Five Canadian agencies take home awards
A widely-lauded mobile app to help sick children record their pain has clinched a prestigious honour at an international marketing award, which named it the ‘Best of the Best’ in the world.
“Pain Squad,” from Toronto marketing agency Cundari and the Hospital for Sick Children, was the big winner at the 28th Marketing Agencies Association (MAA) Worldwide Globe Awards.
The unique project (which earned high honours previously in Canada and at the Cannes Lions) taps into children’s love of gaming and manages to bring fun to the concept of tracking pain for young cancer sufferers.
The results are unprecedented – since Pain Squad’s launch, compliance rates for pain journals have been more than 90%.
The app works by alerting kids twice a day to complete their pain report. With a flick of the finger, kids identify exactly where on their body it hurts and how bad the pain is. After completing three reports in a row, ‘recruits’ received a video message informing them they are moving up the ranks, incentivizing further participation.
The app contains video content featuring the cast of TV police dramas Flashpoint and Rookie Blue. Once a child completes their last pain report, a final video informs them they are being retired from the field.
As a result of its success, Pain Squad is now set to roll out to four other pediatric facilities in Canada. Apple has also approached Cundari to make Pain Squad available globally.
The app was also the only campaign to win more than three awards at the MAAs, winning golds in Best Trial and Awareness and Best Experiential Marketing, and a silver in Best Cause Marketing.
Cundari’s other Globe awards include three golds for work on BMW’s art auction and 1M launch programs.
The other Canadian agencies that won Globe awards are Cossette, Tribal Worldwide, MacLaren McCann and The Hive.
Cossette won four silver awards, which included two for Amnesty International’s “Sharpen Your Pencil” campaign in the “Best Small Budget” and “Best Fully Integrated” categories, one for Chevrolet’s “Bond Trails” campaign in the “Best Consumer Durables – Auto, Appliances, Home Electronics” category, and one for the Royal Canadian Mint’s “CFL Grey Cup” campaign in the “Best Financial and Professional Services” category.
Tribal Worldwide won one gold and one Bronze for Canadian Tire’s “The Canadian Way digital catalogue” in the “Best Retail – Traditional Retailers, e-commerce, catalogue, Bars & Restaurants” and “Best Digital Marketing” categories, respectively; and one bronze for Canadian Tire’s “One Yard, Hundreds of Possibilities” campaign in the “Best Retail – Traditional Retailers, e-commerce, catalogue, Bars & Restaurants” category.
MacLaren McCann won a gold for MasterCard’s “Stylicity” program in the “Best Financial and Professional Services” category.
The Hive won a silver for Kraft Canada’s “Maynards Granny Smith launch” campaign in the “Best Consumer Products – Food” category.
More than 120 judges from 15 countries reviewed over 300 campaigns from 25 countries in their search for winners.
Entrants must win at an MAA-qualified awards program in their own country before being considered in the competition.
