2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

During the 9-year period from the first installment of Inside Out, COVID instilled great shifts to the entertainment landscape as streaming services boomed. Disney/Pixar films like Soul, Luca & Turning Red went straight to streaming and families began to wait for them to hit these services no longer wanted to go to the theatres instead, opting to stream at home, significantly impacting the Canadian box office performance.

For the release of Inside Out 2, the brand needed families back into theatres while also aging it up attracting old and new fans of the franchise. To achieve this Disney introduced character that embodied relatable human emotions that they can all identify with.

As the main character – Riley – is a hockey player the agency saw an opportunity to celebrate Canada’s national sport and connect with families as they tuned in to the emotional rollercoaster of the NHL Hockey Playoffs. Spotting this opportunity, they partnered with the NHL to create the first ever “Official Emotions of Stanley Cup Playoffs” brand integration.

The agency identified a 4x increase in viewership in the Canadian team series in 2023 and collaborated with the NHL and Rogers to put IO2 at the heart of the run for Canadian teams in the 2024 NHL Playoffs. The Studio integration was first of its kind for the NHL in Canada, using Studio DED creative to align the emotions of the players live, with the emotions of Inside Out 2, in the heart of the action.

This integration gave IO2 cultural relevance in the most anticipated moments of the Canadian sports calendar, amplified across custom brand sell and co-branded organic social posts with Disney, the NHL Players Association and an NHL.com takeover.

This was the first time Walt Disney Studio Canada created a custom :30s co-branded spot with the NHL, airing across multiple Rogers’ media assets, the studio DED rink boards and NHL offered institutional DED time for in-game presentation moments to an advertiser for the first time ever.

The execution put IO2 into the game authentically as Anxiety dramatized the pressures of overtime, and Joy connected to winning moments experienced by Canadian viewers. Through collaboration and the innovative use of media technology, we were able to give returning IO fans a reason to get excited for the sequel, reach new audiences and give them all the feels on the rollercoaster to the Stanley cup finals.

Inside Out 2 is the highest grossing animated film in this history of Walt Disney Studio Canada. This integration helped make IO2 feel culturally relevant and give families with teens a reason to return to theatres across Canada.

The film debuted as the #1 movie in Canada and maintained its top position for 19 consecutive days. It achieved the highest Disney/Pixar opening ever in Canada and went on to secure the highest cumulative box office earnings for any Disney/Pixar or Disney Animated film in the country, surpassing even Frozen 2. In terms of media performance, the campaign generated over 132 million impressions across Rogers TV, radio, digital, streaming, and social assets.

Credits

Agency: OMG23
Michelle Grozdanovski (Media Buying Director)
Rachel Rush (Strategy Supervisor)
Rob Metzger (Managing Director)

Media Partner: NHL and Rogers
Amanda Tokiwa (Sr. Account Manager)
Nick Rupert (Account Manager)
Peter Mak (Development Manager)
Percy Lee (Sales Associate)
James Johnston (Sr Manager Client Sales Execution)

Client: Walt Disney Studios Canada