Spread ’em

You’re not crazy – that billboard for a law firm is covered with butter.

Toronto-based agency john st. created a unique campaign for butter brand Gay Lea touting the product’s spreadability. The tagline ‘You’ll want to spread it on everything,’ is illustrated in TV and outdoor executions; the latter features faux billboards – hawking sleazy lawyers and plastic surgeons – covered in butter, running over from adjacent Gay Lea billboards.

‘The creative team was working with the media team right from the get-go,’ explains CD Stephen Jurisic, describing how his crew came up with the faux billboard spread concept. ‘It comes from the idea that you can spread it on anything.’ Jurisic says it’s become standard for the john st. creative and media teams to work closely on all of the agency’s campaigns.

The campaign’s primary target is moms, and it aims to reinforce the brand’s unique position as a spreadable butter product. ‘People think of margarine as the thing you can spread – historically, butter has been harder,’ says Jurisic. ‘It’s really a functional insight.’

The campaign has been so well received by the client, john st. is looking into other potential applications like spreading butter over faux editorial copy in newspapers.

Currently, there are two outdoor executions up at 60 locations throughout the GTA, including spots along the Gardiner Expressway and at Yonge and Gerrard. ‘Our media people here cherry picked all the locations,’ Jurisic says, adding that all are en route to major grocery stores. Two 15-second TV spots, which feature kids slipping on floors and banisters greased up with Gay Lea, are running on major networks in Ontario.

client: John Smith, VP marketing; Janis Coburn, brand manager; Christiana Ioannou, assistant brand manager;

John Divizio, marketing assistant, Gay Lea Foods

agency: john st.

photographer: Philip Rostron

prodco: Imported Artists

executive producer: Marylu Jeffery

director: Dale Heslip

DOP: Barry Parrell

post-prodco – offline: School Editing

producer: Sarah Brooks

editor: Paul Binney

post-production – online: Crush: Rodney Dowd, Patty Bradley

sound: Ted Rosnick, Maureen Morris 

All together now

Ever wonder what 500 people in brown velour suits emulating cola particles being poured from a bottle into a glass would look like? If so, your curiosity can be satisfied with the latest Coke spot, which features exactly that.

‘Coming up with something that’s both contemporary and universally appealing is tough to do,’ explains Andy Manson, CD at Toronto-based MacLaren McCann, adding that the ground shots were done with digital hand-held video cameras to help achieve an almost amateur, spontaneous feel. ‘It aims to reinforce [Coke] as being an authentic refreshment.’

The spot was shot in Prague for both logistical and aesthetic reasons. The city boasts beautiful architecture and a large, cobblestone public square. ‘We didn’t want just a big slab of concrete,’ Manson says. Also, filming from helicopters over cities is forbidden in Canada, which would have made the aerial shots next to impossible

to do here.

The spot debuted July 18 and has both 30- and 60-second versions. It will be running across Canada until mid-September, and, starting in August, will run in cinemas and on icoke.ca.

client: Aaron Macanuel, group brand manager for Coke trademark Canada, Coca-Cola Canada

CDs: Andy Manson, Kerry Reynolds

copywriter: Wade Hesson

AD: Robert Kingston

agency producer: Franca Piacente

prodco: The Partners’ Film Company

producer: Buzzy Cancilla

director: Steve Chase

sound/music: Silent Joe

unshackled and ready for take 0ff

It’s rare to find good creative when flipping through mechanical trade mags. But Montreal-based Zoum Armada has successfully produced an interesting – artistic, even – campaign to brand

Air Canada Technical Services (ACTS).

The recent print campaign, the first for ACTS, touts the company’s newfound autonomy thanks to restructuring at parent co Air Canada. ‘It’s important to announce ACTS has more independence – they’re unshackled,’ explains copywriter Mark Goren.

The creative team toured hangars and spoke with ACTS workers to get a better sense of the company. ‘When you walk into a hangar and there’s a plane there – that’s powerful,’ explains Goren, adding that meeting the workers inspired the creative team to focus on the people behind the company. ‘These guys are so proud of what they do…. There really is a unity between themselves and the airplane.’

The people-centric campaign, which has three phases, features managers sharing their corporate vision, as well as exceptional employees and satisfied customers. One ad has a large picture of ACTS CEO

Bill Zoeller with a brief message from him about why ACTS is the best choice. The tagline is ‘ACT Now,’ with varying subheads like ‘Establish a trusted partnership’ and ‘Reap the benefits.’

Phase one is running now and spotlights ACTS managers. The next two phases, launching in the fall and next spring, aim to substantiate phase one with success stories from employees (phase two) and customers and suppliers (phase three.)

client: Marisa Braia, advertising and

promotion manager,

Air Canada Technical Services (ACTS)

CD/AD: Annie Vincent

copywriter: Mark Goren

photographer: Brian Losito

graphic artist: Nathalie Thomas

account executives: Jacques Chalifour and Mélie-Jade Dagenais

DONE LIKE DINNER

Something tells me the cow’s gonna get it. ‘It’s kind of like Casablanca meets Carnivore,’ explains CD Alan Russell, in describing DDB Vancouver’s campaign for local restaurant Bogart’s Chophouse.

The effort, which includes print, TV and outdoor executions, plays on the eatery’s cinematic name by using stock images, footage and music to evoke a classic feel. There are four different versions of the TV and print ads – each features a different animal (cow, sheep, chicken and bison) set to land on someone’s plate. The B&W TV spots depict a stationary farm animal with dramatic background music and ‘The End’ splayed across the screen.

‘My first reaction was ‘oh no – that’s cruel!’ But then you laugh,’ says Russell, a self-described vegetarian-leaning type. The campaign, which targets meat eaters in general and professionals 25-40 in particular, was done on a shoestring budget, so the creative team decided to do something provocative to help the client get the most bang for their buck.

There hasn’t been any backlash from animal-rights groups as one might expect, aside from one billboard in the city’s Kitsilano area (‘vegetarian land,’ Russell explains) being defaced. ‘I think people just take it with a sense of humour.’

client: Raffaele Aiello, director, Bogart’s Chophouse
CD: Alan Russell
copywriter: Paul Little
AD: Lara Palmer
account manager:
Stefan Hawes
producers: Sue Bell (film); Ninette Aves and Wendy Moriarty (print)
prodco: JMB Post
editor/online editor/animator/SFX:
Randy Egan
stock house:
Getty/Best Shot Footage

You are cordially invited to submit your new, dead clever and previously unrevealed campaigns to: editorial director Mary Maddever at

sstanley@brunico.com, co-curators of strategy’s Creative space.