Searching for a new global identity, Air Canada assembled members of 11 different agencies with three production companies to produce 12 spots which would be scattered throughout Olympic coverage to define the airline’s new brand positioning and personality.

Participating in what would become the new marketing vision were representatives from the airline’s agency network, Marketel/McCann-Erikson; its direct marketing agency, fcb; its Asian communications agency for Canada, Hamazaki Wong; Quebecor, publisher of its in-flight magazine; Spafax, producer of the airline’s in-flight audiovisual entertainment products; its market research firm, Parallax; Mercer Management Consulting; and Young & Rubicam.

Together, the creative dream team came up with an advertising campaign entitled ‘Defy,’ which, in a series of quick and simple 15-second spots, challenges travelers to defy conformity, obstacles, boundaries, perfection and expectations.

The campaign took flight on Friday, Feb. 6 during the opening of the Nagano Winter Olympics and throughout the two weeks of the games 10 spots will be aired at a rate of one per hour on cbc and src. Next, the campaign will unfurl in the u.s., with Europe and Asia to follow later in the year.

Shooting the spots were Figaro Films director Martin Ouellette and dop Barry Gravelle, Keith Rogerson from Spafax and Cinelande director Bronwen Hughes and dop Rhett Morita, who lensed the 60-second corporate image anchor which also runs as a :30.

For Hughes, the whole project was very last-minute as an intriguing call from Cinelande had her on a same day flight to Montreal.

‘They had a very interesting basic concept that needed to be more specific,’ says Hughes. ‘I came in with some ideas on the approach and some suggestions on what the precise content should be and they let me go ahead and do it; there was a lot of creative freedom within a very specifically designed goal and style concept.’

The spot consists of many layers of faces composed of other different, constantly changing faces portraying the full spectrum of Canadians. It was up to Hughes to present realistic people in a visual style that would separate them from the mundane while revealing humanity within the two-dimensional shots.

Two days were spent shooting faces in a studio while three days were spent in Argentina flying from one remote destination to another searching for South American landscapes that could double for Canada in the summer.

Hughes says one of the biggest challenges on the project was keeping perspective on the big picture and not getting wrapped up in the moment.

‘You have to approach it with a plan for all the pictures you are shooting; it’s a complicated piece and you have to give yourself some slack. Only in post-production does the exact choreography come to light,’ says Hughes

Accompanying the airline’s new vision is a new musical signature composed by Rene Dupere and singer Elise Velle, best known for their original music for Cirque du Soleil. And if you are having a hard time figuring out the language or the words, it may be because the soundtrack, called Ismya Vova, is sung in an imaginary language.

Hughes, who is busy in l.a. on a feature film for DreamWorks skg, Forces of Nature, says she is very picky about the commercials she does, but when it came to the Air Canada campaign, ‘it was worth dropping everything for.’

‘It was brilliant. I wish all commercial shoots could be like this,’ she says. ‘Once the client and the agency realized we were all working towards the same goal and the same spot, they gave me incredible trust and leeway. It was all about people contributing. If all shoots could be that way I think there would be a lot better work.’