Few do Christmas cards better than the advertising industry, but Initiative is forgoing the traditional methods of spreading holiday cheer this year in favour of a charitable endeavour.

Starting Dec. 26, the global media agency will launch a multimedia campaign to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Campaign creative will drive people to TheWorldSmiles.org, where visitors are encouraged to share what makes them smile and then donate to the organization.

All media for the campaign is being donated, as is creative services. Global creative was handled by Sajo, Garcia, Alcazar in Puerto Rico while McCann Erickson will be handling global adaptations and translations.

In Canada, media outlets supporting The World Smiles include: Black Press Group, Sun Media and Metroland for print; Captivate, OneStop and Suite 66 for OOH; Corus and Airtime for television; CKRA-FM and CIRK-FM in Edmonton for radio; and AOL, MSN.ca, Suite 66 and Gorilla Nation for online.

‘By working with so many generous media owners and with the help of all of our friends at McCann Erickson, Initiative has been able to channel its creativity and media expertise to help a good cause at a time of year when all of us should all be thinking of others,’ Mauricio Sabogal, worldwide managing director, Initiative, said in a statement.