CIRA has brought back the .CA Domain Squad, and once again they’re determined to help Canadian businesses succeed online. The .CA Domain Squad made its debut last year and was a comical attempt to get Canadians to register more .ca domain names. The latest advertising campaign has its broadcast debut with four commercials on 14 September.
The latest campaign features Canada’s heroes at .CA Headquarters—deep in the wilderness—working hard to ensure Canadian businesses make the right call by choosing a .CA domain name.
The theme of this year’s campaign is Make your website true north strong and builds off the success of last year’s tongue-in-cheek Don’t be a traitor campaign.
Last year’s .CA Domain Squad campaign was a tremendous success resulting in a 22% increase in new domain registration share in Canada, and a 20% increase in unaided brand awareness.
“As Canada struggles to recover from the pandemic, it is heartening to see so many great Canadian success stories pivoting to digital and moving, or starting, their businesses online,” said Byron Holland, president and CEO, Canadian Internet Registration Authority, Canada’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. “Our campaign is designed with one goal in mind, to help these businesses make the right domain name choice so they can thrive online.”
“The Domain Squad concept was born more than two years ago as a multi-year creative journey that would take the .CA brand to new heights,” David Fowler, CIRA’s vice president, marketing and communications went on to say. “We are thrilled to see how the concept has evolved each year, and are excited to see how Canadians react to the squad’s latest adventures. Most importantly, we look forward to helping thousands of Canadian businesses get online with a .CA domain name.”
Commenting for the advertising agency that created the campaign, Alanna Nathanson, co-founder and chief creative officer, Giants & Gentlemen added “We Canadians are a tight-knit group of people. And now more than ever, we’re supporting each other and our communities. Simply put, Canadians prefer Canadian, and it’s that very same insight that led to our campaign – and why we humorously mustered up as much Canadiana as possible to drive home the benefits of a .CA domain.”
The four commercials are: