The association representing Canada’s number crunchers is launching the third phase of its “blue box” advertising campaign to highlight the broad skills of the profession.
The latest campaign from Canada’s Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) is built around a jigsaw puzzle theme, with individual pieces bringing together words such as “finance,” “innovation,” “management” and “strategy.”
“It shows that CPAs are looking at the bigger picture and helping organizations of all sizes and sectors achieve their goals,” said Heather Whyte, CPA Canada’s vice-president of strategic communications, branding and public affairs. “It’s the concept of bringing together these attributes to help businesses grow.”
The campaign, developed by CPA Canada in partnership with Montreal-based advertising agency Reservoir, runs to December 21 and then again from January 11 to the end of March 2016. It will cover print, television, digital and out-of-home advertising, including at various airports across the country.
There’s also a TV commercial set to air on Sept. 21, which connects past and present campaigns including an execution from earlier in the year that played on the word “pro” from professional. That campaign included billboards and posters with missing letters in words such as “_ _ _ ductivity,” “_ _ _ itable” and “_ _ _ gress.” Beneath each headline was the teaser “Need a pro?” The goal was to highlight what potential clients are missing without a CPA.
Last fall, the CPA also put up some light-hearted billboards with a bit of accounting humour such as, “Pros do crunches for fun,” and “Pros make both dollars and sense.”
Whyte said the latest campaign is a “natural evolution” of the other creative concepts that helped to launch the new Canadian CPA profession in 2013. “It has strengthened awareness of the value of the designation and the profession during the first two waves of the annual ad campaign,” Whyte said.
The CPA was formed by a merger of the country’s major accounting organizations; the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA Canada), and CMA Canada, which oversees the CMA designation. The CPA also launched a new trade publication, CPA Magazine, last year.
