Astral has announced the winners of this year’s Carte Blanche For Creatives competition.
The annual contest – now in its tenth year – doesn’t give entrants a brief, and simply asks them to come up with the most creative idea possible for one of their agency’s clients that could run on Astral’s network of OOH boards. The winning team in each market (two from Cossette and one from Rethink) receives a free trip to Cannes Lions, as well as $50,000 in media space for the client to execute the concept.
In a press release, Astral said this year’s competition received 363 submissions from across the country, an increase of 33% compared to last year.
The top three winners in each market – Toronto, Montreal and Western Canada – can be found below.
Toronto
Grand Prize: “Savings Every Minute”
Client: Walmart
Agency: Cossette
Copywriter: Rachel Abrams
Art Director : Anton Mwewa
Walmart shoppers are eagerly seeking out the best prices, so the product showcased on the digital board will be updated to match the time of day shown beneath the creative.
Second Prize: Nugget-Cloud Finder
Client: McDonald’s Canada
Agency: Cossette
Copywriter: Dana Ciani
Art Director: Alyssa Graff
Clouds behind the board will be photographed in real time and matched to a McNugget that matches the shape.
Third Prize: Cloud Coverage
Client: Ontario Science Centre
Agency: Rethink
Copywriter: Kyle Simons
Art Director: Skye Deluz
Using weather information to predict the kind of cloud cover behind the board, creative will rotate to explain what kinds of cloud are in the sky, facts about them and what they mean for the weather, highlighting the kind of knowledge that can be learned at the Science Centre.
Montreal
Grand Prize: “24H”
Client: McDonald’s Canada
Agency: Cossette
Copywriter: Sébastien Forget
Art Director: Jasmin Brochu
To show that several McDonald’s locations are open 24 hours, the scene behind the board will be altered to appear as it would during the day.
Second Prize: “PORK”
Client: Le Porc du Québec
Agency: Lg2
Copywriter: Guillaume Bergeron
Art Director: Marc Guilbault
By slightly changing the ellipses that appear when a friend is typing in a messaging app, the question “what would you like to eat?” is answered with the image of a pig’s snout.
Third Prize: “You Should Buy The 640”
Client: Loto-Quebec
Agency: Sid Lee
Copywriter: Laurent Prudhomme
Art Director: Francis Gervais
This board, appearing to people stuck in traffic on Quebec’s Autoroute 640, suggests one possible option for a winner looking to spend their Lotto Max winnings.
Western Canada
Grand Prize: “Exact Times”
Client: Mr. Lube
Agency: Rethink
Copywriter: Thom Peters
Art Director: Sheldon Rennie
Based on the time of day and real-time data from a nearby location, the board shows the exact time an oil change would be completed by.
Second Prize: “Recommended Rides”
Client: Playland
Agency: Rethink
Copywriter: Thom Peters
Art Director: Sheldon Rennie
The creative on the board recommends a different ride at the amusement park, based on the speed a driver is travelling.
Third Prize: “Pass Go”
Client: McDonald’s Canada
Agency: Cossette
Senior Art Director: Grace Cho
Art Director: Kelsey Hughes
During the restaurant’s popular Monopoly contest, a board will mimic the iconic space from the game board, using geo-tagging to reward users of the McDonald’s app with a free item every time they drive past.
