RED wins Summit International Awards
RED was recently named a winner in the 2009 Summit Creative Award competition! Over the past 15 years, the Summit International Awards organization (SIA) has established itself as one of the premier arbiters of creative excellence. Among the thousands of submissions from 26 countries, our creative scored among the very best. Our winning entries included:
- Gold, Radio Spot $2,500 – “Wobble” for OK Tire
- Silver, Annual Report – Annual Report for University of Alberta, Department of Pediatrics
- Silver, PSA Multiple-Media Campaign – “Bloody Lucky” for Work Safe Alberta
- Bronze, Television Campaign – “Excuses” for Elections Alberta
ACE Awards evening recap
This past weekend, we all attended the annual ACE Awards hosted by the Advertising Club of Edmonton. Not only was it a fun evening to relax and recognize all the great creative work in our community, we also had reason to celebrate! We were excited to accept awards for two radio spots we produced for OK Tire, and another for “Most Fearless Client” for the bloodylucky.ca campaign we created for Work Safe Alberta. The latter award was for “a campaign that demonstrates a willingness to stretch boundaries and to take creative risks in an effort to deliver effective communications”. Congratulations to our own – Dennis, Alana and Ryan – for all their time and effort in making the ACE Awards evening a success!
Ryan, Lori and Dennis accept an award for Most Fearless Client and the bloodylucky.ca campaign.
Ad Club President (and our own Associate Creative Director) Dennis Lenarduzzi kick off the evening’s festivities.
Filed under: Awards & RecognitionWork Safe Alberta brings the pain
Originally printed in Strategy Magazine (December 2008) by Jonathan Paul
Nothing screams on-the-job safety awareness like a skin-peeling chemical burn. That’s one of the scenarios portrayed in a series of visceral viral executions for Work Safe Alberta (Alberta Employment and Immigration) running across the province into December that aim to make young people savvy about job safety.
The shocking vids are part of a social media campaign with the slogan “Some days are bloodier than others,” created by Edmonton-based Red The Agency, targeting teens aged 15 to 19 about to enter the workforce.
Though it’s similar to a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) campaign launched in Ontario last year, Work Safe Alberta’s effort was actually in development in 2007 and meant to launch last September.
“All of our learning had come directly from the discussions and testing we did with members of the target audience,” explains Randy Cronin, partner/director of strategy and research at Red The Agency.
Red developed six videos now on YouTube (youtube.com/user/BloodyLuckyAlberta). They are hard to watch, because of the ghastly nature of the workers’ encounters with a forklift at a lumber yard, a shaky ladder at a shoe store, a meat slicer at a deli, a deep fryer at a café and a knife at a restaurant…just use your imagination.
“We’re dealing with an audience that’s inundated with advertising and information,” says Cronin. “Ultimately it comes down to disturbing them to break through their cynicism about workplace safety.”
Cinema ads, interior transit, transit shelters, restobar/workplace posters and web banner ads work with the videos to drive traffic to bloodylucky.ca, which has the look of a kitschy theatre with a Muzak-esque soundtrack. “There’s an undercurrent of humour that lulls the viewer into expecting something different, and that contributes to the build-up to the actual seriousness of the scenario,” says Cronin.
Filed under: Campaigns,In The NewsGroundbreaking Work Safe campaign launched
In partnership with Work Safe Alberta (Alberta Employment and Immigration), RED helped launch a provocative campaign aimed at getting young workers to think twice about their safety. Driven by a powerful series of viral videos, bloodylucky.ca is already creating quite a stir.
Filed under: Campaigns,Client NewsEdmonton Airport Campaign receives top international honours
RED’s YEG/YES campaign produced for Edmonton Airports to promote non-stop destinations has been honoured at North America’s 2008 Excellence in Marketing & Communications Contest. Besting airport powerhouses such as Chicago O’Hare, LAX, Dallas/Fort Worth, Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, and New York LaGuardia, the campaign won first place in various individual categories that ultimately contributed to the top hardware for the Edmonton Airports, the Peggy G. Hereford Award.
The “YEG/YES” campaign helped change perceptions of the airport and increased direct-to-destination travel volumes. It also turned heads.
The campaign also received a 2008 International Summit Award for consumer multi-media campaign.
OK Tire Ranks Tops with J.D. Power and Associates
RED’s client, OK Tire, has ranked highest in customer satisfaction on the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Canadian Customer Commitment Index Study. With 260 owner-dealers nation-wide, OK Tire moved up four positions from 2007 to take the top spot. More importantly, it’s based on the responses of 17,114 people from across the country – no small feat. To learn more about the award, visit jdpower.com.
Filed under: Awards & Recognition,Client NewsCanadian Direct Financial Launches
Canadian Direct Financial - a division of RED’s client Canadian Western Bank – recently opened its virtual doors. Here’s one of the videos from the campaign.
Filed under: Client News