CASSIES Honours Canada's Top Business-Building Communications Campaigns

National Pride Reigns Supreme as Rethink and Molson Coors' "Beer Fridge" Captures the Grand Prix

TORONTO, Feb. 20, 2015 /CNW/ - The prestigious CASSIES Awards, Canada's only industry awards program recognizing business effectiveness based on rigorous published case studies, handed out 60 awards at its annual gala in Toronto last night.

The competition's highest honour, the CASSIES Grand Prix, was awarded to Rethink and Molson Coors for their "Molson Canadian Beer Fridge" campaign featuring the now iconic, bright red fridge that could only be opened with a Canadian passport.  Capturing the curiosity of crowds and media from around the world, and the hearts of Canadians here at home, this fridge that travelled the world, increased market share even though the premium beer segment continued to decline in Canada. It generated over $6 million in incremental revenue for Molson Coors.

"This campaign had a deep cultural impact on Canadians – not only here at home, but also around the world including the Canadian Embassy in Paris and our Ambassador in Washington, both of whom requested the Beer Fridge for their offices," said Jani Yates, president, Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA), and CASSIES chair. "Most importantly, the social currency generated from this campaign directly led to increased beer sales, and that is why it was given top honours."

In addition to the CASSIES Grand Prix, a total of 13 gold, 20 silver and 26 bronze awards were also given out. DDB Canada / Tribal Worldwide – Toronto and TAXI were the top multiple-award winners with six CASSIES awards each.

Multiple gold CASSIES winners this year included: Leo Burnett winning three awards—one with IKEA Canada, and two with Procter & Gamble; Ogilvy & Mather also winning three—two with American Express, and one with Unilever; two-time winner Publicis Montreal with UBISOFT, and two-time winner TAXI Canada with Canadian Tire and Boston Pizza.  WestJet, Rethink with Molson Coors, and Grey with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America rounded out the gold winner's list.

"The calibre of creative, business-building communications in this country continues to rise," said Yates.  "Every CASSIES winner this year has a lot to be proud of, as the competition was fierce, and once again, our industry has produced exceptional work."

Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, the CASSIES awards show was held on Wednesday, February 19, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Toronto.  This year's winning case studies will be added to the comprehensive CASSIES case library at www.cassies.ca, which serves as a valuable industry reference, business resource and learning tool.

The CASSIES' gold-winning cases will also be featured in strategy magazine's February 2015 issue. This year's Globe Effectiveness Prize, which provides client-agency teams with delegate passes to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was awarded to Molson Coors for the Passport Beer Fridge Campaign.

ABOUT THE CASSIES

The pre-eminent CASSIES awards show, celebrating its 22^nd year, is Canada's only industry awards recognizing business effectiveness based on rigorous published cases.  The CASSIES are presented by the Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA), the Association des agences de publicité du Québec (AAPQ) and Association des professionnels de la communication et du marketing (APCM) and produced by strategy magazine. The current 2015 sponsors are: Globe and Mail – Platinum Sponsor, Millward Brown - Judging Sponsor, Canada Post - Direct Mail Partner and Television Bureau of Canada – Patron Sponsor. CASSIES creative has been provided by One Advertising, and its public relations services have been provided by DDB Public Relations.  Since its inception in 1993, the CASSIES has recognized the business achievements of over 500 campaigns from Canada's top advertisers and communications agencies.  All award-winning case studies can be viewed in the Case Library section of the CASSIES website at www.cassies.ca. 

SOURCE CASSIES

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