The creative team at Grip Ltd. has won a trip to Cannes after beating out six other teams in this year’s Microsoft Challenge, an intense 24-hour pitch competition conducted live at the DX3 conference in Toronto.
Grip's winning team
This year’s brief was a promotion for Kids Help Phone, which offers counselling services to children and youth. The competition was judged on Thursday afternoon and carried a commitment by Microsoft Advertising to a minimum of $100,000 in ad spending support on a campaign to run this year.
Grip was represented by Colin Craig (associate partner, creative); Trevor Gourley, (copywriter); Julia Morra, (art director); and Patrick Tomasso (associate director, creative content). Other participating agencies were Y&R, One Method, JWT, John St., The Hive and BBDO Toronto. The latter won the inaugural Microsoft Challenge last year with its Moustache Police campaign for Movember Canada.
This year’s brief focused on the need to fund more counseling resources at Kids Help Phone and included a requirement to tap into advertising formats on Microsoft’s various platforms– including Xbox, Windows, Skype and MSN.
Grip’s winning campaign – “We Hear What You Don’t” – played on the need to support the non-profit to be able to be there to listen to the whole story from kids who have trouble opening up with parents or teachers.
“We’re thrilled with the creativity, thought and effort that all participating agencies put into their campaigns and look forward to working with Grip to bring their winning campaign to market, ” said Sharon Wood, president and CEO, Kids Help Phone.
Wood sat on the five-member judging panel, which also included Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image; Hilton Barbour, self-styled marketing provocateur; Cheri Chevalier, CMO at Microsoft Canada; and your correspondent, David Thomas, editor-in-chief at Marketing.
