Royal Ontario Museum Dives Deep to Change How We See Sharks
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), in collaboration with Toronto-based creative agency Broken Heart Love Affair (BHLA), has launched Dive Deeper, a new campaign designed to drive awareness and attendance for ROM’s Sharks exhibition, on view until March 22nd, 2026.
Challenging decades of fear-driven portrayals in pop culture, Sharks invites audiences to rediscover sharks as extraordinary, essential, and deeply misunderstood creatures. The integrated campaign supports this by bringing surprising shark facts to life across digital, social, Spotify, and out-of-home platforms throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
Each creative execution encourages audiences to rethink what they know about sharks through fascinating truths, such as:
- Sharks are older than dinosaurs. They’ve survived for more than 400 million years - predating dinosaurs by 200 million.
- Some sharks can fit in your hand. While whale sharks can reach up to 60 feet in length, the dwarf lanternshark measures just 7.9 inches.
- Sharks have superpowers. Every shark can sense invisible electromagnetic fields, using this ability to hunt, navigate, and defend themselves.
“Few animals have captured the human imagination quite like sharks," says Sally Tindal, ROM's chief marketing and communications officer. "These astonishing creatures have been around longer than dinosaurs, which makes it all the more alarming that they now face urgent threats to their survival. This exhibition will not only enthral visitors, it will dispel some of the common misconceptions and spark a deeper understanding and appreciation for this fascinating species.”
"Popular media has fed us this surface-level understanding of sharks, and we ate it up hook, line, and sinker," adds BHLA creative director Marty Hoefkes. “But if you wade into the world of sharks and get closer to the real thing, you’ll see that each individual shark has hundreds of awe-inspiring points. Hopefully this campaign gives visitors something to chew on, and brings a frenzy of voracious minds to ROM to learn more.”
Lifelong Crush was the production partner and Cairns Oneil, the media partner.
Book your tickets here.
