Although Canadian agencies did not win any of the top prizes in the Direct Marketing Association’s 71st annual International ECHO Awards Competition, their take of eight finalist or ‘Leader’ positions amounted to nearly 5% of the total number of 168 honours announced Oct. 16 at the DMA Convention in New Orleans.

The most victorious Canadian direct marketing agency in the 2000 ECHO Awards was Toronto-based Vickers & Benson Direct + Interactive (VBDI), which was awarded one Leader and two finalist designations, including one of each for separate campaigns done on behalf of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC).

VBDI earned its Leader designation in the Consumer Services/Flat Mail category for its 1999 CTC Snowmobile Direct Mail Program, and a finalist selection for its ‘Spectacular’ CTC/Tourism Vancouver DM campaign in the Business-to-Business/Dimensional Mail category. It was also named a finalist in the Consumer Services/ Alternative Media category for its Mojo ’99 campaign on behalf of Toronto-based InterCasino.

Other Canadian agencies to earn Leader citations at the ECHOs were Toronto-based Carlson Marketing Group, in the Consumer/Flat Mail category, for its work on the Via Preference Spring Promotion on behalf of Via Rail Canada of Montreal, and Impiric, in the Business-to-Business/Flat Mail category, for its 1999 RSVP Awards & Gala Event work on behalf of the Canadian Marketing Association.

Agencies whose award submissions made it to the finalist stage include BBDO Response for a direct mail campaign developed for the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership, OgilvyOne Interactive Worldwide for an online marketing campaign prepared for IBM Canada, and MC Direct for an integrated multimedia campaign created for pharmaceutical manufacturer Hoffmann-LaRoche. All three agencies are based in Toronto. DB