Who: The Royal Canadian Legion and Legion National Foundation, with HomeEquity Bank; Zulu Alpha Kilo for strategy and creative; Weber Shandwick for PR; OMD Canada for media.
What: “Letters Home,” the latest in a series of stirring Remembrance Day campaigns for the Legion developed by Zulu Alpha Kilo.
When & Where: The campaign launched on Oct. 31, running through Remembrance Day using TV, online video and out-of-home in major markets including Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Halifax. Out-of-home inventory was donated by Astral Media and Outfront. The campaign also features a dedicated website at Letters-Home.ca.
Why: As the first and second World Wars recede further into memory, younger Canadians struggle to find a connection to the country’s history and the sacrifices made by Canadian troops. This is an attempt to reach those audiences and solicit much-needed donations that fund year-round programs for veterans and their families,
How: Working with the Canadian Letters and Images Project at Vancouver Island University, Zulu Alpha Kilo created replicas of soldier’s letters home during World War I and World War II, and is sending them to their originally intended address.
According to Zulu Alpha Kilo, about 10% of the letters in the archive included the original address. The agency is sending about 100 replica letters to original addresses in 29 cities. Each letter features a QR code to drive poppy donations and a video in which Canadian veterans speak about the importance of sending and receiving letters while fighting overseas.
Each letter features a QR code to drive poppy donations and a video in which Canadian veterans speak about the importance of sending and receiving letters while fighting overseas.
“In this digital age, receiving a physical letter that isn’t a bill is a special moment,” said Zulu Alpha Kilo’s executive creative director Brian Murray in a release. “We felt this was a powerful way to reach Canadians, have them connect with the past in a tangible way, and remind them that these soldiers were real people who lived where we live and dreamed as we dream.”
The Letters-Home.ca website, meanwhile, enables Canadians to find and read more than 300 letters sent to their address or a home near them, and also prompts them to visit MyPoppy.ca to donate a digital poppy in the name of the soldier who originally wrote the letter. The agency worked to find in as many different neighbourhoods and cities as possible to make sure the effort had broad appeal.
And we quote: “We’re proud to be recognizing Remembrance Day again with the digital poppy, alongside our partner, HomeEquity Bank, for the fourth consecutive year. The incredible sacrifices of our soldiers may already seem like a century ago, which makes finding ways to share these letters and the harsh realities they contain with today’s young Canadians all the more important.” — Bruce Julian, Dominion president, The Royal Canadian Legion
