Who: The Canadian Cancer Society, CIBC Run For the Cure, Juniper Park\TBWA, Head Gear Animation Studios.

What: “I Promise,” a new campaign promoting the annual CIBC Run For the Cure, which takes place at 57 sites across the country on Oct. 6. It is the largest single-day, volunteer-led event in Canada supporting the fight against breast cancer.

When & Where: The campaign broke earlier this month and includes TV, online video, out-of-home, newspaper, digital, social and in-branch communications.

Why: Because breast cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer among Canadian women. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 26,300 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, representing one-quarter of all new cancer cases among women. In addition, 5,000 women died from breast cancer, representing 13% of all cancer deaths among women.

How: The campaign is built around a pair of upbeat online videos that tell the personal stories of breast cancer survivors—one of them a CIBC employee and the other a beneficiary of the Canadian Cancer Society’s programs.

The underlying insight is that while they might wear different shirts in their everyday life, participants in the Run For the Cure come together as one—wearing the same shirt—on run day. Approximately 82,000 people participated in last year’s event.

Using two non-professional actors, the creative approach combines stop-motion filming with a series of printed T-shirts that help tell their story—such as “174 chemo treatments” and “Now in remission. I simply live my life.” According to Juniper Park, the approach required exact splices and additional post-production animation. Oh, and lots of T-shirts.