2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Rona has long been a trusted name in Canadian home improvement, but its cultural relevance wasn’t evenly felt across the country. In Ontario, the brand’s biggest growth opportunity, Rona lagged behind competitors (Home Depot, Canadian Tire, etc.) who were more top-of-mind and far more present in daily life.

Even though Rona held major NHL team sponsorships, those partnerships lived in Quebec and Alberta is doing little to shift perception where the brand needed it most.

The challenge was clear: to build a deeper connection with Ontarians, Rona wanted to become a part of thing they cared about most, hockey.

In Canada, hockey isn’t just a sport, it’s a full-contact part of home life. Families grow up firing slapshots in basements, scraping sticks along hallway walls, and denting garage doors long before they ever touch real ice. The game we love is famously tough on the places they live, and every Canadian home quietly shows the scars: chipped drywall, broken lamps, scuffed floors, and makeshift repairs done in the name of keeping the game going.

That’s the overlap where Rona belongs. By embracing the rituals, chaos, humour, and nostalgia of hockey, Rona could show that it doesn’t just understand Canadian culture, it understands the homes that get beaten up by it, and the families who turn to Rona to build it right again.

To bridge the world of home improvement and the world of hockey, they created a cinematic film that captured the way Canadian families have always brought the game indoors. The story shows hockey played the way most of us first experienced it: with makeshift nets, taped-up sticks, improvised house rules, and the kind of joyful chaos that defines childhood. Anchored by the iconic track “Love Hurts,” the film blends humour, heart, and authenticity while seamlessly connecting back to Rona’s platform: Build It Right. Build It Rona.

The hero film was shot on a rare Kodak film stock originally developed for prestige television – a first for commercial work – giving the spot a grounded, nostalgic texture. Instead of stylized camera moves, the cinematography stays observational, like a fly on the wall witnessing real Canadian moments. The campaign rolled out nationally at the start of hockey season across TV, online video, OOH, radio, and social media, forming a true 360° cultural presence. Every placement reinforced the same idea: Canadians don’t just watch hockey. They live it, build it, and grow up inside it, just like the homes Rona helps them build.

Following the launch, Rona saw immediate movement in the metrics that mattered most. Both TOM and brand equity rose among DIY and PRO audiences in Ontario, hitting 69% Top-of-Mind awareness, the primary objective of the campaign, and the exact gap Rona set out to close.

Credits

Agency: Courage
Founder, CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder, CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner, CSO: Tom Kenny
Partner, President: Niki Sahni
Partner, EP: Clair Galea
Managing Director: Saloni Wadehra
Strategy Director: Derek Mollenhauer
Creative Director: Jesse Wilks
Creative Director: Gerardo Agbuya
Copywriter: Jesse Wilks
Art Director: Gerardo Agbuya
Senior Producer: Sara Teasdale
Senior Integrated Producer: Raquel Mullen
Senior Retoucher: Jeanette Downes
Account Director: Camilo Moreno
Account Coordinator: Nikeisha Selva

Client: RONA
CMO: Catherine Laporte
Sr Director, Brand Marketing: Jacynthe Prince
Manager, Brand Marketing: Myriam Bernier
Marketing Specialist: Véronique Legault

Production: Spy Films
Greg Hackett: Director
Jomo Fray: DOP
Justin Abernethy: Stills Photographer
Marcus Trulli: EP
Aasttha Khajuri: EP
Eugene Marchio: EP
Leah Munro: Office Producer
Tyler Klementti: HOP
Ellie Winston: Line Producer
Maeg McGregor: Production Manager
Christian Harrison: Coordinator
Peter Widdrington: Stills Producer
Jamie Luchenski: Staff Coord
Kodak Film: Stock / Processing / Scanning

Editorial: Outsider Editorial
Michael Barker: Editor
Geneviève Roy Griffin: Assistant Editor
Kayan Choi: EP
Kristina Anzlinger: EP
Kelsey Dale-McGrath: Producer

Colour: Color Collective
Colorist: Alex Bickel
Executive Producer: Claudia Guevara

Online: Alter Ego
Hilda Pereira: EP
Spencer Butt: Producer
Joel Osis: Lead Senior VFX Artist
Eric Perrella, Jake Hussey: VFX Artists
Nupur Baria, Alyssa Glousher: VFX Assistants

Sound: Vapor
Lindsay Bates: Managing Partner
Joey Serlin: President/Creative Director
Kat Stewart: Head of Production
Julian Rudd: Engineer
Kevin Chamberlain: Sound Designer

Casting: Groundglass Casting

Media: Cossette Media