2024 Winner
GoldBest in OOH Platforms
SilverBest Integrated Campaign
BronzeBest Disruption
The Montreal Children’s
Hospital Foundation
"April Fools"
Cossette Media
Hospital Foundation
"April Fools"
Cossette Media
In the bustling landscape of charitable organizations, standing out can feel like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation faced this very challenge, needing to carve out a distinct identity amidst a sea of causes, often with bigger media investments.
The challenge of building awareness for causes, like The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and attracting charitable donations is a sizable one.
There is little to no money available to create these campaigns and provide sufficient media support; there is tons of competition to attract every charitable dollar – especially near Christmas when donations are most sought after due to the giving emotional season and end-of-year timing regarding taxes.
Compounding things even further, just like it has in the rest of the country, the percentage of charitable donors has dropped considerably (-17%) over the last ten
years in Quebec.
With the agency’s creativity and passion for the cause of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, they were committed to find solutions to these insurmountable challenges. With a budget of $26,000, the agency didn’t have the money to buy a share of voice to get remembered, so they challenged all the norms to differentiate The Foundation and engage potential donors.
The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation’s creative platform “Long Live Little Brats” was based on an amazing insight: a bratty kid is a healthy kid. The strategy was to celebrate little rascals by providing them with a platform where they could express themselves.
The agency’s eureka moment came from the most innocent and universally understood mischief: children’s pranks.
The campaign consisted of “little brats” having fun and making practical jokes all over
Montreal. One of the most important, and often undercooked aspects of media planning is often when is the most beneficial time period to advertise.
They elected to get out of the Christmas fray, in order to improve their ability to solicit media inventory and to stand out earlier in the year to acquire even more limited donation dollars. Instead of fighting for a small part of a crowded moment, why not own 100% of a new moment? And April Fools’ Day seemed the perfect untapped opportunity to let the “little brats” pull off a few pranks!
It is an universal annual custom to play pranks on April 1st. in Montreal (and across most French cultures), a longstanding tradition is to stick paper fish on other people’s backs, kind of like an elevated “kick me” sign. Given they couldn’t afford much media presence ourselves, the little brats high-jacked the media of other clients for the day of April 1st and stuck a paper fishes over their ads.
To ensure the entire Greater Montreal Area felt the prank, the agency hijacked digital billboards and transit shelters, and plastered fish stickers over other real in-market ads.
This guerrilla-style takeover also included digital banners on major Quebec publishers' websites, ensuring the reach extended throughout the province. In out-of-home, the visuals of the advertisers were visible under the April Fools. Therefore, the advertisers who agreed to offer their visibility for the cause demonstrated their good faith towards the foundation. It was a win-win situation! It took a great amount of collaboration and persuasion to convince in-market advertisers to give their ad spaces to the Children’s Foundation for a day.
In support to the Out-of-Home initiative, the pranks continued to spread all over town. At the Children’s hospital and in participating grocery stores, they hijacked radios, broadcasting jokes while children played light-hearted pranks on unsuspecting shoppers, nurses and doctors.
These moments of joy were captured and shared in social media, setting the tone for the campaign. Influential mom bloggers amplified the message by sharing their own playful stories and using the hashtag #LongLiveLittleBrats.
What made this campaign truly innovative was its collaborative spirit. It wasn’t just a campaign; it was a community effort that brought together creative and media agencies, media partners, and even the client. This collaboration not only made the agency’s approach disruptive but also cast the participating advertisers in a positive light as champions of the community.
The agency’s strategy turned the conventional use of media on its head. By transforming April Fools' Day into a large-scale public prank, they created an unforgettable experience. This creative takeover of traditional and digital media spaces demonstrated a fresh way to approach advertising in the non-profit sector, setting a new standard for creative collaboration and innovation. Finally, it was a category disruption to focus on April Fools’ Day, while most causes try to tap upon the emotionally-charged spirit of the Holiday season.
The playful takeover didn’t just raise awareness; it left an indelible mark on the public’s consciousness, ensuring that the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation stood out in the minds of the community. This innovative approach not only proved that big impact doesn’t require a big budget but also set a powerful precedent for future campaign.
The results of the playful experiment were nothing short of spectacular. The campaign captured the media’s imagination, earning coverage not only in Montreal but across Quebec. Prominent TV shows like Salut Bonjour (TVA), Global News (Global), and CTV News (CTV) featured the campaign, extending its reach.
Celebrities also joined the movement. Lysandre Nadeau and Claude Bégin, both public figures in Quebec, heartfully shared the campaign on their respective social media platforms, adding more reach to our campaign.
The challenge of building awareness for causes, like The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and attracting charitable donations is a sizable one.
There is little to no money available to create these campaigns and provide sufficient media support; there is tons of competition to attract every charitable dollar – especially near Christmas when donations are most sought after due to the giving emotional season and end-of-year timing regarding taxes.
Compounding things even further, just like it has in the rest of the country, the percentage of charitable donors has dropped considerably (-17%) over the last ten
years in Quebec.
With the agency’s creativity and passion for the cause of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, they were committed to find solutions to these insurmountable challenges. With a budget of $26,000, the agency didn’t have the money to buy a share of voice to get remembered, so they challenged all the norms to differentiate The Foundation and engage potential donors.
The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation’s creative platform “Long Live Little Brats” was based on an amazing insight: a bratty kid is a healthy kid. The strategy was to celebrate little rascals by providing them with a platform where they could express themselves.
The agency’s eureka moment came from the most innocent and universally understood mischief: children’s pranks.
The campaign consisted of “little brats” having fun and making practical jokes all over
Montreal. One of the most important, and often undercooked aspects of media planning is often when is the most beneficial time period to advertise.
They elected to get out of the Christmas fray, in order to improve their ability to solicit media inventory and to stand out earlier in the year to acquire even more limited donation dollars. Instead of fighting for a small part of a crowded moment, why not own 100% of a new moment? And April Fools’ Day seemed the perfect untapped opportunity to let the “little brats” pull off a few pranks!
It is an universal annual custom to play pranks on April 1st. in Montreal (and across most French cultures), a longstanding tradition is to stick paper fish on other people’s backs, kind of like an elevated “kick me” sign. Given they couldn’t afford much media presence ourselves, the little brats high-jacked the media of other clients for the day of April 1st and stuck a paper fishes over their ads.
To ensure the entire Greater Montreal Area felt the prank, the agency hijacked digital billboards and transit shelters, and plastered fish stickers over other real in-market ads.
This guerrilla-style takeover also included digital banners on major Quebec publishers' websites, ensuring the reach extended throughout the province. In out-of-home, the visuals of the advertisers were visible under the April Fools. Therefore, the advertisers who agreed to offer their visibility for the cause demonstrated their good faith towards the foundation. It was a win-win situation! It took a great amount of collaboration and persuasion to convince in-market advertisers to give their ad spaces to the Children’s Foundation for a day.
In support to the Out-of-Home initiative, the pranks continued to spread all over town. At the Children’s hospital and in participating grocery stores, they hijacked radios, broadcasting jokes while children played light-hearted pranks on unsuspecting shoppers, nurses and doctors.
These moments of joy were captured and shared in social media, setting the tone for the campaign. Influential mom bloggers amplified the message by sharing their own playful stories and using the hashtag #LongLiveLittleBrats.
What made this campaign truly innovative was its collaborative spirit. It wasn’t just a campaign; it was a community effort that brought together creative and media agencies, media partners, and even the client. This collaboration not only made the agency’s approach disruptive but also cast the participating advertisers in a positive light as champions of the community.
The agency’s strategy turned the conventional use of media on its head. By transforming April Fools' Day into a large-scale public prank, they created an unforgettable experience. This creative takeover of traditional and digital media spaces demonstrated a fresh way to approach advertising in the non-profit sector, setting a new standard for creative collaboration and innovation. Finally, it was a category disruption to focus on April Fools’ Day, while most causes try to tap upon the emotionally-charged spirit of the Holiday season.
The playful takeover didn’t just raise awareness; it left an indelible mark on the public’s consciousness, ensuring that the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation stood out in the minds of the community. This innovative approach not only proved that big impact doesn’t require a big budget but also set a powerful precedent for future campaign.
The results of the playful experiment were nothing short of spectacular. The campaign captured the media’s imagination, earning coverage not only in Montreal but across Quebec. Prominent TV shows like Salut Bonjour (TVA), Global News (Global), and CTV News (CTV) featured the campaign, extending its reach.
Celebrities also joined the movement. Lysandre Nadeau and Claude Bégin, both public figures in Quebec, heartfully shared the campaign on their respective social media platforms, adding more reach to our campaign.
Credits
MEDIA PARTNERS: Bell, Québecor, LaPressePUBLIC RELATIONSHIP AGENCY: Middle Child
CREATION AGENCY: Cossette
PRODUCTION: Septième
MEDIA DIRECTOR: Maude LaRue
MEDIA PLANNER: Gabriel Lafond
ACTIVATION DIRECTOR: Élodie Dubrulle
DIGITAL ACTIVATOR: Loick Le Corvec
CHIEF OF CREATION: Anne-Claude Chénier
CREATION DIRECTOR: Patrick Michaud
CREATION DIRECTOR: Annik Tremblay-Meunier, Marc Lessard
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Camille Lévesque
CHIEF OF STRATEGY: Michel-Alex Lessard
PRODUCT LEADS: Katherine Leftakis, Suzanne Giguère
PRODUCTION: Catherine Richard, Marie-Claude Francoeur
PRESIDENT: Renée Vézina
MARKETING VP: Kim Fraser