Beer Fridge earns the top advertising award in Canada of the year while LG2 brings home the most hardware
Rethink and Molson Coors should treat themselves to an oversized bottle of Molson Canadian. “Beer Fridge,” the branded traveling red appliance that stood in for Canadian-ness on the streets of Europe, on a tropical Indonesian beach and at the Sochi Winter Games, was judged by a jury of creative experts to be the best of the 2014 Marketing Awards.
Jury member Peter Ignazi, senior vice-president and executive creative director at BBDO Toronto, called the Canac spot “one of my favourite ads in the show. Anyone who’s bought an older house has been there. It’s true and hilariously breakthrough and memorable.”
Rounding out LG2/lg2boutique’s haul were an additional nine silver and 11 bronze awards.
McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson and Netflix saw award-winning efforts from agencies DDB Canada and Tribal DDB. Working together, the affiliated shops took home 14 awards, the second-largest tally overall.
Tribal earned a stand-alone gold for McDonald’s Canada’s “Our Chicken. Your Questions” in the Film – Online Campaign category. DDB won four of its own golds in the Film competition: three for Johnson & Johnson’s KY campaign (Television Single: 30 Seconds and Under, Television Campaign: 30 Sec and Under and Television Campaign – Small Budget), and another for Netflix Canada’s “Pep Talk” spot in Television Single: Over 30 Seconds.
Paired, the affiliates garnered another four silvers and five bronzes.
Both the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Wrigley Canada benefitted from strong work from BBDO Canada this year, which was honoured by the jury with five gold trophies. The Ministry’s “Social Smoking” film campaign and its component “Social Farter” spot earned three golds between them in Public Service’s Integrated, Film Single and Film Campaign categories.
“How often do you see a fart joke that’s this smart?” asked Linda Dawe, jury member and senior copywriter at Taxi Canada. “Brilliant piece of work in a category where the knee-jerk instinct is to be deadly serious. [It was a] gold to me at first glance.”
The agency’s work on Wrigley’s “Pyramid Scheme the Rainbow” campaign for Skittles found the top of the podium twice in the Digital group of categories – once in the Online Campaign category, and again in the Best Use of Social Media competition. In total, BBDO earned 12 awards, including six silvers and one bronze.
In what turned out to be a night of many gold trophy presentations, two more agencies racked up medal counts of 10. Zulu Alpha Kilo garnered one gold, three silvers and six bronzes; and Grey Canada found itself with seven golds and three bronzes.
In all, 46 gold, 52 silver and 72 bronze prizes were handed our; 37 agencies went home with awards.
Marketing For Good – Grey Canada’s “It’s Time for Gun Sense”
The jury gave special commendation to Grey Canada’s “It’s Time for Gun Sense” campaign, which advocated for stronger gun control laws in the United States on behalf of the agency’s client, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The work – which contrasted children holding weapons with children holding “banned” items such as dodge balls and the children’s book Little Red Riding Hood – was awarded seven gold medals across various Public Service categories.
“The insight and idea at the centre of this campaign stopped me in my tracks,” Shane Ogilvie, Zulu Alpha Kilo’s executive creative director, told Marketing. “So smart. Then the simple, yet impactful, executions brought it all together in that perfect ‘how the f*** does this even happen in our modern world’ kind of way. I love this work.”
All medal-winning work is profiled in The 2014 Marketing Awards book, available now in print and in an enhanced iPad version early next week.
Bill Moir
ACA Gold Medal – Bill Moir
The evening gala, held in Toronto’s swanky Carlu ballroom, also saw Bill Moir, Tim Horton’s retiring chief brand and marketing officer, accepting the Association of Canadian Advertisers‘ Gold Medal award. First presented in 1941, the ACA presents the award to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of marketing communications in Canada.
“I am delighted to be recognized by the ACA with this prestigious award,” Moir said in a release after learning of the award. “I am honoured to have led the marketing direction of one of Canada’s most beloved brands, and I could not be more proud of the incredible work that my team has done.”
