Without the tireless efforts of Bates Canada, would the youth of this nation enjoy the same minty-fresh breath?

This we’ll never know with absolute certainty. What we can safely say, however, is that the media folk at Bates know how to spread the word about gum. Witness their work on behalf of the MaxAir and Dentyne Ice brands – the campaigns that took first and second place, respectively, in Strategy’s fourth annual Best Media Plan competition.

These two plans earned the highest overall scores from our 13-member panel of judges. The Media Edge – winner of our 1999 competition – took third place, for the orchestration of last summer’s Kool-Aid campaign.

The MaxAir plan claimed Best Plan for a Budget of More Than $1 Million, while Dentyne Ice topped the Less Than $1 Million category. The two also finished first and second in Best Use of Television and Best Use of Interactive Media. And Dentyne won Best Use of Radio honours, in addition to coming third in the Newspaper category.

Both plans are showcased in this report, along with those others that received outstanding marks from the judging panel.

Strategy launched this competition in 1997 with the goal of giving greater recognition to the high quality of thinking that goes into the development of Canada’s media plans – and encouraging greater respect, particularly in the client community, for the creativity and skills of media professionals.

Granted, media is no longer perceived as a dreary back-office function. Indeed, with audiences growing ever more fragmented, it is now generally acknowledged that media planning demands the same combination of insight and intuition as creative development. Still, to many marketers, the field remains something of a mystery. Anyone, after all, can see where advertising is placed. But an understanding of how plans are conceived is much rarer outside the media community. Though this competition, we hope to assist in changing that.

Strategy asked agency media departments and independent media companies across Canada to review all of their plans that appeared in the marketplace during calendar 1999, and to submit the best of those for consideration.

We instructed them to prepare a summary for each, describing the plan in detail and outlining the results. We were not looking for charts and graphs or reams of numbers, we explained, but rather trying to get at the quality of the thinking behind the plans: What were the objectives and challenges, as presented by the client, and how were these addressed strategically and creatively?

The judges – all of them senior media professionals – were asked to assign each submission a score from 0 to 10. (Judges were not given media plan submissions for clients with which they compete directly.) Their judgments were made on the basis of: the quality and originality of the strategy and the communications insight on which it was based; the creativity and originality of the media solution; and the plan’s effectiveness as evidenced by sales results or tracking studies.

The winning plans are featured on pages BMP3-BMP40. A full list of the winners in all categories can be found below.

The Winners

The following are the winning plans in Strategy’s 2000 media competition, listed by client/brand and agency/media company.

Best Plan Overall

Winner: MaxAir/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Second Runner-up: Kool-Aid/The Media Edge

Best Plan for a Budget of More Than $1 Million

Winner: MaxAir/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Kool-Aid/The Media Edge

Second Runner-up: Philips Electronics/MediaVest Worldwide

Best Plan for a Budget of Less Than $1 Million

Winner: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Panasonic Power Activator Batteries/Palmer Jarvis DDB

Second Runner-up: Aussie Hair Care/OMD Canada

Best Use of Television

Winner: MaxAir/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Second Runner-up: Clairol Natural Instincts/OMD Canada

Best Use of Radio

Winner: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Toronto Blue Jays/MediaVest Worldwide

Best Use of Newspaper

Winner: Minute Maid/Starcom Worldwide

Runner-up: Chapters.ca/OMD Canada

Second Runner-up: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Best Use of Magazine

Winner: Aussie Hair Care/OMD Canada

Runner-up: Campbell Soup Classics/OMD Canada

Second Runner-up: Scotiabank/OMD Canada

Best Use of Out-of-Home

Winner: Kool-Aid/The Media Edge

Runner-up: Panasonic Power Activator Batteries/Palmer Jarvis DDB

Second Runner-up: (Tie) Western Union International/MediaVest Worldwide; Clearnet PCS/Media Experts

Best Use of Interactive Media

Winner: MaxAir/Bates Canada

Runner-up: Dentyne Ice/Bates Canada

Also in this report:

* MaxAir fires on all cylinders: Multi-tiered plan for high-menthol gum was imbued with irreverence p.BMP3

* Dentyne Ice kisses up to teens with party promo: Initiative was designed to drive both brand awareness and sales p.BMP4

* Kool-Aid placement reflected fun, refreshment p.BMP6

* Aussie creates ‘in your face’ presence: Repositions brand as funky, outrageous p.BMP8

* Guerrilla tactics get Panasonic noticed: Campaign used underground channels to reach club crowd p.BMP10

* Much VJ follows his Natural Instincts on air p.BMP12

* Chapters stands out in dot-com crowd p.BMP15

* Campbell’s cooks up targeted advertorial: Partners with CTV, magazines to create a presence beyond traditional ad buy p.BMP16

* Looking at Philips through fresh eyes: Redefinition of target market sparked departure from the traditional choice of television p.BMP18

* Jays plan hits home run p.BMP21

* Minute Maid aims for morning ownership p.BMP24

* Western Union a global Villager p.BMP28

* Scotiabank breaks out of the mold p.BMP32

* Clearnet clusters creative: Complementary boards were positioned in proximity to one another to maximize visibility, engage consumer p.BMP38

* The Judges p.BMP43

Strategy is on the ground in Cannes, bringing you the latest news, wins and conference highlights all week long. Catch all the coverage here.

Thursday’s batch of Silver and Bronze winners included the Creative Business Transformation, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, Luxury Lions, Brand Experience & Activation, Innovation and Creative Commerce Lions categories. Canadians were recognized with three Lions today: a Silver in Brand Experience & Activation, a Bronze in Creative Commerce and a Bronze in Creative Effectiveness. Rethink was awarded twice on Day 4, while Weber Shandwick rounded out the Canadian agency wins with one Lion. Below is a look at the work. Catch the Gold winners later this afternoon when they’re revealed at the gala in Cannes.

Creative Commerce (1 Silver)

1 SILVER: “U Up?” by Rethink for IKEA

IKEA’s “U Up?” campaign has legs, it turns out. The campaign is getting major love at Cannes. The IKEA work, created in collaboration with Rethink Toronto, added to its Cannes Lions tally with a Silver medal in Creative Commerce. That now makes five total Lions for the work, including two Golds on Wednesday night, for Direct and Socal & Creator. The campaign has been lauded by jurors for its dexterity, contextual timing and humour.

Creative Effectiveness (1 Bronze)

1 BRONZE: “Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch” by Rethink for Kraft Heinz 

Both Rethink and Kraft Heinz picked up another Lion, this one a Bronze in Creative Effectiveness for their collaboration on “Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch.” Not only did the work capture a culture moment spurred by Taylor Swift, but it also created a new product, “in under 24 hours,” to match. The latest two Lions makes 10 total wins for Rethink. Kraft Heinz and Rethink also picked up a rare Gold Lion for Media a day earlier.

Brand Experience & Activation (1 Bronze)

1 BRONZE: “Airbnb Icons” by Weber Shandwick for Airbnb

The Weber Shandwick work, “Airbnb Icons,” won Bronze on Thursday in Brand Experience & Activation after claiming a Bronze in Media Wednesday. Airbnb turned media brands into a destination, partnering with the likes of Marvel and Disney to offer travellers experiences like drifting off in the Up house or crashing at an X-Men mansion. The first 11 experiences rolled out mid-2024, and most of the experiences were free or under $100, with over 4,000 tickets sold by the end of the season.