Canola, personified

Long brown wavy hair, a bright, curious personality, loves maple syrup and hockey, and wears jeans and her favourite canola field T-shirt – Who is this mystery person? Why she’s Canadian Canola! Canadian Canola is the face of a new promotional campaign geared to show Canadians how they can use canola products every day and what canola means to the Canadian economy.

“Hello, I’m Canadian Canola, and I’ve become somewhat of a global celebrity,” she says while walking through an airport in a new video launched this month. While signing autographs and waving at the paparazzi, she highlights a few common uses for canola – not just as a healthy food ingredient. “The world can’t get enough of my sustainable Canadian goodness.”

The provincial canola associations – Alberta Canola, SaskCanola and Manitoba Canola Growers – fund the new campaign through their joint National Canola Marketing Program. The grower organizations hired FleishmanHillard HighRoad, a strategic communications and public relations agency, to develop the strategy and creative elements.

“Ultimately, we want to move Canadians from apathy to love of Canadian canola, especially in the largest cities where we have room to grow.”
— Lynn Weaver

“We want Canadians to get excited about our new Canadian Canola character, follow her on social media and share posts with their friends and family,” says Lynn Weaver, market development manager with SaskCanola.

Canadians first met the personified version of canola August 19. She spent that week talking with people on the streets of Toronto about little-known canola facts before taking a break for harvest. You can find those videos on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook through the @hellocanola handle.

The full Hello Canola! campaign ramps up this month with a campaign hero video, hellocanola.ca website, digital advertising and social media engagement.

The goal is to bring the overall narrative of canola’s impact across the globe into other channels and activations such as media, influencers, and strategic partnerships over the coming years. “Ultimately, we want to move Canadians from apathy to love of Canadian canola, especially in the largest cities where we have room to grow,” Weaver says.