Sleep Country is Canada’s most trusted sleep retailer. But as sleep becomes a larger focus of the health and wellness conversation, the category is becoming more cluttered and competitive. After 30 years of helping Canadians achieve better rest, Sleep Country needed to cement their position as Canada’s main sleep destination, taking a brand at risk of becoming tired and renewing themselves as the country’s leading voice in all things sleep.

The conversation about sleep is largely about the health benefits of a good night’s rest. That idea has stuck with Canadians, and most of them recognize the essential role sleep plays in their wellbeing. Yet, there’s a massive gap when it comes to the sleep people know they need and the sleep they actually get.

Life is hectic. It gets in the way. There aren’t enough hours to do everything we want to. And because of all that, we usually view bed time as lost time, even despite knowing that sleep has a massive impact on our wellbeing. To rouse Canadians into renewed slumber, we needed to reframe how people think about sleep.

That reframe starts with a simple truth: we all have a relationship with sleep.

It’s one of the most enduring relationships of our lives, starting from the day we’re born. And most of the time, whether we admit it or not, we’re terrible partners in our relationship with sleep. We neglect it. We take it for granted. We sacrifice it for work or play or literally anything else. Honestly, we tend to treat it like absolute crap. 

And sleep deserves better.

When we’re kids our parents act as guardians to our sleep and make sure we stick to our bedtimes. As adults we’re left on our own, with nobody to tell us to get our act together. But what if there was someone to remind us to smarten up and go to bed?

Meet Sleep Daddy: a charming and trustworthy figure that reminds Canadians to stop doomscrolling, turn off the lights, and take their relationship with sleep more seriously. Played by Canadian icon Eugene Levy, Sleep Daddy doesn’t sugar coat his message, but he also doesn’t shame. Instead, he gently encourages Canadians to consider all aspects of a good night’s sleep beyond having the right mattress. He’s the sleep parent we didn’t know we needed to get our bedtime back on track.

“We needed a memorable way to nudge Canadians to start taking their sleep seriously. Thinking about sleep like it’s a relationship - a partner with its own unique needs that is deserving of respect - is a fresh approach that breaks from how the rest of the category is talking. And Eugene is the perfect relationship coach, with the unique ability to instantly connect with Canadians, demanding their attention while remaining warm and approachable,” said Vini Dalvi, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis.

Sleep Daddy speaks about sleep in a holistic way, creating a thread between the realities of sleeping (and struggling to sleep) and the sleep essentials that Sleep Country sells. Originally pitched as a Sleep Awareness Month campaign to build an emotional connection with Canadians, the campaign quickly grew to a multi-year creative platform that will house both brand messaging and Sleep Country’s full slate of retail events.

Limited access to our hero talent meant months of meticulous planning so we could capture two years of content - including 18 commercials and 100s of stills - in a single week of shooting. A bespoke version of the campaign was created for Dormez-vous?, Quebec’s leading mattress retailer, starring comedic powerhouse Marc Labrèche.

Now that Canadians have been introduced to Sleep Daddy, the work is just getting started to renew the country’s love affair with sleep. Sweet dreams, Canada.