James Ready Beer - Share Our Billboard Campaign

What was the most awarded billboard globally? James Ready Beer. Hmmmmmm....

Clue: Created by Leo Burnett Toronto.

Yes, James Ready? The campaign has been winning awards for its innovative outdoor billboard campaign, "SHARE OUR BILLBOARD" for the past year.

So, for those of you not familiar, James Ready is a Ontario micro-brewery and not a person. The brand of beer has been brewed since 1875 by the James Ready Brewing Company of Niagara Falls.
I am crazy with pride seeing this was created by one of my grads Steve Persico and his partner Art Director Anthony Chelvanathan.

This was a truly unique campaign for a small brewery in Ontario that needed to tll their story but had a limited budget. The campaign brought home awards from around the world including a Cannes Gold Lion plus the Andy Awards in New York, where it won two golds. add to that CLIO and One Show honors.

The James Ready Canadian advertising campaign, "SHARE OUR BILLBOARD". made a splash by plastering 106 billboards across southern Ontario, asking people to keep the price of James Ready beer at $1 per bottle by sharing in the cost of the billboard campaign, then the campaign took hold and the awards came rolling in.

The campaign began with a series of classified ads that appeared in local newspapers with a similar message as to the outdoor advertising campaign. People were asked to, “Help us keep James Ready a buck. Share our billboard.” Billboard messages steered people to a website www.jamesready.com where they could post their best offer (no actual cost was accepted) and upload messages and photos to be included in the billboard. The result – on a first-come-first-serve basis, people’s submissions were posted on individual local billboards with a tag line from James Ready Beer thanking them for keeping the price of the beer at $1! The people showcased in the "SHARE OUR BILLBOARD" campaign became local celebrities in their communities, creating further buzz for James Ready beer and prompting many conversations at water coolers and bars in the area!

“It’s always great for our industry in Canada to be recognized on the global stage,” said Leo Burnett’s Canadian president and CEO David Moore. “I’m particularly proud of the simplicity of the idea—no high tech, no special effects, just pure creativity in one of the world’s oldest mediums".

The complete creative team, includes writers Sean Barlow and Steve Persico, and art directors Anthony Chelvanathan, and Paul Giannetta. Judy John and Israel Diaz (now with David and Goliath Toronto) oversaw the work as creative directors.

Breaking the Myth of Soya... The Facts and The Fiction

"Customized" YouTube Channeling is nothing new but here's a bit of a twist. YouTube and Silk Canada launched a new "channel" that will use "deep link annotations" allowing for Questions and Answer videos and redirects like never before.

Silk Canada is helping Canadians sort fact from fiction through a new four-week multi-platform campaign that supports the soy milk beverage brand.

Developed by Leo Burnett and its digital arm Arc, the campaign will have its own "branded" YouTube channel that will ask consumers to “bust” or “believe” various facts like “It takes seven years for gum to work its way through the body.”

On the site there are 10 questions that offer the consumer choices. When the consumers picks “Bust it” there are directed to another video that dispells the myth. “Teachers made this up so we’d spit out our gum,” it reads.

The campaign uses allows users to interact with the content and view different videos while staying within the branded page. This is first time YouTube has offered these annotations anywhere in the world, and are now available to all advertisers, said Bill Tighe, account executive, Google Inc.

“The client is very focused on debunking myths around soy specifically and our objective for the campaign was to do it in a disruptive and highly engaging manner,” said Robin Hassan, director, digital, Starcom MediaVest, the agency responsible for campaign buying and planning.

In addition, the YouTube "SIlk" channel also contains directed links to the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The effort also includes online banners and starting Nov. 16, print ads in Toronto’s Metro containing codes that readers can scan with their cellphones, plus printable coupons are offered when you join the Facebook group.

Currently over 8,000 views have been made.

WTF is in the Water at Seneca. Creative Advertising Greatness.

Hey, what a Friday May 8th turned out to be. One Show winners Aaron Starkman and Steve Persico, and now this.

The National Advertising Awards announced their winners for the Young Creatives Competition sponsored by the National Post and Cannes Canada, and once again the Creative Advertising program at Seneca College will be sending a Grand Prix winner to Cannes in June and compete on the world stage with other young creatives... and that's not the only graduates bring home honors.

This year Dan Bache, Creative Advertising grad from 2005 who is now an Art Director at Taxi Vancouver won a Gold, Bronze and the much coveted Grand Prix. The Grand Prix includes the full-paid trip to Cannes. Along with Dan, past Cannes Young Creatives Grand Prix winner Steve Persico of Leo Burnett Toronto won a Bronze in the Print category and David Pigeon of Due North Communications received a merit in the Integrated category. For the first time one of the programs graduates received a Bronze in the Creative Media competition, Brad Henson of Starcom MediaVest.

Mr. Bache won his bronze was in the category for Out of Home for client Kellogg's, his gold was for a print ad created for Campbell's V8. The winning ad jokingly depicts an adult son and his mother with a recently severed umbilical cord between them claimed the Grand Prix award. The tagline? "Veggies you can get on your own."

Missy Robson, spokeswoman of awards producer and creator Adcam, said the ad for Campbell's Canada "was the clear favorite across all disciplines judged by the creative jury."

Dan Bache is not the first winner in the Cannes Young Creative Competition. We have now had 9 Grand Prix Winners in total over the years. The list include, Chris Taciuk (twice), Aaron Starkman, Michelle Spivak, Matt Bielby (twice), Steve Persico, Cam Boyd, and Chris Joakim.

The National Advertising Awards Competition is North America's only major brief-based advertising awards competition. The National Advertising Awards Competition melds the unleashed creative thinking of Canada's advertising young community with the needs of major clients.

THE MISSION

• Celebrate and reward outstanding advertising creativity
• Deliver fresh ideas to Canada's leading brands

Ian MacKellar, Executive VP and ECD at BBDO Toronto, was this year's Lead Chair. The NAA 2009 judging chairs included: Brett Channer, Chairman and ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi, who chaired the Direct competition; Critical Mass CEO Dianne Wilkins chaired the Interactive; and Cathy Collier, Senior Vice-President and Media Director at Cossette Media, chaired the Media. In addition to his Lead Chair duties Ian MacKellar oversaw the NAA creative categories: Print, Young Creatives, Out-of-Home, Mobile and Integrated.

Congratulation's to all winners and sponsors who took part. Details of the competition can found on the NAA website.



AD: Dan Bache :: TAXI Vancouver
CW: Brian Quittenton :: MacLaren McCann

Canada @ One Show. A Good Showing for Canada. A Great Showing for Seneca.

The 34th Annual One Show announced the winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencils at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center last night.

Proudly, my program at Seneca College sends congratulations out to copywriter alumni Steve Persico, and his partner art director Anthony Chelvanathan, For their work on the James Ready outdoor campaign. They worked along side with another Leo Burnett Toronto team of writer Sean Barlow and art director Paul Giannetta. Judy John and Israel Diaz oversaw the work as creative directors. In addition to Mr. Persico, Seneca Alumni Aaron Starkman also brought home a Silver Pencil for IKEA - Carol's Lowe Voice Radio Spot.

Doug Agency picked up a Silver Pencil for its “Scooter” spot on behalf of the Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival. It was the first Pencil for Ian Schwey, associate creative director at Doug.

“The One Show is one of the most difficult in the world,” said Schwey. “We’re happy to win for something like a film festival, because the judges have been tougher with smaller clients like that in the last three or four years.”

Widely regarded as the advertising industry's equivalent to the Oscars, The One Show honored the year's finest achievements in print, television, radio, outdoor, innovative marketing, integrated branding and branded content.

More than 600 advertising professionals and New York VIPs gathered to celebrate the winners at the gala event produced by The One Club, the world's foremost non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing excellence in advertising and design.

One of the evening's highlights was the presentation of the first-ever Green Pencil Award honoring excellence in the field of environmentally conscious advertising, which was presented by famed hip hop superstar and Hollywood film star Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco for the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bees integrated branding campaign.

Top honors for "Best of Show" went to CumminsNitro/Brisbane for Queensland Tourism "Best Job in the World" integrated branding campaign. The campaign featured a contest where the winner receives $150,000 Australian dollars and a 6 month "job" as an island caretaker overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.

"The One Show has received support from all over the world. This year is truly a showcase of brilliant new ideas and it is inspiring to see so much cause-related advertising," says Mary Warlick, CEO of The One Club.

The top Pencil winners at this year's One Show include:

United States - 8 Gold, 15 Silver, 16 Bronze
Australia - 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
Malaysia - 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Canada - 1 Gold (DDB Vancouver - Midas, Vancouver), 3 Silver (zig - IKEA, Doug - Canadian and Leo Burnett Toronto - James Ready)
United Kingdom - 4 Bronze
Argentina - 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Thailand - 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Brazil - 3 Bronze

A complete list of 2009 One Show Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencil winners and finalist entries (including agency and award title) at oneclub.org.

Doug Agency: “Scooter” Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival



zig: Carol's Low Voice Radio IKEA Canada