2026 Winner

Canada Life faced a familiar challenge: financial-services marketing often speaks in products, while people experience life in needs, such as protecting family, building stability and navigating risk – an especially nuanced reality for multicultural audiences rebuilding support systems in a new country. Rather than simply translating existing assets, the campaign reworked the platform through culturally specific insights, recognizing that for many South Asian, Chinese and West Asian audiences, financial security is closely tied to independence, family responsibility and the absence of extended support networks. This led to the creation of longer-form films across five languages, each rooted in real-life scenarios like small business ownership or supporting family abroad, allowing stories to mirror not just language, but lived priorities and pressures. By maintaining consistency while infusing flexibility into storytelling, tone and emphasis, the campaign delivered both relevance and efficiency: reducing CPM by 35%, increasing clicks by 56% and CTR by 95% year-over-year, while also driving measurable lifts in awareness, familiarity and consideration. In doing so, it showed that scaling a brand platform across cultures requires more than language – it requires reshaping the idea around how people actually live, decide and plan.

Credits

Agency - Balmoral Multicultural Marketing

Sharifa Khan, CEO
Jeffrey Almeida, Managing Director
Arif Rasheed, VP
Lorna Leung, Group Account Director
Donovan D'Souza, VP
Ajey Trivedi, Creative Director
Tak Li, Copywriter
Shayla Siu, Copywriter
Hans Fan, Copywriter
Grant Leong | Manager, Digital Solutions (Grant helped with digital banners)
Puneet Ahuja, VP
Mihir Thakkar, Media Manager
Preethi Krishnamurthy, Media Executive

Client – Canada Life
Andrew Morris, Vice President, Brand & Central Services, Marketing & Experience
Zarin Henderson, AVP, Brand Marketing
Nadia Fiore, Director, Brand Advertising & Governance