Sid Lee has done a good job of capturing evocative slice of life moments in different campaigns for Maple Leaf Foods in recent years (see here and here), and has done it again with a new spot for Maple Leaf Prime Chicken.

The brand stands for food, family and fun, said Peter Sreckovic, copywriter at Sid Lee in Toronto. The new campaign stays true to those ideals, but  leads with humour.

“Prime Parents” pokes gentle fun at an early middle-age couple who still think of themselves as being in their prime, even if that no longer means partying all night and peak physical fitness. Instead, being in their prime now means being great parents serving healthy food. “That’s why Maple Leaf Prime Chicken is raised without antibiotics,” explains a voiceover. “Better chicken for health family meals.”

There are some social assets, but Maple Leaf is emphasizing the TV/video ad for the campaign. “Our approach was to first lead with an insight into the lives of parents, creating a more relatable story rather than purely relying on this functional claim to do the heavy lifting for the campaign,” said Sreckovic.

“When we arrived on the insight that sometimes parents feel like they’re past their prime—no longer out partying and rocking out with their band—we instantly knew we were onto something, and wanted to counter this notion, because parents are still in their prime, it’s just different than when they were in their ’20s.”