Leo Burnett won Marketing Awards, D&AD Pencils, Canada’s first Titanium Lion and even an Emmy for Always’ “Like A Girl” campaign this year. The Emmy could have marked a great end for a great idea, but it’s just the half-way mark for a campaign that has only deepened its message of female empowerment.
Its second phase, “#Unstoppable,” shows girls destroying the words that limit them to the tune of more than 19 million views and 1.6 billion global impressions. It’s another win on Leo Burnett’s record of producing socially relevant marketing that gets noticed.
While many communicators are jumping on the “authenticity” bandwagon, Leo’s 200-person Toronto office has successfully created cause-centred work across its entire client portfolio. It was the brains behind this summer’s “#WhoWillYouHelp” for the Ontario Women’s Directorate (which contributed to a Marketer of the Year shortlist nod for the Ontario Government).
And when Kellogg’s realized Special K was seen as a product to help women get skinny at a time when they’d rather get strong, Leo Burnett created “#OwnIt,” a multi-platform campaign launched with messages of confidence such as “My belly is from the kids. My booty is from the gym.”
The launch spot garnered more than 400,000 views on YouTube in its first week and Kellogg’s call centre was flooded with messages praising the ads.
Arguably, one of the agency’s biggest challenges is applying its skills to Enbridge, one of the energy concerns at the heart of Canada’s environmental debate. As before, the agency is taking the emotional route to tell the Enbridge story through it’s through its “Life Takes Energy” platform and the campaign has gained traction within the organization and with consumers.
The oil-and-gas sector makes for tough clients, but initial results have been positive.
