Good Cause Award short-list announced
Five charities in unique competition for national PSA campaign worth over $2 million
CanadaNewsWire
TORONTO and VANCOUVER, Aug. 24 /CNW/ - Frank Palmer, Chairman and CEO of
DDB Canada, is pleased to announce the short-list of charities invited to
compete for the Good Cause Award in Toronto on September 16th.
Conceived by Palmer and sponsored largely by CanWest Global
Communications, the Good Cause Award is a national public service announcement
(PSA) campaign worth more than $2 million in donated creative development,
production and media placement.
"After careful deliberation we have selected five outstanding national
charities, from over 200 entrants, to compete for the Good Cause Award," says
Palmer.
The short-list of charities, published today on www.goodcauseaward.ca,
is:
- The Canadian Mental Health Association
- Environmental Defence
- FM-CFS Canada (Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
- The Sierra Club of Canada Foundation
- Volunteer Canada
"These organizations best meet the entry criteria -- their applications
were well crafted, engaging, and full of promise. Any of these five charities
could win the Good Cause Award."
The winner will receive a creative television and newspaper PSA campaign
developed by DDB Canada that will launch in the spring of 2005 and run until
the end of the year on CanWest Global TV and in CanWest newspapers across
Canada.
Palmer and a panel of seven senior marketers from DDB Canada selected the
short-list. The contest, launched July 26th, closed on August 13th.
The short-listed organizations will now prepare a presentation to be
delivered to a selection panel in Toronto on September 16th. That panel,
headed by Palmer, will be composed of senior marketers from DDB Canada,
CanWest Global and TELUS. The winning organization and its good cause will be
announced September 17th on www.goodcauseaward.ca. Planning for the campaign
will begin the following day.
"The winning cause will have a worthy mission, a clear objective that
would benefit from a creative, compelling information campaign. Importantly,
it will also have leaders who value creativity and believe big ideas generate
better results," says Palmer.
Palmer adds the Good Cause Award combines the resources of three industry
leaders, DDB Canada, CanWest Global and TELUS. "It's unique. Together we'll
provide a charity with a strong national voice and a forum to speak to
Canadians. We're trying to make a difference in the best way we know how."
The Good Cause Award would not be possible without the generous
assistance of CanWest Global Communications, the principal sponsor. CanWest
Global Communications is donating $1.5 million of commercial airtime from the
Global Television Network and its affiliates, as well as space in the National
Post and other CanWest newspapers across Canada.
Another major sponsor of the Good Cause Award is TELUS, which is
providing $100,000 cash and in-kind donations.
Other sponsors of the Good Cause include Metropolitan Fine Printers of
Vancouver, which has donated printing services; Tribal DDB, the direct and
interactive division of DDB Canada, which developed and launched
www.goodcauseaward.ca; and the Karacters Design Group, one of Canada's leading
design and branding firms, which developed the Good Cause logo, brochure
design, and stationary.
Palmer and his agency DDB Canada are internationally renown for
results-focused, creative advertising as well as for donating expertise and
services to worthy causes. Recent examples include the British Columbia
Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (B.C. SPCA) campaign, which
won a Gold Lion at the 2004 Cannes International Advertising Festival last
month, one of the industry's highest honours. Other award-winning PSA
campaigns include the much talked about "Relax, it's just a game" campaigns
for Hockey Canada (2002 and 2003), and the campaign for the United Way of
Lower Mainland that won Gold at the 2004 One Show Awards in New York City and
the 2003 Marketing Awards in Toronto.
About CanWest Global
CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG; TSX: CGS.S and CGS.A,
www.canwestglobal.com) is an international media company. CanWest, Canada's
largest publisher of daily newspapers, owns, operates and/or holds substantial
interests in newspapers, conventional television, out-of-home advertising,
specialty cable channels, websites and radio stations and networks in Canada,
New Zealand, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
About TELUS: a proud supporter of our communities
TELUS is committed to the vision of becoming Canada's premier corporate
citizen. In 2003, TELUS contributed $10 million of financial and in-kind
assistance to educational, health, arts and charitable organizations across
Canada. In addition, TELUS and our team members have contributed more than
$70 million through the last five years to a wide range of charitable
organizations across Canada. To find out how TELUS is helping to create a
friendlier future in your community, visit us online at telus.com/community.
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is the largest telecommunications company
in Western Canada and the second largest in the country, with more than
$7 billion of annual revenue, 4.8 million network access lines and 3.5 million
wireless subscribers. The company provides subscribers with a full range of
telecommunications products and services including data, voice and wireless
services across Canada, utilizing next generation Internet-based technologies.
TELUS was a premier founding supporter of the successful bid to bring the 2010
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Canada.
About DDB Canada: Better Ideas. Better Results
DDB Canada (www.ddbcanada.com) is recognized for breakthrough,
award-winning work that generates significant results for clients, DDB Canada
(formerly Palmer Jarvis DDB) has been ranked the No. 1 creative agency in
Canada by Strategy magazine for the past seven years. The agency has also been
named Agency of the Year six times in the past eight years by Canadian trade
publications and newspapers. With offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton,
the agency's integrated services include public relations; database marketing;
graphic design; corporate identity; sales promotion; event marketing and
sponsorship; new media/interactive services; and youth marketing. DDB Canada
is part of DDB Worldwide.
For further information: or for interviews with Frank Palmer, please
contact: Caroline Murphy or Robert MacLean, DDB Canada, (416) 972-7743 or
(416) 972-5831, caroline.murphy@ddbcanada.com or
robert.maclean@ddbcanada.com
