A number of Canadian agencies won medals at the 2014 OBIE Awards Tuesday night.
BBDO Toronto was the big Canadian winner at the event that honours “creative excellence” in out-of-home advertising. The agency won a gold in the International category for its work on Newcastle beer’s “No Bollocks” campaign.
“This campaign is an example of excellence in OOH creativity and design,” said Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer at the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which organizes the awards. “Using simple imagery and candid humor, Newcastle was able to entertain and connect with targeted audiences.”
Perhaps in keeping with the straightforward, no-frills approach of the campaign, the agency’s acceptance video was notably low-tech.
BBDO also won two International-category silvers for “Arctic Fire,” an ad for GE’s Café refrigerator, and the “Smart for Two Popsicles” work for the Smart auto brand.
Zulu Alpha Kilo was another multiple-medal winner, earning an International gold for its work with Courage Canada, an organization that gets the blind involved with hockey, as well as a silver for” World Creativity and Innovation Week Calendar Posters.”
Leo Burnett rounds out the Canadian-based gold winners with its IKEA “There’s a page for that” billboards.
“This billboard campaign is the perfect example of how an advertiser can use OOH to engage and relate to consumers while building brand awareness,” Freitas said, in a release.
A few U.S. campaigns created by Canadian-born agencies also chalked up impressive wins. Juniper Park won Food & Beverage gold for work it did with Tropicana in New York (Juniper Park’s Canadian team also earned a silver for Adanac Glass’ “Shatterproof”).
Finally, Taxi earned a public service silver for its work on “United 4th,” which put lyrics from the American national anthem on billboards across major U.S. cities.
Clear Channel’s United 4th Case Study Video
