The NOW Group

Christina Day

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We’re excited to announce that our work with the Canadian Cancer Society—Canada’s largest cancer charity—has been honoured with five international awards in 2024 for marketing and advocacy effectiveness, including the:

The AAPC Pollie Awards are regarded as the “Oscars of political advertising.” The Reed Awards honour the best campaign and public issue advertising from across the US and beyond.

And with over 1,800 submissions from 17 countries, the Summit Marketing Effectiveness Award’s measure what works—honouring strategic excellence, cutting-edge creative, and great results in campaigns from around the world.

And we couldn’t be prouder of the campaign we built with the Canadian Cancer Society to advocate for better palliative care services, in every corner of Canada.

Palliative care has the power to dramatically improve the quality of life for people experiencing life-limiting illnesses. And every individual and family who needs palliative care services should have the right to access it.

But today, too many people face significant barriers to receiving palliative care at the earliest opportunity in their care journey. There simply aren’t enough palliative care services, including hospices, in enough communities across Canada.

The Canadian Cancer Society is working to change that, in partnership with palliative care advocates across the country. And together, we developed a national, bilingual campaign to raise awareness and call for action.

The result is a compelling campaign called About Life, which features real people and real stories about the power of palliative care to make life better. Our team met with and interviewed families across Canada who have experienced the benefits of palliative care. And we filmed beautiful footage in people’s homes and communities—the places that give the greatest meaning to their lives.

The campaign features a 30 second signature ad and 90 second long-form videos, which share the deeply personal and moving stories of how palliative care improves people’s quality of life. And together, they help to dispel the greatest misconception about palliative care:

It’s not about dying. It’s about life.

Canadian Cancer Society – About Life

We’re so grateful to everyone who generously shared their time—and their stories—with our team. We couldn’t have done this work alone.

To see more of the campaign and add your voice for better palliative care for all, visit cancer.ca/PalliativeCare.

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Updated April 22, 2024

14 million impressions. 3,300 digital screens. And the biggest one-day campaign we’ve ever run.

Our media team’s first-of-its-kind interactive outdoor ad campaign for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has just been awarded Best International Use of Outdoor Advertising and Best Canadian Use of Outdoor Advertising at the 2024 Reed Awards—plus Gold for Best Outdoor Advertising Campaign (International) at the 2024 Pollie Awards! And we couldn’t be prouder to help celebrate teachers and educators in a brand new way.

It all started last fall as ETFO, Canada’s largest teachers’ union, faced a challenging round of bargaining. After years of cuts to classroom supports, the government was working to drive a division between the union, teachers, and parents. And ETFO needed to tell the real story: Parents and teachers are on the same side, working together to build better schools and focused on doing what’s right for our kids.

How best to deliver that message? Make it personal.

To remind millions of people of the incredible impact that teachers have in our lives, we invited the public to Thank a Teacher for the difference that educators are making—and get the chance to see their message on public billboards and digital ad screens across the province.

It was a brand new way to give people the unique opportunity to get involved and pay tribute to the contributions that teachers have made in all of our lives. We advertised the campaign across social platforms, programmatic digital, and through ETFO’s robust email program. And the response was overwhelming.

On October 5th—World Teachers’ Day—the campaign went live on thousands of digital billboards and screens. From highway signs on the 401 to screens in theatres, gyms, elevators, and even gas stations, the one-day campaign delivered 14.3 million digital impressions. Watch this highlight reel on our Instagram page.

Plus, here’s the best part. We kept the campaign local, ensuring that messages of thanks appeared to parents and educators at schools in their own communities. And our campaign showed overwhelming support for educators in every region, with local messages of thanks appearing in every one of the province’s school boards—from real people to real teachers.

Bold, personal, and public. This campaign showcased the deep sense of connection and appreciation that parents feel towards educators. And the show of public support—in every corner of the province—helped encourage the government to focus on bargaining.

We’re delighted that this innovative campaign has now been recognized with two awards at the 2024 Reed Awards, honouring the best in campaigns and public issue advertising from across the US and internationally, and a gold award at the Pollie Awards, sponsored by the American Association of Political Consultants and regarded as “the Oscars of political advertising.”

Want to explore how a smart out-of-home strategy can work for your next ad campaign? Give us a call, or send us an email. We’re ready to help.

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Authentic. Relatable. And human.

That’s what it takes for public advocacy ad campaigns to create a real connection with your audience—and put real issues in people’s lives at the heart of public debate. And with a clear focus on fixing health care and making life more affordable, that’s exactly how the Manitoba NDP won the 2023 election—and made history with Wab Kinew becoming the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province.

Now, the campaign’s signature ads are being recognized as the Best International Campaign (Sub-National) at the 2024 Reed Awards, the leading advertising competition for campaign and public issue advertising in the US and beyond.

Four signature ads across TV, digital, and social platforms helped the Manitoba NDP deliver a crisp and clear campaign frame that resonated with everyday Manitobans—and showed that fixing health care was the number one priority for people.

Real Reactions featured the faces and voices of real Manitobans, capturing their reaction to the incumbent government’s long list of cuts to health care. And it served as a stark reminder of the impact of those cuts on real families.

And At Any Moment focused on the risk of more cuts and ER closures—in a deeply human and personal way. It asked the audience to think, really think, about the risk of more cuts to health care.

What We Want for Our Kids opened the campaign with a heartfelt and deeply personal message from Kinew:

What he wants for his own kids, he wants for all Manitobans.

And A Plan for People allowed Kinew to show how his focus on the priorities of Manitoba families inspires his practical plan to make life better for everyday people.

Authentic. Relatable. And human. It’s what makes a message both compelling and effective. And we’re delighted to see these signature ads for the historic Manitoba campaign honoured at the 2024 Reed Awards.

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As the weather warms up and days get longer, it’s the perfect time to spring ahead and start planning for summer! And our team has lots of ideas to help your union or non-profit make the most of summer 2024.

One of the “secrets” behind the strength of any organization’s brand is simple. Success starts by making an emotional connection with your audience and winning people’s hearts. It’s as true for unions, non-profits, charities, and public sector organizations as for anything – and anyone – else.

Showing up and showing you care is the first and most important step to building a community of supporters who will hear your message – and help take it further.

How will you win people’s hearts this summer?

You’ve got more platforms and more tactics available for your next campaign than ever before. But this summer, don’t overlook the potential to connect with your audience in one of the friendliest and most neighbourly of ways: By showing up at community events, cultural festivals, art crawls, and all the great summer events that fill the streets of our big cities and small towns all summer long!

Here are just a few ways you can show you care alongside your members—and future supporters—this summer.

Sponsor a Festival

What’s better than going to a party? Try hosting the party! Consider sponsoring one of your community’s favourite summer events. It’s a great way to get noticed and sends a powerful message to every attendee: We share something important in common. Afterall, we both showed up here!

Get Noticed at Street-Level

After months of winter hibernation, spring and summer bring people back onto streets and sidewalks across the country. People are walking more, running more, cycling more—and that creates a great opportunity to get noticed at street-level with fresh billboards, transit shelters, and out-of-home advertising.

And don’t pass up the opportunity for posters, such as wildpostings on busy sidewalks! With striking design and eye-catching messages, you can turn heads and get that all-important second look. It’s also a great way to use gritty, organic, and community-inspired design to build a connection with your audience.

Hop on Transit

Transit ridership continues to rebound across the country, following the pandemic. And there’s good reason to show up on transit this summer. It’s one of the most recognizable public services in people’s lives. And, even if they don’t use transit to get to work, many people will hop on transit to get to summer festivals. Think of the routes people will take and meet people there with eye-catching ads on buses or streetcars—or on your city’s light-rail transit or subway lines.

Pedal Your Message

City bikes offer a fun opportunity for catchy creative. Plus you’re showing your support for cycling infrastructure—and that’s good for everyone’s health and for the environment, too. Plus, we’ve noticed a lot of bonusing on city bike advertising spaces, meaning your creative could stay up longer than you pay for.

Show Up on Screens

Digital ads on mobile devices are a great way to reach people attending a festival or community event. And if people are visiting town for the event, you have an even bigger audience you can reach with a weekend’s worth of digital ads. Plus, digital ads can be an affordable way to dip your toes into festival advertising, without breaking the bank.

Lean In

Want to strike a chord at Folk Fest? Reaching a summer audience is a great opportunity to lean into the event’s theme—with a creative approach that gives people a grin or even a giggle.

Nothing makes your message more memorable than embracing the vibe of the event, wholeheartedly. And our creative team is here to help! We can help you craft a creative approach that shows you love the festival as much as anyone who’s attending. You’re not just there as an advertiser; you’re there as a fan.

The Writing’s on the… Ground?

Think chalk art is just for kids? Think again! Hiring a mural artist to design stunning sidewalk art can be a great way to get noticed by hundreds of festival-goers. And it helps convey an important message about your union or non-profit’s personality: You’re fun, down-to-earth, and not afraid to get your hands dirty.

Feed People!

We all know it. The best way to a person’s heart is… food! From ice cream trucks to lemonade stands, there’s no shortage of great ways to give people something good to eat – and make a memorable connection. Just be prepared to be popular! (Hint: don’t run out.)

Light It Up

Got an evening art crawl or late-night jazz performances in your community? Light up the night with light projections after dark. For several hours each evening, you can be turning heads and getting noticed in an entirely unexpected way.

Excited about summer? Want to explore ideas for how you can show up in your own community? Give us a call, or send us an email. We’d love to help!

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Happy holidays! Every year, all year, our team keeps our eyes on ads seen on screens around the world. And when the holidays roll around, it’s time to celebrate— and share—some of the most memorable ones we’ve watched throughout the year.

When you see a great ad, you know it. It’s got the power to cut through the noise. Grab attention. Give you a laugh. Push you to tears. And, of course, the best ads have the power to change how you feel or even how you think.

Here are just 7 of the memorable ads we saw in 2023 from around the world.

Far Enough, Vote Yes – Voice Referendum Australia

Cheeky. Humorous. And effective. This ad cuts through voters’ excuses surrounding the Voice Referendum, urging Australians to just google it. “You need to tell people about that. The googling thing. They should know about that.”

Forward Faster – UN Global Compact

This is a two-minute video, but it starts with what every great ad needs: a brilliant hook, right off the top, that compels viewers to just keep watching.

Proudly the Second Best – IKEA

We aren’t a corporate ad agency and there aren’t a lot of ads selling products that we really love. But this series of ads from IKEA is smart. It proudly positions IKEA products as only the second best; the connection between parents and their kids will always be better. Talk about knowing your audience—and speaking directly to it. Kudos.

Deconstructed Closets – United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

The UN Population Fund worked with one of the biggest ad agencies in Argentina to turn old closets into Pride murals, transforming symbols of oppression and prejudice into new artworks of celebration and solidarity.

The Polite Bouncer – Icelandair

Every year, our annual list of memorable ads seems to feature something we’ve seen – and loved – from Scandinavian advertising. (Last year’s OutHorse Your Email to Iceland’s Horses still makes us giggle with delight). This year, we saw Icelandair launch a social-first campaign with cute, on-brand ads like this:

Forgotten Places – John Fetterman’s Senate Campaign

Okay, okay, this ad isn’t from 2023! It’s from 2022. But we watched it again – and loved it again – so it deserves an honourable mention in this year’s list. It’s a beautiful ad featuring Fetterman’s central campaign message: “We can’t leave anyone behind.”

Vote Social, Vote SP – Dutch Socialist Party

A fun and upbeat get-out-the-vote ad from the Socialist Party in the Netherlands that delivers a simple message: Make sure you leave the polling station feeling good!

Enjoying the creative inspiration? Check out some of our favourites from previous years here and here.

From everyone at The NOW Group, happy holidays and happy new year!

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Every parent knows. It’s a struggle to find childcare. And once you’ve got it, the daily routine can be hectic.

Rushing for drop-off. Running late for pick-up. Juggling schedules. And always racing against the clock. It’s a daily struggle for busy families, adding stress and worry that parents—and kids—just don’t need.

What if there was a better way to deliver safe, affordable, and accessible childcare for thousands of BC families?

Now, there is!

CUPE BC has been campaigning for public childcare for years. In their latest digital campaign, Seamless Childcare Now, they’re continuing the fight. And our team is proud to partner with BC’s largest union to help make life better for parents.

While BC is making progress to improve public childcare and reduce costs for families, there’s more to do. And seamless childcare in public schools is the perfect next step.

By putting empty classrooms to use and delivering before- and after-school childcare inside all of BC’s public schools, the province can create thousands of new spaces for school-aged childcare without building a single new facility. And BC’s education support workers are trained, qualified, and ready to deliver the before- and after-school childcare that families need.

It’s a practical solution. And for parents, it couldn’t be easier. One drop-off, one pick-up, and the confidence of knowing that your kids are getting the care they need, at school, all day long.

Our brand new digital ads take a creative approach to engaging BC’s parents, showing that empty classrooms are one of BC’s greatest untapped resources. Instead of leaving parents to worry about making complicated childcare arrangements, seamless childcare is the simple solution that could make life so much easier for families—and deliver the safe, affordable, and accessible childcare we all need for our kids.

At The NOW Group, we love building fresh and engaging digital campaigns that connect with parents—and help build support for the public services that make life better for people. And every day, we work with our clients to support and improve public education for millions of kids across Canada.

Want to talk about new tools for your next digital campaign? Reach out here or give us a call. Our team is ready to help.

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At The NOW Group, we create winning campaigns for good causes. Our work is about making life better for people, building stronger communities, and strengthening the public services we all count on.

It’s never about collecting awards. But, when award season arrives, it’s a nice surprise to be recognized by our peers in the advertising industry—for good work that makes a real impact.

And this week, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve won 5 awards at the Summit Creative Awards, an international advertising competition featuring entries from 28 countries.

Plus, for the fourth year in a row, The NOW Group has been named a Top Agency in recognition of our team’s creative excellence.

But we couldn’t do it alone.

All our clients are working to improve life for Canadians. And we’re honoured to work with you.

Here’s a look at our award-winning campaigns.

Canadian Cancer Society – About Life

Silver Award for Health / Medicine Marketing

Everyone in Canada has a right to access palliative care. But for too many people and their loved ones, it’s not there when they need it.

We worked with the Canadian Cancer Society to create a national, bilingual campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of palliative care—and call for better access for all.

Our team travelled to meet Canadians who have lived experience of palliative care. We listened to their stories and filmed them at home and in their communities. The result is About Life, an ad featuring the voices and stories of real people and their loved ones, and complemented by four longer form videos, focusing on each person’s experiences.

At its heart, the campaign helps to address one of the biggest misconceptions about palliative care: It’s not about death.

It’s about life—and the ability to focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Check out the campaign at cancer.ca/palliativecare.

uOttawa Faculty of Medicine – Ottawa’s Academic Health Network

Silver Award for Health / Medicine Video

From unlocking the secrets of genetics to finding novel therapies for rare diseases, new discoveries are occurring every day inside Ottawa’s hospitals and health faculties. And these discoveries are improving care for patients and families around the world.

That’s a story worth sharing.

In partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine—Canada’s first and largest bilingual medical faculty—we worked to help raise awareness of Ottawa’s Academic Health Network. The challenge was clear. Each of Ottawa’s hospitals and health faculties has a unique identity, its own character, and strong brand awareness with its key audiences. Each institution is known for its unique expertise.

But what isn’t widely known is the power of their partnership.

Our job was to elevate them, together. To build awareness amongst medical researchers about Ottawa’s Academic Health Network, we needed to show the connection and collaboration amongst these institutions – and the unique opportunities this cooperation creates for conducting world-leading health research in Ottawa. Read more about the project here.

National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) – Brand Refresh

Silver Award for Logo Redesign

There’s so much we love about NUPGE! It’s a unique family of unions that serves as the national voice for its provincial components, representing 425,000 members who deliver public services of every kind.

It’s a leader in the fight to improve working conditions and protect public services for Canadians. And by uniting provincial unions, NUPGE speaks with a truly unique national perspective.

NUPGE’s previous logo was over 20 years old and feeling a bit dated. The logo wasn’t fully capturing the real strengths of this “union of unions” or reflecting the warmth of an organization that brings people together.

To help change that, we set out on a collaborative branding process to strengthen and modernize NUPGE’s look. We listened and learned from NUPGE’s team, conducted extensive consultations and discovery sessions together, and worked in partnership to deliver the refreshed brand tools that the union needs.

Our goal? To help NUPGE look its best. Read more here.

CUPE 503 – In Our Communities. For Our Communities

Silver Award for Public Service Campaign

CUPE 503 represents almost 10,000 members across Eastern Ontario, delivering public services that help strengthen our communities.

Together, we worked to give CUPE 503 a fresh new look, new tagline, and new campaign—that showcases the vital work members do every day. 

The new ads showcase the beauty of a community where strong and reliable public services make it possible to learn, grow, play, and care for each other. And the new tagline says it all: CUPE 503 members are in our communities, for our communities.

See more of the campaign and rebrand here. 

CUPE 503 – In our communities. For our communities.

Ontario NDP – Election 2022

Gold Award for Political Marketing

As the lead ad agency for the Ontario NDP in the 2022 election campaign, we crafted a wide range of creative content including three signature television ads.

A lot of voters love to hate political advertising. But these ads are different. Believe stood out for its unscripted authenticity and grit. It was down-to-earth and elevated the real voices of workers. Hard Work built on that message, showing that the NDP is committed to fixing health care instead of cutting it, fixing seniors’ care instead of neglecting it, and bringing down the costs families face.

And Ping Pong? Well, it’s just a great ad! Filmed with 2,000 orange ping pong balls, it used humour and a smart metaphor to help turn pessimism and cynicism into hope and optimism. And it transformed the other parties’ strength—their long history of governing in Ontario—into their biggest weakness.

Ontario’s NDP – Ping Pong

Congratulations to all our clients and production partners across Canada. We can’t wait to see what we do next, together!

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With increasing costs for families, profits soaring at big corporations, and public services struggling after years of cuts, it all adds up to one thing:

Workers need wins.

So it’s no surprise that a “summer of strikes” has given new visibility to the collective power of workers. And with high-profile negotiations dominating headlines, this Labour Day more people are paying attention to bargaining efforts across a wide range of sectors.

From actors and writers in Hollywood and beyond, to workers at ports, grocery stores, liquor stores, transit services, automakers and more across Canada, working people are demanding change. And here’s a few things you’ve probably noticed.

Effective spokespeople are as important as ever. SAG-AFTRA’s Fran Drescher is getting lots of deserved attention for taking on the powerful studios, making a powerful and compelling case, and bringing the public on side.

But it’s not just Hollywood where effective communicators make a difference. Across Canada we’re seeing lots of examples of great leadership—and confident, clear communications.

Wages can be worth talking about. For a long time, many labour communicators have assumed that talking about pay is tough. But there’s lot of evidence that that’s changing.

With inflation at its highest in decades and cost-of-living top-of-mind for millions of families, more people than ever understand that wages need to increase.

In 2022, CUPE education workers in Ontario delivered a highly-effective message:

“$39,000 is not enough, for education workers or anyone.”

And in Manitoba, MGEU has launched a great campaign—Catch Up, Keep Up—to mobilize members in the fight for wages that increase with the cost of living.

It’s clear. When workers talk about the impact of below-inflation offers, people today intuitively understand that that just won’t cut it.

It’s about connecting with where people are at. The most effective bargaining messages are uniquely relevant to the moment, giving them the power to reach and resonate with your audience.

For instance, this summer, we’ve heard grocery store workers saying

“I can’t afford to shop at the grocery store where I work.”

People know it’s true—everyone’s seen the cost of groceries skyrocket—and in just one sentence it explains exactly why grocery store workers need better wages now.

So how do we put all of this into action to keep momentum for workers going?

1. Know your audience, do some research

People’s attitudes, perceptions, and opinions don’t stand still. We’re all constantly being influenced and impacted by the pressures around us (like the anxiety of the cost-of-living, the price of housing, and the sense that few people’s wages are keeping up with prices). Public opinion shifts, and the last thing you want is to miss an opportunity to connect with people’s top-of-mind concerns.
Building an effective communications strategy for bargaining means knowing where both your rank-and-file members and the public are at. We all make assumptions. But it’s crucial to test your assumptions.

2. Frame the conversation.

Making your best case for better wages and better working conditions requires a clear message that connects with your members and the public; shows the contrast between what the employer wants and what you’re working to achieve; and paints the picture of how wins for your members will help to make life better for working people.

You might want to focus on one powerful fact that shows exactly what the problem is. For instance, CUPE 561 members in the Fraser Valley focused their message on the fact that transit workers are making 32 percent less than workers doing the same job in neighbouring communities.

They repeated that fact, over and over, in advertising and earned media—making the case that workers simply couldn’t afford to keep going without higher wages. And after 124 days on strike, members won a six-year collective agreement that narrows the wage gap and introduces a pension plan for these dedicated workers.

3. Equip your team to deliver your message.

Once you have a message backed up by solid research, your communications strategy should always involve training your team in how best to use and share the message. Consider training sessions for your key spokespeople, communications staff, and local presidents to ensure that everyone has the tools they need to communicate with confidence.

And if you’re planning to launch an advertising campaign – from a smaller-scale social campaign to a large multi-platform campaign—don’t forget that there’s lots of ways to get earned media and also ensure that your members can share the campaign and extend its reach.

Of course, bargaining will always throw unexpected curveballs at your negotiating team, but a strong and effective communications strategy will serve you well. It’s about keeping your focus on what connects your members and the public—and how a win for your members is a win for all workers.