Client: Canadian Birkebeiner Society

Context:

The Birkebeiner is a long-distance cross country ski event based on a Norwegian folktale:

In the year 1206 a civil war raged in Norway. The infant prince and direct heir to the throne, Haakon Haakonsson, was in danger and in hiding near Lillehammer. Two brave Birkebeiner warriors rescued the prince and carried him by skis in the dead of winter to safety. They traveled 55 kilometres from Gudbrandsdal valley over two mountain ranges to Rena in Osterdal valley. The young prince, later crowned King of Norway, ended the civil war.

Modern Birkibeiners emulate this legend by crossing up to 55km of cross country skiing carrying a pack (like the baby). The Canadian Birkie is one of three global Birkebeiners to take place. Over the course of 4 years we worked with the Canadian Birkibeiner to capture the unique fun and experience of their event.

Goal: Our videos are focused on giving the audience a fun and focused look at what this unique event is, and why it would be fun to participate! We use our visual storytelling skills to encapsulate the experience of this event in a short but punchy video.

The 2023 video is the top result on YouTube searching for “Canadian Birkie” and the 2022 and 2023 videos are the second and third most successful videos on the Canadian Birkie YouTube page.

Budget: Under $5,000 per video