Ignite the Light: Landmark Illumination Campaign

We partnered with the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Paralympic Foundation of Canada to create “Ignite the Lights Across Canada“—a landmark illumination campaign that transformed 50+ iconic buildings across Canada into a coordinated movement, generating national awareness, driving fundraising momentum, and establishing a repeatable brand property that positions Paralympic athletes at the centre of Canadian pride and achievement.

The Challenge

The Canadian Paralympic Committee faced a critical moment: with just 50 days until the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, they needed to launch the Paralympic Foundation of Canada’s biggest fundraising initiative while confronting systemic challenges:

  • Lack of recognition for Paralympic athletes’ stories and achievements compared to Olympic counterparts
  • Limited public awareness of the Canadian Paralympic Team despite world-class performance
  • Exclusion from mainstream sports conversation and national consciousness
  • Fundraising pressure to generate resources supporting athlete development and competition
  • Compressed timeline to create national moment and momentum before Games began
  • Need for scalable, ownable brand property that could become annual tradition

The organization needed more than a fundraising campaign—they needed a symbolic, visually powerful activation that would capture national attention, drive donations, and fundamentally shift how Canadians think about Paralympic sport.

 

The Strategy

As the CPC’s Fractional Director of Marketing & Communications, I developed and executed a comprehensive landmark illumination strategy that transformed infrastructure into inspiration:

1. Symbolic Activation Design

We created a concept linking physical and virtual engagement:

  • 50+ landmarks across Canada illuminated simultaneously to mark the 50-day countdown
  • Virtual seat purchases connected to the visual spectacle, making every donation part of the national moment
  • Color and light as universal language transcending geographic and linguistic barriers
  • Countdown urgency creating natural deadline for action and engagement

The strategy positioned landmarks not as static buildings, but as active participants in supporting Paralympic athletes—turning Canada’s most recognizable structures into megaphones for inclusion.

2. Cross-Country Coordination

We orchestrated complex logistics across provinces, municipalities, and landmark operators:

  • Partnership development with 50+ landmark operators (CN Tower, Niagara Falls, Calgary Tower, BC Place, La Grande Roue de Montréal, and more)
  • Municipal approvals securing permissions and alignment with local governments

3. Integrated Campaign Ecosystem

The illumination served as centrepiece of comprehensive, multi-channel campaign:

  • Paid social strategy driving awareness and virtual seat purchases
  • Earned media relations generating coverage across national and local outlets
  • Organic social amplification leveraging landmark partners’ audiences
  • Website integration creating seamless donation experience
  • Email marketing to existing supporters timed with activation
  • Partner activation engaging corporate sponsors and community organizations

4. Message Architecture

We developed messaging that balanced multiple objectives:

  • National unity positioning Paralympic sport as source of Canadian pride
  • Inclusion narrative celebrating diversity and overcoming
  • Athlete celebration honouring individual stories and achievements
  • Urgency and action driving immediate virtual seat purchases
  • Repeatable framework establishing language for future iterations

The message: “When we light up landmarks across Canada, we light the way for our Paralympic athletes.“

5. From Stunt to Property

Strategic positioning ensured this wasn’t one-time activation but foundational brand property:

  • “Ignite the Light” brand creating ownable, repeatable framework
  • Annual potential with countdown model applicable to every Paralympic cycle
  • Scalability allowing expansion to more landmarks in future iterations
  • Partnership model building relationships that deepen over time
  • Measurement framework establishing benchmarks for future success

 

The Execution

As the sun set across Canada, 50+ landmarks illuminated in a coordinated show of support for Canadian Paralympic athletes. From the CN Tower in Toronto to BC Place in Vancouver, from Niagara Falls to La Grande Roue de Montréal, iconic structures became beacons of inclusion and excellence.

Social media erupted with images of illuminated landmarks, local news covered the spectacle in markets coast-to-coast, and Canadians purchased virtual seats, connecting their donations to the visual moment unfolding across their country.

 

Why this Campaign Worked

Ignite the Light succeeded because it understood a fundamental truth: Canadians needed a way to see themselves as part of the Paralympic story. The campaign delivered:

  • Universal accessibility through visual spectacle requiring no prior knowledge or context
  • Geographic inclusivity ensuring Canadians from coast to coast could participate in the same moment
  • Symbolic power of light as metaphor for hope, visibility, and celebration
  • Action-oriented design connecting awareness to tangible support (virtual seat purchases)
  • Scalable infrastructure allowing growth and repetition in future cycles
  • Values alignment authentically celebrating inclusion, diversity, and excellence

The campaign transformed passive awareness into active participation, isolated landmarks into unified movement, and a single moment into lasting brand property.

 

What Made this Different

Most awareness campaigns rely on traditional media buys or digital advertising. Ignite the Light created a physical, unmissable national moment that generated its own earned media and social amplification.

By turning landmarks into campaign participants rather than mere backdrops, we created:

  1. Visual spectacle impossible to ignore in local communities
  2. Earned media magnetism with built-in news value in every market
  3. Shareability through distinctive, beautiful imagery
  4. Local + national impact simultaneously
  5. Repeatable model with room for expansion and evolution

The campaign proved that Paralympic sport can generate the same national unity, pride, and visibility as any other major Canadian sporting moment—when given the platform it deserves.

Services Provided:

  • Campaign Strategy & Concept Development
  • Cross-Country Partnership Coordination
  • Integrated Marketing Campaign Management
  • Media Relations & PR Strategy
  • Paid Social Strategy & Execution
  • Message Architecture & Communications
  • Brand Property Development

Campaign Scope:

  • 50+ landmarks across Canada
  • Multi-city coordination (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and more)
  • Integrated paid, earned, and owned media
  • July 2024 activation with sustained impact through Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

 

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