2024 Winner
GoldBest in Experiential/Stunts - Budget Over $100,000
SilverBest Launch/Relaunch
CBC
"The Blackberry Museum"
Initiative
"The Blackberry Museum"
Initiative
As Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC is responsible for a plethora of cultural programming across radio and television. They’ve made their streaming platform CBC Gem their top marketing priority in an effort to compete with the two dozen active streaming services now vying for Canadian attention. Despite being completely free, CBC Gem trails far behind its competitors in terms of viewership.
In 2023, CBC co-funded Matt Johnson’s new feature film Blackberry about the rise & fall of the company behind our first smartphone. CBC decided to experiment by re-editing the film into a 3 part mini-series for release on CBC Gem. This was a big swing and a major opportunity to drive new interest and conversation around the platform.
The brand had to get Canadians excited about a series that many had already seen during its theatrical run, and which centered around a defunct brand that had long since lost its cultural relevance. With no creative agency involved, and only a trailer and key art to work with, they had to think of an unconventional approach to promoting the release.
The agency identified that a critical part of the series’ appeal lay in our collective nostalgia for the early 2000s – a simpler time before technology came to dominate our lives. They realized that the Blackberry was more than a phone – it was a portal back in time.
The brand built a museum for a dead brand that sent audiences back in time. By tapping into CBC’s relationship with Research in Motion (the company that created the Blackberry), the brand convinced them to let them bring the Blackberry brand back to life.
“The Blackberry Museum” was built from scratch featuring a series of custom glass display cases housing all of the old devices from 1996 to 2013 alongside placards that profiled each era of the company. It included a giant Blackberry phone you could step inside for a photo op, and guests were invited to challenge themselves to a Blackberry messenger type-off for the chance to win retro 2000s memorabilia like a Blackberry Fanny pack.
Knowing Apple’s iPhone is what ultimately killed the Blackberry (and that Apple’s customers were most likely fans of Blackberry at one point in time) they staged their museum just 30 feet away from their flagship store and targeted these consumers online to reignite the rivalry.
To really truly transport our audience back to the 2000s and drive interest in the museum they leveraged out-of-fashion media tactics that were popular at the time and often used to promote Blackberry itself – such as radio remotes, morning tv integrations, and mall media.
The agency also recreated the beloved game Brickbreaker featuring key art from the series and ran it across modern mobile gaming apps to trigger fond memories of the brand and generate excitement around the launch.
They resurrected the Blackberry brand by partnering with its parent company, and
painstakingly sourced every device they ever released to build a perfect memorial to the early 2000s. The team called up contacts at Rogers and other telecom companies to source old devices in storage, took to websites like ebay to buy up old paraphernalia, and even contacted family members in order to gather all of the merchandise required.
From media tactic selection to the museum experience, and recreating brand artifacts like Brickbreaker – everything about the campaign was planned to trigger the nostalgia our audience had for the early 2000s and generate interest in the series.
The campaign achieved remarkable results, generating over 23.5 million total impressions with a 127% delivery rate. It drove 34,100 clicks to watch on CBC Gem and resulted in a 33% increase in CBC Gem app downloads. Additionally, the campaign secured earned media coverage in prominent outlets, including the Toronto Star and other major dailies.
The series achieved outstanding success, becoming the #1 show on CBC Gem and the top premiere of Q4 2023. It exceeded audience tune-in targets by 2.5 times, with an average of 34,000 content starts per episode and 47,000 seven-day video views for the premiere. On CBC TV, the series reached an impressive 878,000 viewers per episode.
The campaign successfully engaged consumers through interactive experiences, including 1,560 interactions with brand ambassadors and 336,995 participants playing Brickbreaker, achieving a 5.7% engagement rate. Additionally, 185 consumers participated in BBM type-off challenges, and 770 branded items were distributed, further enhancing brand visibility and consumer connection.
In 2023, CBC co-funded Matt Johnson’s new feature film Blackberry about the rise & fall of the company behind our first smartphone. CBC decided to experiment by re-editing the film into a 3 part mini-series for release on CBC Gem. This was a big swing and a major opportunity to drive new interest and conversation around the platform.
The brand had to get Canadians excited about a series that many had already seen during its theatrical run, and which centered around a defunct brand that had long since lost its cultural relevance. With no creative agency involved, and only a trailer and key art to work with, they had to think of an unconventional approach to promoting the release.
The agency identified that a critical part of the series’ appeal lay in our collective nostalgia for the early 2000s – a simpler time before technology came to dominate our lives. They realized that the Blackberry was more than a phone – it was a portal back in time.
The brand built a museum for a dead brand that sent audiences back in time. By tapping into CBC’s relationship with Research in Motion (the company that created the Blackberry), the brand convinced them to let them bring the Blackberry brand back to life.
“The Blackberry Museum” was built from scratch featuring a series of custom glass display cases housing all of the old devices from 1996 to 2013 alongside placards that profiled each era of the company. It included a giant Blackberry phone you could step inside for a photo op, and guests were invited to challenge themselves to a Blackberry messenger type-off for the chance to win retro 2000s memorabilia like a Blackberry Fanny pack.
Knowing Apple’s iPhone is what ultimately killed the Blackberry (and that Apple’s customers were most likely fans of Blackberry at one point in time) they staged their museum just 30 feet away from their flagship store and targeted these consumers online to reignite the rivalry.
To really truly transport our audience back to the 2000s and drive interest in the museum they leveraged out-of-fashion media tactics that were popular at the time and often used to promote Blackberry itself – such as radio remotes, morning tv integrations, and mall media.
The agency also recreated the beloved game Brickbreaker featuring key art from the series and ran it across modern mobile gaming apps to trigger fond memories of the brand and generate excitement around the launch.
They resurrected the Blackberry brand by partnering with its parent company, and
painstakingly sourced every device they ever released to build a perfect memorial to the early 2000s. The team called up contacts at Rogers and other telecom companies to source old devices in storage, took to websites like ebay to buy up old paraphernalia, and even contacted family members in order to gather all of the merchandise required.
From media tactic selection to the museum experience, and recreating brand artifacts like Brickbreaker – everything about the campaign was planned to trigger the nostalgia our audience had for the early 2000s and generate interest in the series.
The campaign achieved remarkable results, generating over 23.5 million total impressions with a 127% delivery rate. It drove 34,100 clicks to watch on CBC Gem and resulted in a 33% increase in CBC Gem app downloads. Additionally, the campaign secured earned media coverage in prominent outlets, including the Toronto Star and other major dailies.
The series achieved outstanding success, becoming the #1 show on CBC Gem and the top premiere of Q4 2023. It exceeded audience tune-in targets by 2.5 times, with an average of 34,000 content starts per episode and 47,000 seven-day video views for the premiere. On CBC TV, the series reached an impressive 878,000 viewers per episode.
The campaign successfully engaged consumers through interactive experiences, including 1,560 interactions with brand ambassadors and 336,995 participants playing Brickbreaker, achieving a 5.7% engagement rate. Additionally, 185 consumers participated in BBM type-off challenges, and 770 branded items were distributed, further enhancing brand visibility and consumer connection.
Credits
CBCStephen Mavilla - Promo Producer
Peter Ignatiou - Copywriter
Joe Bruni - Art Director
Kevin Matheson - Art Director
Maria Contreras - Graphic Designer
Jay Lin - Graphic Designer
Daniel Cultraro - Project Lead
Lindsay Dyson - Associate Creative Director
Marcel Witbooi - Creative Director
Munro Cullen - Senior Creative Director
Alicia Wong - Senior Marketing Manager
Diana Cina - Marketing Manager
Danica Cortez - Senior Communications Officer
Initiative
Lucus Dato - Senior Communications Designer
Kinnon Hurst - Director, Communications Design
Cara Schneider - Director, Communications Design
Jamie Camden - Group Director, Strategy
Samantha Rosenberg - Director, Creative Partnerships
Mike Cortiula - Vice President, Client Advice & Management
Taylor Schmidt - Manager, Creative Partnerships
Chris Gairdner - Vice President, Head of Creative Partnerships
Jessica Jennings - Senior Director, Visual Communications
Nikki Ernst - Senior Graphic & Presentation Designer
Makers
Production Partner: Makers
Executive Producer: Tiffany Tse
Producer: Erica McCartney
Supporting Producer: Jenn Ivanovs
Creative Director: Chad Lesch
Designer: Will Ko
Fabrication: Timbr
Brand Ambassador: Prestige XM
Security: SecureTrust
Case Production: School Editorial
Steve Villeseche - Producer
Claire Shafto - Editor
Audio: TA2
Selina Fiorini-Paglia - Audio Engineer
Drew Thomas - Executive Producer
Joseph Frustaglio - Audio Director
Hannah Gelman - Voice Actor