Advertising doesn’t get much more epic than the Royal Ontario Museum’s new spot, which takes the viewer through 3 billion years of Earth’s history—with an opera-singing chimpanzee as your guide.

Toronto agency Broken Heart Love Affair created the three-minute piece with director Rune Milton and Copenhagen-based visual effects house Chemistry Film. The film is both promotion and plea—to get people to the museum, of course, but also to consider humanity’s relatively brief time on Earth and our collective responsibility to protect it.

The shots of the museum’s collection at the end are affecting because they’re placed in context of the footage that comes before it, giving what could be seen as dusty artifacts a renewed vitality.

Also read: This museum membership card is a 450-million-year-old trilobite fossil

The spot is set to music from the Italian opera “L’elisir d'amore,” which adds emotion to the piece. The ad—which follows a similarly epic production from 2022—will be shown in cinemas, online and on social media throughout the Toronto area, supported by out-of-home.

“This campaign is our love letter to the natural world – a clarion call to protect and look after our Earth and everything in it,” said Sally Tindal, the museum’s chief marketing and communications officer. “Home to a world-class collection of 18 million artworks, cultural objects, and natural history specimens, ROM plays a vital role in our understanding of nature and the world around us, and we hope this campaign inspires people to revisit the museum with fresh eyes.”

More Creativity coverage from Ad Age:

• See this week’s top 5 campaigns.
• Everything brands did for Halloween this year.
• Browse our daily Creativity roundups.
• Director Lauren Greenfield on teens and toxic social media.
• The best ads of 2024 (so far).

Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.