A fresh crop of young Canadian advertising talent is set to make the trip across the pond to participate in the International Young Lions Competition at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June. Sponsored by the Globe and Mail, the Canadian round simulates the conditions at the international contest, giving the teams the experience needed to compete at Cannes.
Out of 152 entrants aged 28 or younger – up from 95 last year – one winning two-person team in each of the four categories – print, film, cyber and media – was selected to represent Canada in France. The teams were given 24 to 72 hours (depending on category) to come up with an execution based on a supplied brief. This year it was for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries around the world.
Here are the winners, by category:
Media: Sarah Fitzgerald, media planner, and Beverley Gallant, art director, Cossette Atlantic
Film: Chris Booth, copywriter, and Joel Pylypiw, art director, DDB Canada
Print: Jon Murray, copywriter, TBWA Vancouver, and Simon Bruyn, copywriter, Rethink
Cyber: Todd Takahashi, art director, and Jeff Greenberg, Flash developer, Burnkit Creative
The media teams had 24 hours in which to complete an innovative media strategy. The winning duo developed a solution using print ads, direct mail, search, online display ads and an innovative OOH component to connect emotionally and intelligently with adults 35 to 54 years old, with annual household incomes of over $60,000, inspiring them to donate despite economic conditions.
The print portion included a newspaper and magazine execution. The newspaper ad instructed readers to fold the paper at a certain point, which changed the message from ‘Families Without Medicine’ to ‘Families With Medicine,’ connecting to the concept that even a small action can make a change. Two bandages covering the ‘out’ in ‘without’ similarly change the message in a magazine ad.
Rolled up bandages with the words ‘help us’ on them were sent out as part of the direct mail component. The SEM campaign used words that related to the target rather than charities with sponsored links, a bandage-themed leaderboard and big box ad, which interact using a voken (virtual token) and connect to the print messaging. Rounding out the media solution, the OOH effort relied on the target’s tendency to travel, transforming barrier lines at airport check-ins into bandages with related messaging.
Lauren Richards, CEO of Starcom MediaVest, presided over the judging panel for the media category, which included Tim Beach, Cossette Media; Caroline Breton, M2 Universal; Eric Kuiper, MBS; Tim Hughes, Mindshare; Michelle Hohs, PHD; Laura Gaggi, Gaggi Media; Frederic Rondeau, Bos; Karine Courtemarche, Touché PHD; and Rick Sanderson, OMD Vancouver.
The cyber, film and print categories jury was headed by strategy executive editor Mary Maddever and included Monique Gamache, Wax Partnership; Martin Gauthier, Sid Lee; Shawn King, Extreme Group; Mike Meadus, MacLaren McCann; Gaetan Namouric, Bleublancrouge; Rose Sauquillo, Taxi; Rob Tarry, Rethink; and Elizabeth Yanitsky, Fjord Interactive.
To view winning entries from the Globe and Mail Young Lions Competition, visit Globelink.ca/younglions.
