Sébastien Fauré had a vision: not only for his Montreal advertising agency, BleuBlancRouge, but for his whole industry. This was the year that vision became a reality.
As president of the Association of Quebec Advertising Agencies (AAPQ), Fauré wanted to bring Quebec agencies onto the world stage to halt the decline of revenues in the province caused by globalization. “The idea kept me awake at night,” he says.
Now leaving his position at AAPQ after his two-year mandate, Fauré can safely say his plan (strongly supported by many in the industry) is set in motion.
The association has launched Montreal.ad, a website dedicated to promoting local agencies. The AAPQ also started YUL-Lab, a set of tools and contacts to help foreign advertisers come and test their campaigns in Quebec.
“Without Sébastien, Montreal.ad and YUL-Lab would have never happened,” says Yanik Deschêne, president-general-manager of AAPQ.
Back at his day job, Fauré had his work cut out for him . In January, Bleu-BlancRouge saw two major clients, Videotron and Burger King, leave the agency. But in terms of revenue, the agency managed to fi nish the year on par with last year thanks to a handful of new accounts including Virgin Radio, Québec Ministry of Transport, Sunice, Katimavik and Fujitsu Canada .
The stability in a year of economic crisis comes in part from long relationships built with clients over time. The Quebec Toyota Dealers Association, for example, has been with BleuBlancRouge for two decades . Last year, Toyota had a record 20% sales increase in the province and 2009 should also be an exceptional year, according to Nathalie Aumont, president of the association.
She credits in great part the Eco-savings campaign, which has been running for two years.
BleuBlancRouge also continued to improve its reputation for strong creative for a number of clients. There was another wave of attention-grabbing creative for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s “One Life” campaign launched in 2008 to raise public awareness in both the gay and straight communities about the risks associated with sexual behaviours often mistakenly perceived as safe.
For WWF’s Earth Hour in Quebec, the agency came up with a multifaceted campaign to show that much can be done in the dark. There were fl ash mobs, a concert and even a website that could only be viewed in the dark. BleuBlancRouge ’s media department estimated the campaign earned over 2,188,000 views in print, television and websites.
And for VANOC, BleuBlancRouge worked with its partners to create the bilingual Olympic slogan “With Glowing Hearts. Des plus brillants exploits” and brand positioning for a number of VANOC divisions, including ticketing and merchandising. Within months of the fi rst ads using the new slogan, awareness of the Games was up across Canada, tickets were selling out and by mid-summer merchandise sales were ahead of target.
Bernard Asselin, vice-president marketing and reader sales and services at The Gazette, also points to BleuBlancRouge’s ability to come up with creative ideas to give new breath to his newspaper’s “Words Matter” campaign . Now in its third year, the campaign was adapted for other Canwest papers in June after winning best newspaper advertising campaign at the International Newsmedia Marketing Association Awards in May, beating out the the venerable New York Times. “It’s the Oscars of newspaper advertising,” says Asselin. “Other newspapers like the New York Times have enormous [budget] for their advertising.”
But big names like the NY Times don’t scare Fauré. “In Quebec, we have the talent to compete against anyone, anywhere,” he says.
