Responses by Kate Roland, group creative director, ONE23WEST.

Background: Dairy ads traditionally focus on practical things like nutritional benefits. Our campaign set out to tell a new story, tapping into the emotional side of food and how dairy can bring us comfort when we need it most. Our target was Western Canadians aged 18 to 44, with a focus on parents in the 30-to-44 age range that typically make daily food decisions.

Design thinking: Food is a universal shortcut for comfort. Oftentimes, it’s not a grand gesture; it’s something small, sometimes even without words, that shows us someone cares. Inspired by this, we decided to tell a singular story and define the act of comfort through the eyes of someone who sees it in its simplest form: a little kid.

Challenges: That our story didn’t err on the side of cheesy, if you’ll forgive the pun. It’s easy to lean too far into happy moments when your message is sharing and comfort. We wanted viewers to feel the uncertainty of the little boy as he problem-solves his way through the morning. Would a snack cheer up his sister or his friend on the bus? That curiosity and determination was what made his act of sharing all the more powerful.

Favorite details: We were quite excited to partner with director Alexander Farah and director of photography Farhad Ghaderi. Both are extremely talented filmmakers and brought a level of artistry and attention to detail that deepened our characters’ stories.

Specific project demands: We were required to feature multiple dairy products. The team agreed not to interrupt the natural flow of the little boy’s story arc, so in the end, we shot specific scenes twice for cutdowns, swapping out cheese for milk and yogurt.

Visual influences: Working with Alexander and Farhad, our vision was for a film that felt unmistakably lived in: natural, observational performances with the energy of a Friday morning. A shallow depth of field helped viewers stay anchored on our little boy throughout the spot.

one23west.ca