the Olympic movement prior to the marketing frenzy. The brand capitalised on the Canadian journey of the Bombardier torch by linking the two through a massive public relations campaign.

Torch lights the way

Over 12 000 Canadians carried the torch on its longest journey in Olympic history, at 45 000km. The torch travelled through 1037 communities in snow, rain, hail, wind, and sub-zero temperatures, showcasing Bombardier's engineering capabilities to millions. Every community on the journey became a connection platform and every type of Canadian transportation was used. Local schools and businesses, public figures and families cheered the runners, waved the flag, touched and were touched by Bombardier's torch and the Olympic spirit.

Local and national media carried the story of Bombardier's design and manufacturing excellence as the torch traversed the country. Coverage was extensive on the largest media conglomerate led by the anchor CTV network. This free exposure also extended to the nation's largest daily newspapers, local community papers, radio, continuous social activity and international media such as CNN.

In addition, CTV produced and broadcast nationally, two programmes focusing on Bombardier's central role in its design and manufacture throughout the torch relay. Both shows aired in key primetime periods, one was a thirty-minute documentary as the torch travelled the country, and the other a sixty-minute version aired at the completion, just before the games began. Both of these programmes were editorial coverage, not paid "advertorial."

Social media sites were all a Twitter with torch relay news. Every time users mentioned the torch online, they were invited to Bombardier's YouTube channel to view an extended version of the TV creative.

The second phase of the campaign further connected the story of Canada with the creation of the torch. The commercial ran highly emotional moments, such as opening ceremonies, just after the arrival of the Canadian team and just before the arrival of the torch in the stadium, and of course, during women's and men's gold hockey games.
Results

Following the games, Canadians with a very favourable opinion of Bombardier grew by 28%, climbing to 32% in 2010.

Canadian Business Magazine positioned Bombardier third in its 2010 listings of Canada's Most Reputable Companies, noting: Bombardier saw its score leap by 7.49 points compared with 2009, making it a clear beneficiary of the "Olympic bounce."

This case was awarded as the best "Big Idea" in Canadian advertising and two Gold medals in the Media-Innovation Awards.

135 newspapers featured Bombardier's torch redesign and involvement. The exposure value of the network television shows alone was over C$500 million*. The overall media value generated a ration of 5 to 1 of non-paid to paid media.

Finally, the torch entering the Olympic Stadium to light the cauldron remains the most watched television event in Canadian history.

Highly commended at the Festival of Media 2011 in the "media bravery" category.

*Exchange rate at time of posting: C$=R7.09