This isn’t your typical tragic cancer research campaign.
Montreal-based Palm Arnold Communication is helping pro-bono client Fondation Centre de cancérologie Charles-Bruneau create a more positive brand identity with a new logo and slogan, ‘finding hope through research.’ The first campaign featuring the new positioning includes two incredibly simple yet powerful 30-second TV spots.
One shows a mother weeping, with text rolling out slowly to finally reveal the message: ‘How would you react if you were told that your child won’t die?’ At the end of the spot, the mother shows a hint of a relieved smile. The second features a father, and both spots have English and French versions.
‘It speaks to hope in a really different way,’ says Christina Brown, CD at Palm Arnold. ‘When I saw the spots for the first time, I was really unprofessional and just wept.’
Supporting print and OOH executions running in the Greater Montreal Area are also very simple. They all highlight the new logo, a cute cartoon boy, with the slogan ‘finding hope through research.’ A print ad features the logo boy in a comic-like strip. He’s bald in the first frame, and has progressively more hair throughout. He’s looking through a microscope to reinforce the research messaging.
‘Before, they had more of a traditional approach, showing sick kids with sad music in the background. It worked, but it was the same as all the other foundations’ ads,’ explains Pascal De Decker, Palm Arnold’s VP/CD. ‘Ninety percent of the kids they treat get better, so they wanted us to communicate that hope.’
advertiser: Rébecca Dumont, communications director; Pierre Bruneau, president, Fondation Centre de cancérologie Charles-Bruneau
agency: Palm Arnold Communication
CDs: Pascal De Decker, Paulette Arsenault
copywriter: Éric Chavagnac
AD: Anik Ouellet
client services: Sylvie Robert, Marjolaine Durand
agency producer: Louise Genest
prodco: La Fabrique d’images
director: Jean-Michel Ravon
music: Apollo
sound: Sonart
print producers: Suzanne Mainville, Gabrielle Lamarche
illustration and animation: Patrick Dea
