2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Household paper goods (toilet paper, facial tissue, paper towel) is a category that is vital to our lives. In direct conflict to that, the category largely operates as a commodity. Brands are top-of-mind when people have run out, and purchases are often motivated by price and promotions.

Emotional connections are limited. To solidify a meaningful role for Kruger’s brands beyond function, the agency needed to tap into the emotions behind real usage moments, those messy, chaotic moments that make up family life.

In Canada, hockey is more than a sport – it’s a cultural thread linking communities across regions and languages. Local rinks serve as gathering places where families connect, and traditions form. Minor hockey fosters teamwork, resilience, and belonging, embedding the game into daily routines and shaping identity through shared experiences and community involvement. Hockey is Canada’s Game.

For five years, the Kruger Big Assist (KBA) program has helped remove financial barriers to youth hockey, making it more accessible and helping more kids play Canada’s Game. Their job was to use the program to build emotional connections between Canadians and Kruger Products and its portfolio of brands: Cashmere, Scotties, Purex and Sponge Towels.

For Canadians – typically humble, quiet and reserved – the Winter Olympics are a moment of collective pride, particularly for the hockey community. For Canadian-owned brands, this creates a powerful opportunity to foster deeper emotional connections with their audience.

While other cultures may celebrate individual wins, Canadians believe that progress, in hockey and in life, usually happens because someone helped make it possible. In hockey terms: there is no goal without an assist. This insight is deeply ingrained in Canadian culture, not just in the game of hockey, but in how families show up for one another.

Canadians recognize and value collective support because they know true success is always shared.

From there, they focused their strategy on everyday parents and the hard work they put in to keep minor hockey alive. The hard-working moms, dads, aunts, and uncles who quietly power their kids through the unglamorous realities of the sport. They do it for their kids, not necessarily because they expect greatness, but because they know the impact that sport can have.

Introducing “Rocked”: an emotional, storytelling-driven film that celebrates Kruger’s products and hockey parents, who together quietly power their kids through the messy, unglamorous realities of youth hockey. Tending to injuries, cleaning up accidents, fixing what gets broken, and making sure their kids can get back out there. Without the parents and the paper products they reach for, the game doesn’t continue.

By showing the authentic role that Kruger’s products play in those moments, the brand becomes the unseen helper that enables parents to do what they do best. Just like in hockey, the assist doesn’t get the glory, but it’s essential.

To bring energy to the film, the spot was anchored by the stomp-stomp-clap of “We Will Rock You” by Queen. An iconic hockey anthem that is played in hockey rinks across the country, from the youngest minor league games to hockey’s highest levels.

They authentically captured the chaos of being a hockey parent. The spot feels very docu-real, as if they embedded cameras with a bunch of real families and teams for weeks and then cut together all this real-life footage.

Music is always a tone-setter, and “We Will Rock You” carries instant recognition and a heartbeat that’s familiar in hockey arenas everywhere. But when sung by children, where kids are the “we” and “you” is the parent, it takes on a whole new meaning that really captures the experience of being a hockey parent.

The beat helped guide the edit, and knowing it would be sung by kids added a great levity and energy to the spot that kept things feeling fun, even when depicting messy situations.

“Rocked” is big, anthemic, and resonates with hockey families across Canada. The spot was aired nationally during the Canadian Olympics broadcasts and other sporting events.

Strategic planning helped shift the role Kruger’s products could play in a highly commoditized category where most brands focus on function and price.

The real challenge wasn’t about awareness; it was about relevance. Paper products are essential, but rarely thought of unless you’ve run out. This unveiled an opportunity to reframe Kruger’s role by connecting it to the real, often overlooked, moments where these products show up in hockey parents’ lives.

The “assist” insight became the foundation for all of their work. It grounded the campaign in a uniquely Canadian truth and gave us a clear, unexpected way to link hockey to parenting – highlighting Kruger’s role in both.

Planning allowed the agency to turn Kruger Big Assist from a financial assistance program into a platform for storytelling, rooted in shared values that Kruger could now use to relate to its target on a deeper level.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. They’re hearing from hockey parents who see themselves in the story, local associations who recognize the environments, and hockey fans who appreciate shining a light on the people behind the scenes.

It has also helped deepen awareness of Kruger Big Assist as not just a funding programme, but a celebration of the culture of support that makes minor hockey possible. It has also strengthened Kruger Brand Health.

The campaign delivered a 7% increase in brand link, surpassing the brand’s objective by 133%. Brand awareness increased by 9%, surpassing their objective by 80%, while purchase intent increased by 24%, surpassing their objective by 140%. The campaign also drove a 28-point increase in interest in the brand versus the norm.

Credits

Client: Kurger
Project: Kruger Big Assist New TVC

Kruger Credits:
Susan Irving - Chief Marketing Officer
Kristina Koprivica - Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Strategy
Kim Lichtman – Marketing Director, Partnerships

TBWA Credit List:
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna- Chief Creative Officer
Jeremiah McNama - Executive Creative Director
Brendan McMullen - Associate Creative Director
Jacob Pacey - Associate Creative Director
Brendan McMullen - Art Director
Jacob Pacey - Copywriter
Shelley Brown - Chief Strategy Officer
Shelagh Hartford - SVP, Strategy
Tracy little - EVP, General Manager
Ali Gayowski - Group Account Director
Amarah Ali - Account Supervisor
Tessa Waisglass - Producer
Connor Clarke, BTS

North Credit List:
Rob Hogan, North Strategic, Vice President
Ciara Dalziel, North Strategic, Account Director
Aaron Short, North Strategic, Account Manager
Andrea Trias, North Strategic, Account Manager

Production Credit List:
Scouts Honour Inc.
Mark Zibert, Director/DP
Erik Kaskens, Asst Director
Rita Popliek, Exec Producer

Oso Audio
Harry Knazan and Daenen Bramberger, Creative Directors
Jane Heath, Exec Producer

Nimiopere Film Editorial
Graham Chisholm, Editor
Lucas Wurstlin, Asst Editor
Jenna Edwards, Exec Producer

Tantrum Studio
Dominik Bochenski, Creative Director
Dan Ciancone, Flame Artist
Victoria Holt, Exec Producer

AlterEgo
Wade Odlum, Colourist

Jigsaw Casting
Shasta Lutz

WPP Sport & Entertainment Credit List:
Daniel Mekinda - WPP Sports & Entertainment, Executive Vice President
Brandon Mazerall - WPP Sports & Entertainment, Vice President
Shafiq Lalani - WPP Sports & Entertainment, Associate Director
Jack Pews - WPP Sports & Entertainment, Partnerships Coordinator

WPP Media Credit List:
Alice DiGiovanni - President
Kristine Sherliker - Vice President - Client Leadership
Vanja Potichny - Account Director
Blanca Gamez - Manager, Media Planning