Telcos reward readers with a laugh

Pay them back. Those three little words sum up the philosophy with respect to newspaper advertising at Cossette Communication-Marketing in Toronto.

If you want your message to be the one that readers remember, out of all the many newspaper ads competing for their attention, then you’ve got to reward them for taking notice, says Jim Garbutt, the agency’s vice-president and creative director.

Consider, for example, some of the recent work that Cossette has done on behalf of telecommunications clients Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company (part of the Aliant group of Atlantic Canadian telcos) and Bell Mobility.

If ever there was a category that called for something a little out of the ordinary, it’s telecommunications – a field crowded with players whose brand positioning and product offerings are, to the average consumer, more or less indistinguishable. How to strike a chord with newspaper readers in this kind of competitive environment?

Well, a paper bag did the trick for MTT.

To promote its new Mpowered PC high-speed Internet service, the company had the bag inserted into Halifax-area newspapers back in October. Copy on the front identified it as an ‘Mpowered PC Hyperventilation Recovery Device,’ and encouraged consumers to bring it along for their own ‘safety’ when they visited the local electronics dealer for a demonstration of the service.

‘It not only communicates the idea in a very interesting way, as a piece that basically falls out of the newspaper,’ Garbutt says. ‘It’s also memorable, and gives something back to the consumer – a smile, and perhaps even a paper bag they can use for their lunch.’

You couldn’t pack a tuna sandwich in the newspaper ads for Bell Mobility’s My Time $35 package, but they too succeeded in getting the message across in an imaginative fashion.

My Time targets young professionals with active lives outside of the office, offering unlimited calling on weekends, plus 150 minutes during the week, for $35 a month. The ads, which ran in the business pages of The Globe and Mail and the National Post in late spring and again during the fall, took the form of mock appointment notices.

Each one in the series featured a head shot of a suit-clad young executive, sporting the headgear associated with his or her weekend hobby – ski goggles, a scuba mask and snorkel, and so on.

‘TL Enterprises is pleased to announce the appointment of John Dunn to the position of Manager Special Operations,’ read one, under the image of a guy in jacket, tie and goalie’s mask. ‘His responsibilities will include managing things – the special things. However, he didn’t want to talk about his new job. All he wanted to talk about was hockey… Talk, talk, talk. That must be why he likes Bell Mobility’s My Time $35…’

The ads – which all concluded with the campaign tagline: ‘Get ready for the weekend’ – drew little attention to themselves. In fact, they didn’t even include the Bell Mobility logo. So when consumers read through the ‘appointment notice’ and discovered that it was actually an advertising message in disguise, they felt rewarded, Garbutt says.

The newspaper advertising was just a small add-on to the overall My Time campaign, which also featured a series of 15-second television spots. But it created a significant buzz, according to Alan Flint, vice-president of marketing communications with BCE Mobile Communications, parent company of Bell Mobility.

‘For a pile of small-space ads, the response blew us out of the water,’ he says. ‘We had comments from customers who said they found it quite amusing and inviting. It had a personality that fit perfectly into where we’re at.’

Flint says it takes real co-operation between agency and client for innovative advertising like this to happen – ‘for the agency to come up with some crazy ideas, and for the client to listen to them.’

When it comes to newspaper advertising, Garbutt says, clients are becoming more cognizant of the need for creative thinking.

It’s a crowded environment, and advertising must work hard – not just to communicate an attractive price point or a persuasive retail message, but to differentiate itself from all that surrounds it.

Solid relationships between advertisers and publishers also help. And to their credit, Flint says, newspapers have become increasingly co-operative, not to mention more proactive about coming forward with original creative ideas.

Also in this report:

– Launch of Post good news for advertisers: Upstart daily has jump-started the industry, prompting offers of better rates, bonus ads and new loyalty programs p.NP3

– Stop the presses: Dailies are changing: No longer acting as simple order-takers p.NP4

– Picture perfect: It’s obvious that visually driven creative works well in newspaper. So why don’t more advertisers use it? NP5

– Savingumoney.com builds awareness offline: Coupon portal uses newspapers as linchpin of media strategy p.NP7

– Cadillac takes the long view: Used frequency of newspaper creatively by telling a different story every week p.NP10

– Edmonton Journal: Time for a change: Daily goes for a facelift p.NP10

– Whistler taps fast turnaround times: Newspaper lets ski resort react quickly to changing circumstances p.NP13

– Talvest co-brands funds with FP Index: Helped Montreal financial services provider to crack Ontario market p.NP14

Cannes Lions 2025: Canadians nab more medals on final festival day

Strategy is on the ground in Cannes, bringing you the latest news, wins and conference highlights all week long. Catch all the coverage here.

Friday’s batch of Silver and Bronze winners included the oldest category at the Cannes festival, Film, as well as Sustainable Development Goals, Dan Wieden Titanium, Glass: The Lion for Change and Grand Prix for Good. Canadians were recognized with four Lions today: two Silver and a Bronze in Film, as well as a Bronze in Sustainable Development Goals.

FCB Toronto was given yet another nod for its work, “The Count,” for SickKids, bringing the medal count for that campaign to four, including a Gold for Health & Wellness. Another Canadian agency recognized on the final day of the festival was Klick Health Toronto, which earned a Silver in Film for its work “Love Captured” for Human Trafficking Awareness and a Bronze for “18 Months” for Second Nurture. And over in Sustainable Development Goals, the Bronze went to Publicis Canada and its “Wildfire Watchtowers” work for Rogers.

Another massive win for Canada included not one, but two Young Lions (pictured above) taking home medals in the annual competition. In Design, the Gold Young Lion was awarded to Rethink’s senior motion designer Jesse Shaw and ACD Zoë Boudreau. The second, a Bronze in Media, went to Cossette Media’s business intelligence analyst Samuel David-Durocher and product development supervisor Tristan Bonnot-Parent.

Film (2 Silver, 1 Bronze)

1 SILVER: “The  Count” by FCB Toronto for SickKids Foundation

“The Count,” a striking campaign from FCB Toronto for SickKids Foundation, has earned 1 Gold, 2 Bronze and now 1 Silver for Film at Cannes. If you watch it, it’s easy to see why. The collaboration between brand and agency honoured the hospital’s “VS” platform, while steering it in a new direction from its initial development by previous AOR Cossette. The creative celebrates childhood cancer patients who have to fight for every birthday, while honouring the hospital’s own milestone – 150 years and counting.

 

1 Silver: “Love Captured” by Klick Health Toronto for The Exodus Road

Klick Health Toronto added to its medal tally with a Silver in Film for it’s work “Love Captured” for The Exodus Road. The creative features a romantic getaway that isn’t what it seems in an experiential short film for the global anti-trafficking organization. The experience takes viewers through a tragic and twisting experience of exploitation.

 

1 BRONZE: “18 Months” by Klick Health Toronto for Second Nurture

Klick Health Toronto also won a Bronze in the Film category for its work, “18 Months,” done for the charity organization Second Nurture. The animated film is based on a real-life story in which a same-sex couple adopts a baby found in a subway station, and the 18-month journey into a story of hope.

Sustainable Development Goals (1 Bronze)

1 BRONZE: “Wildfire Watchtowers” by Publicis Canada for Rogers

Publicis Canada landed on the winners board for its work, “Wildfire Watchtowers,” for Rogers. The Canadian-developed wildfire-detection tech – which has been billed as “a fire alarm in the forest” – uses AI-powered sensors installed on 5G towers to monitor vast remote areas in real time. By scanning, identifying and reporting early signs of wildfires (up to 16 minutes faster than other systems), the technology helped prevent 54 fires in 2024 alone.

Catch the Gold winners later today when they’re revealed at the gala in Cannes.