The campaign to promote Quebec’s 10th annual La grande guignolée des médias, or big food drive, is kicking off next week with TV, radio and print ads across the province.

The centrepiece of the food drive is the media day on Dec. 2, when the staff of all the TV and radio stations and newspapers take to the street to solicit donations and hold contests and auctions to collect money and food for food banks. Throughout the larger campaign, which runs until Dec. 24, a 15-second spot runs on TV in French, another runs on radio in English and French, and print ads run in the province’s newspapers.

For the seventh year in a row, the creative for the campaign was done pro bono by Montreal-based Alfred Communications.

The TV and radio spots feature well-known personalities in Quebec . The ads start with them speaking with voices that aren’t their own. The TV spot has an actor speaking in a child’s voice, then a woman’s voice, explaining in first person why food banks are important to them. The piece ends with the actor speaking in his own voice, asking viewers to give for the sake of everyone who benefits.

Jacques Labelle, GM, Alfred Communications Agency, tells MiC that because of the nature of the campaign, the ads have to stand out in a different way than most.

‘The main idea of the campaign is to make sure everyone knows that during the month there’s a food drive,’ he says. ‘The campaign has to be striking because we don’t have a lot of time to build awareness, and it’s tough to cut through the Christmas commercials, so every year we strive to make a commercial that is striking and that people will notice.’