Zig has engaged in some serious mental gymnastics, posing such questions as “How high do birds fly?” and “Who’s this guy?” to encourage Family Literacy Day on behalf of ABC Canada Literacy Foundation.

Launched last week, the national multimedia campaign poses a series of child-like questions designed to capture the attention of parents and encourage them to visit FamilyLiteracyDay.ca to discover the answers. All of the ads feature the tag line, “If you read with your kids, you’ll know more.”

Besides print, out-of-home, digital, online and radio spots, the platform also includes a series of thought-provoking ambient ads. For example, a manhole ponders the question “What’s down here?” while a poster mounted on the side of a hot dog stand asks readers “Why are hot dogs called hot dogs?”

The ambient ads, located in parks and on buildings in Toronto and Montreal, kicked off the campaign. The “Who’s this guy?” question is affixed to a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Toronto, while a small vinyl cling ad reading “How high do birds fly?” was placed on the glass floor in the CN Tower’s observation deck.

“These are not trivial questions, just everyday questions that drive home the idea that learning happens everywhere and anywhere,” said ABC Canada’s Rina Khosla, director of marketing and partnerships.

Children aren’t the only ones who benefit when a family reads together, because adults take away valuable knowledge as well, Khosla said.

“Zig came up with the idea for this campaign, because [some members of the agency] have children who asked questions they couldn’t answer,” Khosla said.

All of the advertising space was donated and the campaign is expected to run until February.

“We focused on posing the most intriguing questions possible, that would appeal to both adults and children and encourage them to seek out the answers together,” said Martin Beauvais, executive creative director at Zig, in a release. “Family Literacy Day tackles a very serious issue, but we wanted the approach to be fun, lighthearted and engaging.”

Family Literacy Day occurs on Jan. 27 and this year, ABC Canada is trying to set a new Guinness World Record for most children reading with an adult, at multiple locations in a 24-hour period between Jan. 23 and 24. Parents are encouraged to read five Robert Munsch stories to their children, to beat the American record of over 78,000 participants.

“It’s not just about the day, but the practice as a whole,” Khosla said.

Honda Canada, the founding sponsor of Family Literacy Day, will also be distributing materials and event-planning guides to encourage its dealerships to get involved.