This Holiday Staple Is Unlocking a New Identity in Canada

Turkey has a branding problem. Ask most Canadians when they last bought it and the answer is probably October, maybe Christmas or Easter. Think Turkey wants to change that, and they're not waiting for the holidays to do it.

The national marketing initiative from Turkey Farmers of Canada has spent the past year building the “You Turkey" platform, a campaign designed to reposition turkey from seasonal centrepiece to everyday performance protein. The strategy is bold, the creative is sharp, and the latest chapter involves teaming up with Toronto Raptors forward AJ Lawson just as basketball hits its peak.

“You Turkey was inspired by premium fitness brands that earn value through performance," says Lisa Cadeau, Director of National Marketing Campaign & Brand Partnerships at Turkey Farmers of Canada. “We reframed turkey as an action, not an ingredient — embedding it within training and movement to make it relevant to active Canadians looking to fuel their fitness and goals."

It's a smart reframe. Rather than leading with nutrition stats or recipe content, Think Turkey borrowed a page from the athletic apparel playbook: build identity around performance, then let the product follow. The result is a growing roster of elite Canadian athletes who embody that identity: Olympic decathlete Damian Warner, soccer star Vanessa Gilles, hockey player Emmy Fecteau, and now Lawson.

The roster isn't random. Cadeau says it's built around a deliberate insight, that sports fandom is fragmented, and a single athlete or sport can only take you so far. “Rather than relying on a single athlete or sport, we're building a team that meets those interests across a variety of different passion points. Each athlete ambassador brings credibility with a distinct fanbase or audience, and together they help us broaden the reach and relevance of the You Turkey message in a way one partnership alone couldn't."

The decision to lean into major sports moments, March Madness and the NBA playoffs, is equally strategic. Cadeau points to something many brands have quietly figured out: live sports remains one of the last environments where audiences are genuinely locked in. “Sport is one of the last true appointment-viewing environments," she says. “Audiences are watching live, they are engaged and paying close attention. That makes major moments like March Madness and the NBA playoffs incredibly efficient for reaching our audiences."

But visibility alone isn't the goal. Think Turkey is trying to solve a deeper category problem. In a market increasingly crowded with protein supplements, fortified foods and performance shakes, whole food sources like turkey have quietly lost ground in the cultural conversation around nutrition. Cadeau sees an opening. “With the rise of supplement culture and protein-fortified foods, it can be easy to overlook whole, natural sources of protein," she says. “Part of this campaign is bringing that back into focus."

The brand and category work are intentionally intertwined. Shifting perception is only half the job, the other half is getting turkey into the weekly shopping cart. “It's not enough to change perception," Cadeau says. “We want to translate that into action."

On what comes next, Cadeau signals that You Turkey is built for the long run: more athlete partnerships, more sports occasions, and an expansion into the everyday moments where Canadians are thinking about health and performance.

For a protein that spent decades waiting for the holidays, that's a meaningful shift in ambition. And if Think Turkey keeps executing the way they have, turkey might start showing up a lot more than a few times a year.

About Think Turkey:
Turkey Farmers of Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors’ Turkey Primary Processing Sector Members, launched Think Turkey™ / Pensez DindonMC in 2019, a national, bilingual campaign aimed at boosting turkey consumption. The marketing program includes advertising, digital, retail, PR, influencer and paid social initiatives, focused on engaging primary meal planners, raising awareness of turkey’s nutritional benefits, and driving year-round demand for Canadian turkey.