A NOTE FROM THE PUBLIC SERVICE CO-CHAIRS

While there’s no shortage of societal problems that need fixing, there’s also no shortage of people in this industry with the talent and willpower to do something about it – this was abundantly clear from the calibre and quantity of public service work that was recognized this year. From “sticking it to the man” to ingenious hijackings, hacks and stunts, the public service category was filled with irreverence, disruption and ground-breaking work that moves society forward. Our jurors tended to favour work that ignited real change by inviting people to be part of the solution. And they generously awarded everything from monumental efforts to beautifully simple but brilliant ideas. With inflation at an all-time high, and charitable donations at an alltime low, not-for-profits have never needed our industry’s generosity more. Even amid a year full of budget cuts and uncertainty, we managed to answer their needs in the most remarkable and impactful ways. We all know full well that this sector includes a lot of “non-billable” work that often happens outside of normal business hours, with minimal dollars and resourcing. These are labours of love – the kind that need to be celebrated. We wish this work all the best on the international stage. And we hope it inspires individuals, agencies, production partners and clients everywhere to keep doing the kind of work that brings meaningful change to communities across Canada.

BEST OF SHOW

GOLD: Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

GOLD: Online

To make the world grasp the scale and gravity of the online spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the Canadian Centre for Child Protection reframed the issue and created the “Unwanted Followers Film Festival.” In 2021, 85 million suspected pieces of CSAM were found online; last year, it grew at a rate of one film or image being uploaded every two seconds. The campaign, by No Fixed Address, used AI to generate online film posters in real time at the same rate, with the chilling movie titles – such as “Nowhere to Run” and “Living in Fear” – translated into the six languages most spoken around the world. The campaign also included a physical immersive installation in New York and an online petition, demanding action from tech companies and governments around the world. It was billed as “the world’s largest film festival hiding in plain sight.”

CCOs: Alexis Bronstoph, Kelsey Horne

VP/Group CD: Rena Hula

Designers: Feilin Fu, Luciana Trespalacios, Valentina Gutierrez

GOLD: Campaign Led by PR

GOLD: Integrated Campaign

GOLD: Online

Elimin8Hate’s “ReclaimYourName.dic” aims to normalize Asian names and combat name discrimination. With Citizen Relations, the organization developed the custom dictionary of Asian names in the form of a free .dic file in Microsoft Word that contained more than 8,000 unique monikers from over a dozen countries – in order to eliminate the red line that appears under Asian names. The campaign was amplified through a mix of paid and earned tactics including OOH ads in Toronto and Vancouver, strategic media relations and seeding personalized campaign t-shirts to influential Asian Canadians, including Star Trek actor Hiro Kanagawa, TikTok star Tiana Shern and Top Chef Canada host Mijune Pak. Media attention and public support generated 91 million impressions with 137 pieces of traditional coverage and 71 pieces of social media coverage. Microsoft is exploring opportunities to implement it into its English dictionary.

CCO: Josh Budd

CD/AD: Mike Lo Nam

Writer: Abeer Verma

Strategy: Lindsay Page

BRONZE: Campaign Led By PR

BRONZE: Influencer/Talent Marketing

The Terry Fox Foundation

To engage younger Canadians to raise money for cancer, The Terry Fox Foundation launched “I’m Not a Quitter,” by No Fixed Address. The Foundation partnered with artist Douglas Coupland to modernize its brand and the design of its annual Terry Fox Run t-shirt. Canadian celebrities were encouraged to send the Foundation a photo of them wearing the t-shirt, which became the cornerstone of the campaign. More than 25 celebrities – including Michael Bublé, Alessia Cara and Sidney Crosby – did so at no cost. The shirt was also sent to fashion, lifestyle and fitness influencers, and outreach was made to fashion and celebrity magazines. All this, while Terry’s brother, Fred, did a national media tour. In ten days, the shirts generated the highest revenue for the Foundation, exclusive of the Run or large gift. Online fundraising increased by 126% and total revenue by 720% over 2021, going on to sell over 67,000 shirts in total. And 85% of shirt purchasers had never previously supported the foundation.

CCOs: Dave Federico, Kelsey Horne, Alexis Bronstorph

ADs: Randelle Pogue, Raine Calucag

CW: Hayley McOstrich

VP PR: Erin Banting

GOLD: Community Building

SILVER: Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

Forsman & Bodenfors

The Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto (NWRCT) created a hefty newspaper of 4,000 cover stories to highlight the dearth of media coverage and convey the injustice behind the country’s 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The newspaper weighed 25 pounds and measured eight and a half inches thick. The campaign, by Forsman & Bodenfors, featured a pop-up newsstand, a mass installation of “missing” posters at Queen’s Park and a newspaper that was hand-delivered to the Prime Minister’s office in Ottawa. On the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the NWRCT held a vigil for the community, with the newspaper and “missing” posters on display for attendees to memorialize those who were lost.

Heads of Creative: Glen D’Souza, Matt Hassell

AD: Alexandra McGuirk-Penedo

CW: Darby Clarke

Creatives: Morgan Wroot, Seumas Slingerland, Chantal Lamont, Michael Liao

Head of Strategy: Andrew Carty

GOLD: Community Building

GOLD: Influencer/Talent Marketing

In a bold and deceptively simple move designed to address systemic gender inequity in sports and beyond, the YWCA developed a campaign that added an “M” to existing logos of men’s sports leagues to match the “W” added to logos to indicate women’s sports. “Add the M,” by Rethink, was launched on YWCA social channels with a video featuring gender equity activists, and was amplified by professional athletes and sports media companies - Christine Sinclair, Andre De Grasse, Donnovan Bennett and Tara Slone among them. Free downloadable logos and Instagram stickers made it easy for people to participate and add the M to their own league’s logos. Over 170 publications covered the story, achieving a total overall reach of over 102 million impressions. The campaign also achieved an earned media value of 46,000% above the investment.

CCO: Aaron Starkman

ECD: Mike Dubrick

Head of Art: Joel Holtby

CD: Leia Rogers

ACD/AD: Skye Deluz, Hayley Hinkley

ACD/CW: Jacquelyn Parent

The Jane/Finch Community Centre’s “Bill It to Bezos” campaign, by Angry Butterfly, found a unique way to raise funds on Twitch – by exploiting a free benefit offered only to Amazon Prime subscribers. The insights: Twitch streamers rely on subscriptions to make money; Twitch is owned by Amazon; every month, Amazon gives their Prime members a free $3.50, which members can then pass on directly to verified Twitch streamers by subscribing to their channel. So, the community centre became a Twitch streamer. This allowed Prime users who subscribed to the centre’s Twitch account to donate that free $3.50 – essentially raising funds provided by Amazon. Six thousand people ‘billed it to Bezos,’ and the centre raised more in five days than the past three years combined. In all, 45% of donations came through Twitch.

GOLD: Out-of-Home Campaign

“La Presse Explains It All” was an OOH campaign that drew inspiration from the fact that people read the news anywhere and anytime, often getting their information piecemeal. The campaign for La Presse, by Cossette, featured the digital newspaper’s daily headlines followed by a colon – signalling an explanation that was to come. The La Presse logo was embedded in the top part of the colon, while a QR code was incorporated into the bottom. The code directed readers to the relevant article associated with the headline, while different posters were strategically placed in areas that contextualized the subject. Roe vs. Wade, for example, was placed by the Montreal Courthouse. Digital signage was leveraged to quickly create pieces to explain the latest news stories.

ECD: Anne-Claude Chénier

CD: Mélanie Delisle

AD: Marc-Antoine Vallée

CW: Raphaël Côté

Strategy: Florence Girod, Jean-Claude Kikongi

SILVER: Branded Content

SILVER: Health & Wellness, Education & Advocacy

BRONZE: Online Film Single

Casey House’s #SmashStigma campaign highlights the devastating effects of HIV stigma. “Others,” by Bensimon Byrne / Narrative, is a 20-minute horror film based on the fears and lived experiences of six people with HIV, and follows a male character during and after a nature excursion. This was the first time a professional actor living with HIV was intentionally cast to play an HIV-positive lead protagonist. After the film, viewers watched a short documentary of the six people speaking about life as an “Other.” The film debuted in an abandoned amusement park to make viewers feel the fear themselves, before being made available on Casey House’s website and social media.

CCO: Joseph Bonnici

CDs: David Mueller, Gints Bruveris

ADs: Gints Bruveris, Amy Fernandes

CWs: David Mueller, Sam Ramsey

BRONZE: Branded Content

BRONZE: Health & Wellness, Education & Advocacy

LG2

To raise awareness and funds to support families of premature babies, Préma-Québec created “The 1.8 Pound Book” with LG2. The weight of the illustrated book of children’s stories reflected the weight of an average very premature baby, with special attention paid to details of the book production: the format and number of pages, the humidity of the paper and the ink used in the printing process. The book’s dust jacket resembles a newborn swaddled in a blanket. The four short stories, written and illustrated by renowned Quebec authors and illustrators, depict the realities of tiny beings arriving too soon. A video was made of one of the authors reading her story in a neonatal ward. Mimicking a preemie, the book itself was released one month early on World Prematurity Day and was supported by a launch video featuring a 1.8-pound baby on a scale. The campaign included community outreach and online advertising, and engaged key influencers, including Quebec’s Premier François Legault, to support the cause.

CCOs: Marc Fortin, Luc Du Sault

CDs: Frédéric Tremblay, Geneviève Langlois, Élise Cropsal CWs: Guillaume Bergeron, Jean-Christophe Diaque, Marie-Ève Leclerc-Dion

SILVER:

SILVER: Online

BRONZE: Community Building

BRONZE: Social Media