What do you do when you’re ambushed by Marg Delahunty, decked out in full warrior regalia?
Whatever she tells you to.
Mary Walsh’s infamous alter-ego paid ‘surprise’ visits to the likes of Geoffrey Roche, Nancy Vonk and Glen Hunt to get them to pitch ideas for a new Oxfam campaign.
Delahunty also finagled support from CTVglobemedia, Rogers and Pattison by ambushing TV host Seamus O’Reagan, VP sales and marketing Gary Murphy and president Randy Otto, respectively.
The raids were the brainchild of Donna McCarthy, strategic and creative director at St. John’s-based Dory Advertising, who wanted to get as many agencies as possible involved in the campaign to maximize exposure for the charity.
Walsh, a longtime Oxfam supporter, initially approached her friend McCarthy to do a straightforward PSA, but McCarthy wanted to do something bigger. ‘My first thing was, ‘How do we get the media companies on board?” explains McCarthy. The tactic was successful: each of the companies pledged media space for the Oxfam work over the next 12 months.
McCarthy posted the ambushes on YouTube to generate extra buzz for the campaign. She wound up getting pitches from 18 different agencies across Canada – ideas to help raise Oxfam’s profile in Canada, and to get people to sign an online petition. At press time, Oxfam had approved work by four agencies: Toronto-based Doug Agency (print, OOH and online), DDB Vancouver (integrated),
Halifax-based Cossette Atlantic (radio) and Toronto-based Dentsu (TV).
‘Most of the best stuff has been from Doug – they came through in a big way,’ says McCarthy, adding that some of the agency’s concepts have already been picked up internationally. ‘After I saw the work, I phoned them and said, ‘If I could buy shares in Doug, I would.”
The Doug work includes print ads featuring signatures with faux handwriting interpretations.
One execution reads: ‘You are a smart person but sometimes struggle with comprehension. You are baffled why 1,400 women die needlessly in pregnancy or childbirth each day.’
The tagline is ‘What does your signature say about you?’
‘We thought, ‘How do we personalize this?” recalls Doug Robinson, Doug’s chairman/CCO. ‘A signature is a very personal thing.’
Doug also pitched floor decals made to look like dirt trenches.
The tag reads: ‘For over 1 billion people, a public washroom looks like this.’ Oxfam’s Berlin office has already ordered the decals to be placed on the steps leading up to its entrance.
Meanwhile, Vonk has volunteered to play an advisory role. ‘I bounce everything off Nancy,’ says McCarthy. At press time, several ideas from other agencies were also being considered by Oxfam.
advertiser: Bill Hynd, campaign coordinator, Oxfam Canada; Donna McCarthy, strategic and creative director, Dory Advertising
agency: Doug
CD: Doug Robinson
ADs: Michele Tenki, Aaron Doyle
copywriters: Andre Bell, Matt Beasant
business manager: Danielle Lombardo
