Three women - CBC, Strange Empire | Clapboard Ad Archive

CBC’s 2014 campaign for Strange Empire, anchored by the powerful film trailer Three women, stands as a defining move in the media and entertainment category, establishing CBC’s commitment to innovative, original storytelling at a moment when genre conventions were ripe for revision. Crafted to promote the series premiere of Strange Empire—a dark western set in the 1860s Alberta-Montana frontier, where women become the architects of their own destiny—the campaign leverages the exemplary story approach defined in Clapboard’s FORMAT#5—Exemplary Story, integrating the product directly into the core resolution of the narrative arc. The trailer’s creative thrust invites viewers into a world upended by the disappearance of men, turning legacy tropes inside out as it places three women at the center of struggle, survival, and reinvention in a brutal landscape. With an emphasis on striking period visuals, suspenseful pacing, and thematic cues around empowerment and resilience, the campaign distinctly positions Strange Empire as a disruptive force in a traditionally male-dominated genre, using the series itself as both story and solution for audiences seeking complex female protagonists. CBC’s communication strategy operationalizes their social media platforms and official YouTube channel to drive interest and subscriptions, expanding reach beyond linear viewership and cultivating episodic engagement with accessible digital assets that invite community participation and ongoing conversation. The extended engagement, as demonstrated by a view count exceeding 151,000, underscores the campaign’s effectiveness in generating awareness and dialogue among contemporary audiences invested in diverse and nuanced representation. By fusing plot-driven conflict with an invitation to revisit the mythology of the western, CBC and Strange Empire leverage the campaign to reinforce the broadcaster’s own brand equity as a platform dedicated to creative originality, thematic boldness, and the expansion of mainstream narrative boundaries. Clapboard rates this 64/100. For a sector grappling with shifts in representation and format innovation, Three women demonstrates how an exemplary story-led campaign can reset expectations for genre television launches when anchored in culturally resonant themes.