Who: Henkel Canada, Juniper Park TBWA for strategy and creative, Bolt Content and Lossless Creative for production, Darling VFX for post, OSO Audio for sound, Harbinger for PR and UM for media.

What: “Helping Canadians Shine,” a contest and ad campaign to celebrate and provide funding to Canadians who are working to make their community “a brighter place.”

When & Where: The contest began with a call-for-entries mid August on Global’s The Morning Show, which is hosting the contest. National media includes TV, digital and social running through Oct. 15.

Why: Working with Juniper Park\TBWA last year, Sunlight introduced a platform based on the idea that by helping people with the little things, like laundry, those people can focus on bigger and more important things. In last year’s campaign, it was a story about helping a Nigerian family settle in Canada.

Sunlight and Juniper Park wanted to build on that launch by finding real people and programs to support for year two.

“Few categories are as steeped in conventions, and Sunlight had an appetite to break through the clutter to really connect with their customers on an emotional level,” said Bill Chamness, vice-president of strategy, Juniper Park\TBWA, in a release.

How: The search for community heroes turned up Toronto laundromat owner Nancy Seto, who created a free laundry access program for those in her community in need.

Aside from becoming the first community hero helped by Sunlight, Seto inspired the idea to expand the search for other Canadians, and she is featured in the anchor ad promoting the program.

In the spot, Seto shares her story and explains that Sunlight’s help will enable to keep the program going.

Sunlight is in the spot but mostly in the background. Rather than focusing on the detergent, the agency put the focus on Seto and her emotional story.

“After meeting with Nancy, we stripped back on the production bells and whistles,” said Neil Walker-Wells, executive creative director, Juniper Park\TBWA. “We really wanted her incredible selflessness, and commitment to her community to shine through, and sharing the reality of the scene and situation was key.”

The ad ends with a call for people to nominate someone who is making their community a brighter place. The call for entries runs until Oct. 15, with five grand prize winners receiving $10,000 in support, and five secondary winners receiving $2,500 in support.

Quote: “We wanted to give back to the community that we serve. We are proud to support local heroes making a difference in Canada, and we’re glad that we can contribute to making Canadians shine every day.” —Heidi Chiu, head of marketing, Henkel Canada.