A NOTE FROM THE ADVERTISING CO-CHAIRS

We were honoured and excited to cochair the 101st Marketing Awards’ Advertising category. One thing’s for sure: the top creative in Canada did not disappoint. In fact, we believe the winning work will be recognized around the world at all the top shows this year. Why? The work is nothing short of brave. Our jury was thoughtful, experienced and respectful. They uncovered the themes and ideas that lifted the winning work above the rest. Besides being fearless, each piece was unique. Case studies were shorter and more efficient. Being timely was praised, and in some cases, traditional media was new again. Most of the work used PR to its advantage and just about everything was featured or promoted on social platforms. The winning work was emotionally engaging and relevant. But best of all was the discovery of more work that featured diversity in the talent and stories told, and inclusivity behind the scenes as well. Our Best of Show winner is much more than a masterpiece in cinematography. It reinvented the way we position and promote museums. It raised the bar in film on every level and will definitely be a Canadian ambassador on the global stage. A big thanks to the folks at strategy, our live and shortlist juries, and to all the brave clients and agencies out there who still believe in the power of creativity.

BEST OF SHOW: ADVERTISING

GOLD: Branded Content

GOLD: Film, Other Broadcast Single

GOLD: Film, TV Single - Long-Form

To attract visitors after the lifting of pandemic restrictions and to make people feel more represented and welcome, the Royal Ontario Museum created “Immortal,” a sixminute film driving home the message that the stories behind every historical object help make sense of the present. The film, by Broken Heart Love Affair, depicts key moments in human history, from glorious and inspiring to evil and destructive. A baby floats in the ocean, representing Mother Nature’s womb, and is surrounded by symbolic re-enactments of collective and individual experiences. As a result of this campaign, attendance from those aged 18 to 24 increased by 60%, media impressions totaled 127 million, ticket booking page traffic increased by 85%, website traffic increased by 42%, and general attendance increased by 65%.

CCOs: Denise Rossetto, Carlos Moreno, Todd Mackie

CSO: Jay Chaney

AD: Carlos Moreno

CW: Denise Rossetto

Director (Scouts Honour): Mark Zibert

THE M FOR MPACT AWARD: SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

GOLD: PR, Community Building

SILVER: Branded Content

When it comes to stereotypes of Indigenous women, one of the most misrepresented depictions is of Pocahontas, the main character in the animated movie of the same name. To counter the popular narrative, Muskrat Magazine, with BBDO, created “Missing Matoaka,” a project that presented an alternative audio track to be played in sync with the movie. The project also replaced the name “Pocahontas” with “Matoaka,” which she was also known by. The alternative track gives Matoaka greater agency, in her thoughts and actions, and is told through the lens of today’s knowledge. The entire film was re-recorded from an Indigenous perspective: it was written by Indigenous writers, voiced by Indigenous actors, with music composed and performed by Indigenous artists.

CCO: Max Geraldo

ECD: Derek Blais

AD: Olga Netaeva

CW: Hailey Ireland

Director/Composer (TA2): Steve Gadsden

GOLD: Branded Content

When global supply chain issues affected product offerings at IKEA, Kijiji, Canada’s largest online reselling platform, seized the moment. With BBDO, the company developed the “I-Kijiji-A Catalogue,” a replica of an IKEA catalogue that featured its inventory and drove people to its platform to buy hard-to-find products from local Kijiji sellers. The campaign drove a 15% lift in furniture searches.

CCO: Max Geraldo

ECD: Derek Blais

ACDs: Mat Cruz, Alex Smith

GOLD: Integrated Campaign

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Poster Campaign

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Transit Campaign

BRONZE: Press, Newspaper Campaign

In a sequel to its prior campaign, “Draw Ketchup,” Kraft Heinz enlisted the use of machines instead of humans to create “Ketchup A.I.,” a campaign using the most advanced AI image generator to create visuals of ketchup – which always resembled bottles of Heinz. The campaign, by Rethink, asked consumers to suggest mashup image prompts and used the results to create the first-ever campaign with visuals generated by AI and coauthored by fans. The images – both weird and wonderful – were featured on social, in a long-format video, at an art gallery both in the metaverse and in real life, on a special run of custom bottles, in print and OOH. The campaign generated major media coverage and over 1.15 billion earned impressions from around the world. The 18 OOH boards delivered over 55 million impressions. The social engagement rate was 38% higher than benchmarks, and brands such as Ducati and Sportsnet even suggested image mashups.

CCOs: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick

CDs: Xavier Blais, Zachary Bautista

CWs: Geoff Baillie, Xavier Blais, Aman Soin

Three days after Canada’s biggest interest rate hike, Pizza Pizza sought to lightheartedly calm financial jitters with its “Fixed-Rate Pizza,” letting consumers know the price of its extra-large, four-topping pizza would stay the same. The campaign, by Zulu Alpha Kilo, featured a website, OOH and TV spot that poked fun at insurance commercials and other types of ads. The film featured people of different ages and stages expressing their contentment with “fixed-rate pizza,” where “medical exams” weren’t needed. The campaign also included a humorous ‘pre-approval’ questionnaire. The campaign racked up more than 90 million earned PR impressions in the first two weeks and more than 500,000 fixed-rate pizzas sold in first six months, resulting in a 2,217% return on spend.

CCO: Zak Mroueh

ECD: Brian Murray

ACD/CW: Jonah Flynn

ACD/AD: Michael Siegers

AD: Duncan Porter

GOLD: Best in Direct SILVER: Out-of-Home, Poster Campaign

Smucker Food’s Milk-Bone, a market-leading dog treat brand in Canada, faced competition from new brands entering the market. To reach its goal of increasing its Facebook and Instagram followers by at least 50%, it created the “Chewpons” program, with Leo Burnett. The campaign encouraged pet parents to send pictures of chewed-up items and in exchange, they’d receive coupons for Milk-Bone treats – an item dogs are meant to chew on. The campaign was heavily targeted at young pet parents, with relatable bitten-up imagery in a promoted video and print media that drove people to Milk-Bone’s social channels, using a small, $10,000 media budget. DMs flooded in of chewed-up items ranging from stuffed animals to passports. The result was a 215% increase in Facebook visits, a 132% increase in Instagram followers and a 7,600% increase in Facebook page reach.

CCOs: Steve Persico, Lisa Greenberg

CSO: Tahir Ahmad

CD: Kohl Forsberg

CW: Aisling Penco

AD/Designer: Angelo Roldan

CCO: Zak Mroueh

ECD: Brian Murray

CD/AD: Vic Bath

CD/CW: Dan Cummings

ACD/AD: Michael Romaniuk

ACD/CW: Marco Buchar

GOLD: Best in Direct SILVER: Direct, Best in Collateral BRONZE: Integrated Campaign

For the fourth consecutive year, HomeEquity Bank was the presenting partner of the Legion National Foundation’s Digital Poppy Campaign for Remembrance Day. The “Letters Home” campaign, by Zulu Alpha Kilo, honoured Canadian veterans and their sacrifices by sending replica letters from Canadian soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars to their originally intended addresses across Canada. The letters were sourced from the Canadian Letters and Images Project at Vancouver Island University. The campaign featured a 30-second video and OOH across Canada, generating significant online media coverage across the country and raised over $189,029 in individual donations for veterans and their families.

SILVER:

Kraft Heinz’s Delimex wanted to introduce its taquitos to gamers authentically. “Feeding Gamers,” by The Kitchen, was inspired by a gaming term called “feeding” – the act of dying repeatedly, serving the enemy team easy wins. The in-game activation met players on their own turf in three of the year’s biggest games: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Warzone 2.0 and Overwatch 2. Every time a player killed one of the Delimex characters, who hung out at in-game food spots, they were sent a coupon code for a free box of taquitos. This was supported by top Twitch streamers, and gamers shared their clips on Reddit and Discord. The final tally? More than 40 million gamers were reached, 11,500 taquitos were sampled and there was a 905% increase in social media traffic.

ECD: Simon Au

CD: Damon Crate

ADs: Arman Sadrzadeh, Allison Boyd

CW: Sean Kinton

Motion Designers: Branson Schell, Conor Cicci, Daniel Corrigan

SILVER: Direct, Best in Collateral

BRONZE: Best in Direct

BRONZE: Integrated Campaign

BRONZE: Integrated Campaign Led by PR

With thrifting a popular pastime among young consumers, Kraft Heinz launched “Vintage Drip,” a thrifted collection of 157 unique items from dozens of luxe and streetwear brands, all ‘branded’ with Heinz Ketchup stains. Leading up to New York Fashion Week, the campaign created by Rethink launched with a social video. At the same time, pieces were worn by Gen Z streetwear icons such as Antoni Bumba, Nazjaa, Sym Clarke, Izzi Poopi and Mirian Njoh. The collection sold out, with all proceeds going to Rise Against Hunger to support global hunger relief. The campaign garnered over 1.75 billion earned impressions and mentions on The Drew Barrymore Show and from singer SZA.

CCOs: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick

CSO: Sean McDonald

CD: Zachary Bautista

CWs: Geoff Baillie, Aman Soin, Brendan Scullion

BRONZE: Direct, Best in Collateral BRONZE: Integrated Campaign

With its player base ageing out, OLG designed Lotto Max “Dream Drop” to compel young adults to view it as an entertainment option. The campaign, by FCB, partnered with fashion designer Mr. Saturday to create the first clothing line that doubled as lottery tickets. Each item had a barcode for a year’s worth of Lotto Max tickets, encouraging purchasers to play for a chance to win up to $70 million. Designs were teased to drive awareness of the partnership and launch date via social posts, OLV, bumpers, banners, influencers, press kits and PR. When designs were released, Gary Trent Jr. modelled the clothing. When e-commerce opened, a popup allowed visitors to crack a code on a giant vault to win apparel or a $1,000 gift card. Upon selling out, a digital vault launched giving people a final chance to score the popular hoodie. Knowing that young adults enjoyed having their money support a cause, OLG donated all proceeds to BLACK HXOUSE, a charity supporting Black creators. The campaign garnered positive perception of the brand, increased online registrations and sold out the collection within a week. It also encouraged play with 200% ticket sales over the first three weeks.

CCO: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna

ECDs: Cuanan Cronwright, Leonardo Barbosa

ACDs: Michael Morelli, Marty Hoefkes

AD: Jerry Yang

CWs: Michael Carey, Jon Dawe

GOLD: Health and Wellness, Education & Advocacy

SILVER: Direct, Best in Collateral

SILVER: PR, Community Building

With “Glossed Over,” Indigenous-owned cosmetics brand Cheekbone Beauty created a lip gloss set made with contaminated water to raise awareness of the lack of clean drinking water affecting more than 100 Indigenous communities across Canada. The water was sourced from three communities affected by different contaminates, which were incorporated into the product ‘colours’: Luscious Lead, Mercury Shimmer and E.Coli Kiss. To broaden the conversation and create change, the campaign by Sid Lee was launched during Indigenous History Month in June and box sets were sent to beauty influencers. The company partnered with Sephora Canada, with proceeds from that month’s Cheekbone Beauty sales donated to Water First, a non-profit aiming to end the water crisis. The campaign racked up over 36 million organic impressions and was featured in over 100 publications, raising more than $30,000 for clean water.

SILVER: Health & Wellness, Education & Advocacy

“24

To raise funds and awareness for the eight million caregivers in Canada, the PetroCanada CareMakers Foundation (PCCF) created the world’s first 24-hour PSA. The film, by McCann, followed real family caregivers in their homes to highlight both the triumphs and struggles they experience within a typical day. The film appeared across TV, OOH, online video and social, with the interactive digital experience living at 24HoursOfCare. ca. The campaign was picked up by newscasts and daytime shows, which helped achieve a 64% increase in awareness of PCCF, and a 53% increase in awareness of the issue of caregiving. The PCCF also secured over $300,000 in donated media from partners.

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Ambient – Large Scale

GOLD: Out-of-Home – Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

SILVER: PR – Community Building

PepsiCo Foods

PepsiCo’s Cheetos decided to turn the iconic orange dust people wash off their fingertips, called Cheetle, into a point of pride. With Citizen Relations, the company erected a 17-foot statue of a hand holding a Cheetos Puffs snack in the tiny hamlet of Cheadle, Alberta – “Cheetle in Cheadle” – then did nothing. While at first, a few passersby stumbled upon it, eventually thousands would travel across Canada for a selfie with the statue. Attention from global media outlets led to a 1,735% increase in Cheetle mentions, 2.2 billion impressions, 1,103 earned traditional hits, 777 earned social hits, a 47% increase in regional sales and a 23% increase in national sales. Actor Don Cheadle told TV host Jimmy Kimmel he’d even put it on his lawn. And only $5,000 was spent on paid media.

CCO: Josh Budd

AD: Shirley Xu Wang

CW: Marly Dichter

As the summer BBQ season approached and with wallets tightening, Kraft Heinz aimed to stay top of mind with the creation of “Cold Ketchup.” The campaign, by Rethink, posed a question on social media that was hotly debated when Cardi B initially mentioned her preference in 2019: did people prefer to keep their ketchup in the fridge or the pantry? To place its product at the centre of the conversation, Heinz created a ketchup bottle with colour-changing label technology signalling room temperature or coolness, made the bottle available through social or in retail via a custom Cold Ketchup fridge and partnered with Wendy’s to give out blue sachets as well. Social media, OLV, influencers, OOH and PR was used to generate buzz about the product. It achieved 26 million PR impressions, got featured on major news outlets and the limitededition bottles and sachets all sold out quickly.

To reach a young audience, Jeep partnered with Snapchat to launch “Jeep Code,” by Publicis. The campaign turned the grille of every Jeep into a barcode, so that every vehicle acted like a dealership. If consumers passed by a Jeep they liked, they could open up their Snapchat camera to scan the grille, which would allow them to identify, explore, customize and shop the inventory. “Jeep Code” was seeded on social media platforms and billboards. There were 150,000 lens interactions, with 51 million people impacted and 25% of people exploring the full Jeep range.

CCO: Joanna Monteiro

ECD: Vinicius Dalvi

Group CD: Victor Yves

CD: Steve Turnbull

CW: Steve Muzzin

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Billboard Single

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

BRONZE: Out-of-Home, Integrated Campaign

To rekindle the affection people have for its Cheestring, Lactalis’ Black Diamond created “For Trade: One Cheestring.” The campaign, by Broken Heart Love Affair, featured a classified ad on a giant billboard in Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square looking to trade a single Cheestring and featuring a name and phone number to call. More than 1,000 offers were made, including a baby hamster, a yacht and a dinner with someone’s mom. The campaign got people and media talking, and garnered more than 245 million earned media impressions.

CDs: Jordan Hamer, Spencer Ryan

CW: Jordan Hamer

AD: Spencer Ryan

SVP Strategy: Kristy Pleckaitis

SILVER: Out-of-Home, Billboard Single

Corona repurposed the concept of the sundial for its “Sun Dial Billboard” campaign, by Anomaly. The billboard featured the classic backdrop of an empty sandy beach and lapping clear blue water, with a Corona bottle taking pride of place. Affixed to the top of the billboard was a stick that juts out, an image of a sliced lime at the end of it – acting as the sundial. As the sun moved across the sky, the shadow of the lime eventually reached the mouth of the bottle. The message is spelled out in text: “When Bottle Meets Lime. Corona Time.”

ECD: Dave Douglass

CD: Neil Blewett

AD: John Ricciardella

Design Director: Shawn Lambino

CW: Dylan Verwey

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

GOLD: PR, Influencer/Talent Marketing

GOLD: PR, Integrated Campaign Led by PR

CCO: Aaron Starkman

CSO: Sean McDonald

CDs: Robbie Percy, Caroline Friesen

Director of Broadcast Production: Steph Walker-Wells

In response to the unprecedented rise in book banning in the U.S., Penguin Random House, the world’s largest English-language book publisher, launched “The Unburnable Book.” The campaign, by Rethink, featured the creation of a single fireproof edition of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, one of the most banned books of all time. A video featured the author herself attempting to burn her own book with a flamethrower – to no avail. The book launched on social channels and at the PEN America Literary Gala in New York. The campaign gained global attention, 12 billion impressions and $35 million in earned media – all with no media spend. The book was auctioned at Sotheby’s New York for $130,000 USD, with all proceeds going to PEN America, which promotes freedom of expression.

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Transit Campaign

SILVER: Out-of-Home, Billboard Campaign

BRONZE: Out-of-Home, Billboard Single “Tarbäk”

With July 1st a common moving day in Quebec, IKEA’s “Swearnitures” campaign capitalized on the fact that IKEA product names bear similar phonetics to swear words. The campaign, by Rethink, replaced common curse words typically uttered in tense moving situations with products that solve the problem. The 360 campaign used billboards, radio, banners and social media. There was a 1,436% increase in social media engagement and IKEA experienced a 36% increase on year-over-year sales.

CCO: Aaron Starkman

CSO: Sean McDonald

ECD: Xavier Blais

ADs: Steve Pepin, Preto Murara

CWs: Geneviève Jannelle, Aman Soin

GOLD: Out-of-Home, Transit Single SILVER: Out-of-Home, Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

To generate buzz around its new French Toast Sticks, Wendy’s enlisted McCann to convey how awkward French toast could be to eat on the go in its original form. The “French Toast Guy” campaign planted a man on the subway to eat French toast – complete with table, white tablecloth, bib, maple syrup, utensils and a bell. The mystery man befuddled commuters and generated intrigue across social media via #FrenchToastMan. Just as the build-up peaked, Wendy’s sent the man out to eat on the subway again – this time with its new, more portable breakfast offering. The campaign earned 25.6 million impressions in the first week and reached 243 million people. Wendy’s breakfast sales increased by 30%, driven largely by on-the-go, in-app orders increasing by 74.8%.

CCO: Josh Stein

CDs: Amy O’Neill, Bill Schaefer

AD: Menna Toeima

CWs: Elfreda Tetteh, Ethan MacDonald

Unilever

When top Canadian news anchor Lisa LaFlamme was fired, it took less than 48 hours for Unilever’s Dove to launch its “#KeepTheGrey” social campaign to battle the discrimination women face for showing their grey hair. As a key part of the campaign, by Edelman, Dove turned its iconic gold logo grey and recruited influencers and brands to join them in taking a stand and turn their profile pictures grey too. Dove also donated $100,000 to Catalyst, a Canadian nonprofit working to advance women in the workplace, and worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission to protect grey-haired women from ageism and sexism. The campaign trended on Twitter, and garnered more than 674 earned stories globally and over one billion earned impressions. Dove became the firstever beauty and CPG brand to be offered a seat on the Ontario Human Rights Commission board.

LG2

As part of its “Unbeatable Sponsorship” campaign, Maxi, a Quebecbased discount grocery store sought to highlight its local product offering by sponsoring local tennis favourite Félix Auger-Aliassime, ranked #1 in Canada and #9 in the world. There was one caveat. The deal was only valid if he remained undefeated. The sponsorship reflecting the grocer’s steadfast commitment to its “Unbeatable, period.” pricing policy lasted one game, but the campaign by LG2 had legs. Ads featured Maxi’s spokesperson, a comedian, with AugerAliassime at a news conference announcing the terms of the unique sponsorship, and at a presser announcing the end of it, and the news was picked up by all of Quebec’s major media. Ultimately it attracted attention to Maxi during the National Bank Open in Montreal, which was played at a stadium that bears the name of a Maxi competitor, and engagement rates were all higher than benchmarks.

CCOs: Marc Fortin, Luc Du Sault

ECD: François Sauvé

CD: Frédéric Tremblay

CW: Guillaume Bergeron

Metrolinx partnered with British trainspotter and TikTok influencer Francis Bourgeois to create “Train Spotting,” a campaign by Rethink that would get young Ontarians excited about transit and boost ridership. Shot in his own style and format, Bourgeois’ videos showcased the joys of riding GO Transit and UP Express to his 2.6 million followers. The PR strategy harnessed traditional media channels to amplify Francis’ content across the rest of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, and the use of TikTok ignited a flurry of reposts, shares, duets and stitched videos. The campaign achieved 14.6 million impressions, 6.5 million TikTok views, and 953,000 combined likes on TikTok and Instagram. Average discretionary ridership reached 94% of pre-pandemic levels and exceeded 2019 numbers.

SILVER: Self-Promotion theVanity

CCO: Aaron Starkman

CSO: Sean McDonald

ECD: Mike Dubrick

CDs: Loretta Lau, Arjang Esfandiyari

AD: Amber Arezes

TheVanity, a boutique special VFX house, developed “Monster Mayhem” to goodnaturedly showcase its skills. The film is an action thriller, featuring combatants under attack. They work together to fire a rocket at a giant monster in the distance but after it lands, a series of brightly-coloured balloons are slowly released in the air. They take aim again. This time, a giant donut rolls out - and past the monster. Confused, they curse. Then realize: “It’s the visual effects team. They’re trying to show off their f*cking skills.” Their last attempt to shoot the rocket yields a promising-looking robot, but the monster simply steps on it and crushes it, leaving them to curse again at the visual effects team.

VFX Supervisor: Naveen Srivastava

CG Artist: Joaquin Manay

Producer: Kari Hollend

AD: Jeff Cheung

BRONZE: Self-Promotion

Zulu Alpha Kilo

Zulu Alpha Kilo

With its “Left-Handed Mango Chutney” video, Zulu Alpha Kilo pokes fun at advertising awards, advocating for awards to go to work that audiences love. The point is made via a dinner party vignette where a man who works in advertising tries to explain what a case study is and to convey the success of the left-handed mango chutney campaign he worked on to non-ad people – who all struggle to understand its significance. Another guest pipes up that she, too, works in advertising. “I wrote the beer ad where the horse farts,” she explains – an ad everyone immediately recognizes because it went viral. The guests mimic the fart noises, eliciting laughter from everyone except the Grand Prix-winning left-handed mango chutney creator.

ACD/CW:

ACD/AD:

Film,

Toys‘R’Us Canada launched its first brand platform, “Imagination Included,” to distinguish it from giants such as Amazon and Walmart, and to resurrect the makebelieve world missing from the childhood of today’s kids. The campaign, by Broken Heart Love Affair, included a 60-second spot featuring a boy’s imaginary friend, Mr. Ferguson, who is brought back to life by a team of “playamedics” using toys. The spot ran in different lengths across online video, cinema, social and out-of-home.

CCOs: Craig Mcintosh, Jaimes Zentil

CSOs: Kristy Pleckaitis, Jay Chaney

AD: Jaimes Zentil

CW: Craig McIntosh

BRONZE: Film, TV Single – 30s & Under

With inflation affecting everyone’s lives, Pizza Pizza’s “Canada is Locking In” campaign aimed to provide a bright spot for consumers by maintaining the current price of its extralarge, four-topping pizza. The film, by Zulu Alpha Kilo, was a play on commercials touting fixed rates and poked fun at insurance ads. The film featured people of different ages and stages expressing their contentment with “fixed-rate pizza,” where the price of pizza wouldn’t change and where “medical exams” weren’t needed.

BRONZE: Film, TV Single – 30s & Under New

LG2

For New Look’s “Spaghetti Western” campaign by LG2, the classic Westernmovie stand-off is re-enacted in a modern, parking garage setting. Two men approach each other from opposite sides of the garage before stopping some distance away from each other. Close-up shots show them glaring – squinting? – at each other, to the sound of familiar Western stand-off music. It’s a tense moment. But instead of whipping out guns from their pants, they each don a pair of glasses, immediately recognize each other and laugh.

CCOs: Marc Fortin, Luc Du Sault

ECD: Nick Paget

CD: Geneviève Langlois

ADs: Maxime Jenniss, Philippe Leduc

CWs: Martin Charron, Philippe Coulombe

BRONZE: Film, TV Campaign – 15s & Under

Kruger Products’ Cashmere UltraLuxe developed “Sounds of Softness” to convey the allure of its toilet paper. Created by Broken Heart Love Affair, the series of 15-second spots feature the same visual: a toilet paper roll placed on a custom, branded turntable, playing as though it is a record. The only difference in each spot is the tune: each a familiar pop love song. And the same line appears at the end: “Softer than a love song.”

CCOs: Craig McIntosh, Jaimes Zentil

CSO: Jay Chaney

AD: Jaimes Zentil

CW: Craig McIntosh

FILM, TV CAMPAIGN – LONG-FORM

BRONZE: Film, TV Campaign – Long-Form

ECD: Alex Bernier

CDs: David Lambert, Julie Desrochers

ADs: Francis Lévesque, Audrey-Claude Roy

CWs: Quentin Fachon, Krissi Campbell

Designers: Etienne Roy-Martel, Cecile Tousignant

IGA (Sobeys) created “The Meatloaf” for its annual holiday campaign. The animated film, by Sid Lee, evoked the warmth of the season by showing a family’s humorous attempts over the years to covertly feed the family dog the meatloaf a beloved aunt always brings. After the aunt passes, the family recreates the meatloaf – out of love for her and the tradition - only to discover that the aunt knew all along they were pretending to eat her food, and was grateful for their love in doing so.

SILVER: Press, Newspaper Single BRONZE: Best in Direct

LG2

Exceldor Farms created “Check Mark CV” to address the global labour shortage and streamline the hiring process for both applicants and employers. Developed by LG2, a simple resume was printed in local newspapers, requiring only the applicant’s name and two boxes to check. Once filled out, applicants could take a picture of the resume on their phones, and send it to the company via text message – a process that only took a few seconds. Exceldor Farms saw visits to the Career section of the company website increase by 75% and a 400% increase in CVs from the year prior. It hired 203 employees within two weeks.

AD:

CW: Félix-Antoine Belleville

When Upside Foods, the world’s first cultivated meat company, received the Food and Drug Administration’s “No Questions Letter,” it needed to let consumers know that its chicken product was close to being available. “Open Letter to Chickens,” by Rethink, featured a full-page ad published in the New York Times written entirely in chicken language. With public awareness of cultivated meat virtually non-existent, a QR code took users to a microsite hosting an English version in identical formatting, explaining cultivated meat, the FDA approval process and celebrating the company’s feat of getting approved. To draw attention to the print ad, it coordinated with the company’s most notable investor, Sir Richard Branson, to post a video on his social feed encouraging people to pick up a copy of the newspaper. The print activation generated nearly 1,100% higher web traffic than its average and 7,300% more newsletter subscribers than all other channels combined.

CCOs: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick

CSO: Sean McDonald

CD: Noreel Asuro

AD: Matt Dunn

CW: Justin Santelli

BRONZE: Press, Newspaper Single

Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering is the world’s biggest collectable card game, with more than 40 million players. To drum up interest in the latest release, the brand let fans know that Magic was retiring one of its most legendary characters, Jaya Ballard, on the game’s 30th anniversary. To give the character its proper due, Publicis created the “Jaya Ballard Obituary” and published it in The Seattle Times. A couple of days passed, without anyone noticing. But when a Reddit user posted the obituary, fans flocked to the online memorial that was created and to the platform where they could purchase her final drop of cards. Pre-order sales went up 112%, the best-selling card collection in five years, and the campaign yielded a 2.4 million reach from 118 countries. With a mere $497 spend, it became the most successful Magic print campaign in history.

CCO: Joanna Monteiro

ECD: Vini Dalvi

CD: Helder De Freitas

AD: Paul Broughan

CW: Elliot Lewis