If it feels like you’re seeing more advertisements promoting Canadian products, services and businesses while out and about lately, that’s because for the past several months, all things Canada have had a bit of a moment in the world of marketing.
Marketers tend to hop from trend to trend, attracting the eyes of consumers by tying their interests to particular products. According to Scott Mitchell, managing director with Vistar Media, a marketing group that specializes in out-of-home advertising, the hot trend lately is Canadiana — everything from “Elbows up” to the Edmonton Oilers.
“A brand is trying to meet their consumer where they are, or meet the person where they are, and that context matters,” said Mitchell.
The context, he said, could be anything and often tries to keep up with the cultural zeitgeist. If an advertiser was creating marketing materials last week, for example, it might have referenced the online feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Despite some marketers’ agility, most can’t keep up with the news as quickly as it is created, but Mitchell says advertisers are still jumping on trends that last a little longer.
For example, since the Trump tariffs began earlier this year, the focus from brands has been on Canadian and local products, he said.
“What we’re seeing from some of the advertising partners that we work with, and particularly Canadian ones as well, is trying to really resonate from that local connection or supporting that local cause.”
In this case, the local cause has been pushing for more local shopping as stores advertise Canadian products, and more recently, the Edmonton Oilers. While the Oilers may be particular to Edmonton, widespread pull to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada is a topical marketing subject across the country.
Mitchell said that out-of-home marketing campaigns, like programmable billboards, can be particularly good reflections of broad-based cultural interest. Rather than seeing an ad on a phone, out-of-home marketing is on the streets, on trains, and on people’s daily journeys.
That could be why a Las Vegas bar bought billboards in Edmonton gloating about a heartbreaking Oilers loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
Fans fill Ice District outside Rogers Place in Edmonton to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers on May 25.
As Edmonton’s, and indeed Canada’s, interest has homed-in on supporting the Oilers, brands are coming to where the fans are.
“We started to see brands actually buying some of the venue types and the screens that are outside the Edmonton arena (Rogers Place),” said Mitchell.
Away from the rink, brand focus has also shifted slightly. As July 1 approaches, this time of year typically includes a rise in Canadian pride from brands looking to capitalize on the moment. What’s different this year is the tone, says Mitchell.
“Canada Day stuff always kind of had a little extra oomph to it. It was even maybe more lighthearted, right? Whereas now it’s a little bit pointier given, obviously, some of the tensions that have arisen,” said Mitchell, adding that the slight change in message is likely “just a byproduct of where we’re at in terms of this moment in time.”
Though not a perfect measure, using marketing as a pulse check shows that Canada’s national pride has swelled, absorbed the Edmonton Oilers and the country’s love of hockey, and also has more of an edge to it from ongoing strife with the United States.
Mitchell couldn’t say whether the marketing trend might continue, but if Canadians keep their appetite for all things Canada, the marketers will stick with them.
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