Effie Awards Canada has announced the 36 finalists in this year’s competition honouring advertising effectiveness, led by Rethink with 14 nominations for work for a number of clients including Molson, Brasseur de Montreal, Érable du Québec, and Shaw Mobile.
Rethink’s work on behalf of Molson Coors Canada led to the brewer leading all clients with seven finalist nods, including multiple nods for both its “Stanley Cup Batch” campaign, and its “Hockey Night in Canada, Multilingual Edition” execution that saw the nation’s flagship hockey program streamed in seven different languages.
Molson was followed by Érable, SickKids Foundation and White Ribbon, each of which garnered four finalist nods.
Cossette received a total of eight finalist nods for its work with McDonald’s Canada, SickKids Foundation (“Because Someone Played Monthly” and “Just as Long as You Play”), Coast Capital, and World Wheelchair Rugby, while sister agency Camp Jefferson got seven nods for its work on behalf of the David Suzuki Foundation (including “The Nature Friendly Token” on behalf of the David Suzuki Foundation), CAMH, and Pathways to Education.
Those nominations helped Cossette/Camp Jefferson parent Plus Company top the holding company rankings with 15, ahead of IPG agencies with eight nominations, WPP with five, MDC with three, and Omnicom with two.
McCann appears six times on the finalist list for its “Grown-Up Problems” work on behalf of Kids Help Phone, “Wendy’s Phone” on behalf of Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada, as well as its “Lungs in the Air” campaign for the Canadian Lung Association.
Zulu Alpa Kilo also appears on the finalists list five times, with two appearances for “Feed Imagination” created for the Goldfish Crackers brand, as well as single nods for work on behalf of Subaru Canada, Pfaff Harley-Davidson, and HomeEquity Bank (the complete finalist list can be found here).
“Work that works should be the only topic of discussion when clients look at the economic troubles ahead,” said ICA president and CEO Scott Knox in a release. Budget cutting is not the answer. Maintaining and increasing share of voice will sort business success stories from those who will struggle for the long term.
“Many of the cases in the Effie Awards Canada underline the need for business focused creativity and to eradicate the notion that marketing is simply a cost.”
The Bronze, Silver and Gold winners will be announced on the ICA’s website and 2022 partner LinkedIn every Thursday, culminating in the invite-only Canadian Creative Effectiveness Summit on Oct. 27. According to the ICA, the goal of this year’s event is to unpack marketing effectiveness and budget maximization in a turbulent economy.
