DDB Canada and OMD Canada will continue to be aligned with Canadian Blood Services (CBS) through 2012.

Both agencies struck a three-year deal with the national non-profit charity to provide their respective services: DDB signing on for strategic advertising and OMD will plan and place CBS advertising.

CBS is also hoping DDB and OMD will help expand and diversify the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network.

‘As committed strategic partners, [DDB and OMD] have demonstrated their commitment to our cause and are prepared to invest heavily in the creative process to develop ground-breaking ideas for donor recruitment, enhance our strategic platform and support a long-term recruitment strategy,’ said CBS COO Ian Mumford in a statement.

CBS marketing director Jeff Moat tells MiC that DDB was chosen for its track record, ‘creative report card, strategic thinking and the value add they’ve brought to the business.’

‘We have access not only to DDB’s Toronto team, but their entire creative and thought process, and that was very important to us,’ says Moat.

Moat also praised OMD for their ‘incredible’ value add, and said they were best positioned to continue to handle CBS’s average yearly $2.3 million media buy.

‘We thought it was best that they continue on that tangent and deliver incredible value for the money we invest in Canadian media,’ says CBS’s Moat.

Both DDB and OMD have been CBS strategic partners since 2006, although the renewal route for 2010-2012 was decided by a RFP that attracted 16 responses and a shortlist of six potential agencies.