Behold The Wilderness

A mysterious stranger in a tuxedo stands before a crowd of awestruck onlookers. With patter worthy of P.T. Barnum, he presents a ferocious beast secured to the stage by chains: the all-new 2024 Crosstrek Wilderness.

That’s the scene that opens the new advertising campaign for Subaru Canada’s Crosstrek Wilderness, launched March 18. This is the first model year Crosstrek has been offered with the Wilderness trim, which adds even more ruggedness, capability, and utility to Subaru’s bestselling model in Canada.

The Wilderness campaign extends last year’s “True Urban Legend” campaign for the Crosstrek main lineup model, which has helped drive Crosstrek to record-breaking monthly sales and won gold at last year’s CMA Awards. It continues Subaru’s successful “Welcome to Uncommon” brand platform.

Subaru created the campaign in partnership with its agency of record, Zulu Alpha Kilo. The campaign was a collaborative creative effort between the Toronto office, led by CCO Brian Murray, and the Vancouver office, led by ECD Dean Lee. OMD provided media support and Rinaldi provided French-language adaptation.

“This campaign builds on the legend of the Crosstrek in an all-new way,” said Dean Lee, Executive Creative Officer of Zulu Alpha Kilo Vancouver. “The main lineup Crosstrek is an urban legend, but the myth of Crosstrek Wilderness is even bigger than that — more like Sasquatch.”

“Crosstrek Wilderness is perfectly sized for life in the city, but when it ventures outside of the city limits it turns into a ruggedly capable beast,” said Gary Sappleton, Subaru’s Director of Marketing and Brand Management. “It’s the perfect vehicle for daily life in the city during the week but has the enhanced ability to go wild in the great outdoors on the weekend.”