‘This Is Our Ice’: On the PR power play with Publicis
When the Edmonton Oilers were poised to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, Publicis Groupe Canada saw an opportunity.
As creative lead for Rogers, Canada’s Home of Hockey, a Canadian team in the final round meant the popular “This Is Our Game” campaign could have new legs.
With the Western Conference final just 2-1 for the Oilers, Publicis quickly sold in a patriotic idea for a hopeful Stanley Cup Final featuring Edmonton: Collect ice from Oilers players’ hometown arenas to resurface the Rogers Place rink, “turning the ice where it all began into the stage where it all leads.”
Called “This Is Our Ice,” the creative would need a nimble production team to coordinate shoots at six rinks across the country—each with hometown connections to Oilers stars—and film on-camera interviews, not to mention the logistics of collecting ice in thermoses for transportation to Edmonton. This wasn’t just “movie magic” visual effects or AI trickery. Publicis and Rogers wanted to secure real-life ice from rinks across the country, and they needed a creative team who could execute on a tight timeline.
Enter Notch. It less than a week, Notch and Publicis researched the hometown rinks, pivoting more than once to ensure there was ice available. Teams secured thermoses and coolers with “This Is Our Ice” branding. Acting as the campaign “ice mule,” Junior Producer Nelie Diverlus flew across the country shooting and scooping up ice with a camera crew, and filming interviews with hometown representatives.
With content captured for the cross-Canada rinks, the production team converged in Edmonton to mix the hometown ice into the Stanley Cup Zamboni, filming the final stage of the “This Is Our Ice” campaign before sharing the footage with The Pub for post-production.
While filming was still in progress, the Publicis “Power of One” model meant North Strategic got on the ice for PR, writing a press release and managing media relations. In the spirit of the great Canadian sport, it was a team effort from start to finish. “This Is Our Ice” was a seamless play between sister agencies that proved the “Power of One” at Publicis delivers stronger results than any solo or siloed effort.