When this year’s Strategy Awards jury gathered in late July to deliberate the best planning work in Canada this year, two campaigns sat as the forefront.
But this isn’t the first time award show jurors have found themselves unable to compare public service work with campaigns done for other clients, so they did what any good jury would do: awarded a Grand Prix and a Public Service Grand Prix. And they just so happened to go to the same agency. Unable to compare the two, and unbeknownst to them, the jurors awarded Rethink’s dedicated work to both Décathlon Canada and Foundation Émergence, the former also receiving three golds and the later receiving two.
Rethink won the Strategy Awards Grand Prix for “Ability Signs” for Décathlon Canada, as well as the Public Service Grand Prix for “Colours of Pride” for Fondation Émergence.
“Ability Signs,” which also won three Gold, reinforced Décathlon’s “Sport For All” ethos by adding different sports to the recognizable handicapped symbol found in parking lots and signage across Canada. This was done to celebrate all the possibilities that people with disabilities contain, instead of reducing them all to a single icon.
“Colours of Pride,” meanwhile, aimed to help Foundation Émergence remind people that the fight for 2SLGBTQ+ rights was still ongoing by creating a Pride flag where each stripe was a close-up photo of a different bruise or injury someone had sustained as a result of homophobic or transphobic violence. It also won two Gold Strategy Awards.
Rethink also won Gold for work produced for IKEA, Kraft Heinz, Purdy’s and YWCA Metro Vancouver.
The other agencies that went home with Gold are FCB, Touché!, Target, Wunderman Thompson and Zulu Alpha Kilo for work produced for the likes of BMO, OLG, Wilson, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, St. John’s Board of Trade, Royal Canadian Legion, Girl Guides of Canada and Pfaff Harley Davidson.
To see the other winners that took home Silver and Bronze – as well as the cases that earned them – please visit the Strategy Awards winner page.
Rethink
Décathlon Canada, “Ability Signs”
Gold: Budget-Savvy Strategy
Gold: Creative Catalyst
Gold: DEI Strategy
Public Service Grand Prix
Fondation Émergence, “Colours of Pride”
Gold: Cause/Public Service
Gold: Creative Catalyst
Grand Prix
IKEA, “The Cristiano Bottle”
Gold: Social/Conversational Strategy
Kraft Heinz, “Heinz Hot Dog Pact”
Gold: Game Changer
Purdy’s, “Holiday Braille Box”
Gold: DEI Strategy
YWCA Metro Vancouver, “Add the M”
Gold: Game Changer, Cause/Public Service
Gold: Social/Conversational
Zulu Alpha Kilo
Girl Guides of Canada, “Fire Songs”
Gold: Evolution Strategy
Pfaff Harley Davidson, “Tough Turban”
Gold: DEI Strategy
Gold: Multicultural Strategy
FCB
BMO, “Gear Up”
Gold: Niche Strategy
Lotto Max, “Dream Drop”
Gold: Connection Strategy
Target
Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, “Come Home 2022”
Gold: Niche Strategy
St. John’s Board of Trade, “Don’t Get Dieppe’d”
Gold: Creative Catalyst
Touché!
Wilson, “Bugs Out!”
Gold: Data Strategy
Wunderman Thompson
Royal Canadian Legion, “Immortal Poppy”
Gold: Tech Strategy
