The NOW Group

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We’re thrilled to announce that NOW’s creative and strategic work has won eight awards at the 2020 Summit Creative Awards for excellence in advertising. Congratulations to all of our clients and production partners across the country!

With more than 4,100 submissions from 27 countries, the Summit Creative Awards recognize the achievements of small- and medium-sized advertising agencies worldwide. 

This year, we were recognized for a wide range of campaigns – from our national political marketing with Canada’s NDP to our work promoting public investment and access to education, preventing sexual violence, promoting energy sustainability, and showing the public’s support for frontline workers during the pandemic. 

Here’s a look at some of our winning creative campaigns.

Gold Award – Coronavirus Response (Single Entry)

Client: Hospital Employees’ Union
Campaign: Pots and Pans

Gold Award – Government Marketing

Client: Government of British Columbia
Campaign: Retrofit


Silver Award – Public Service Television / Internet / Radio

Client: BC Federation of Students
Campaign: Dress Up Dreams

We’re also thrilled to have been awarded:

  • Gold awards in Political Marketing and “Best Idea Never Produced” for our work with Canada’s NDP
  • Gold in the Outdoor Campaign category and Bronze in the “Social Media Campaign” category for our work to prevent sexual violence on post-secondary campuses in British Columbia
  • Bronze in the “Television/Commercial Campaign” category for our work with the BC Teachers’ Federation to promote investment in public education

We’re incredibly proud to work with clients across Canada to make life better for working people, improve public services, and build stronger communities for everyday families. And we’re thrilled that our creative and strategic work can be judged amongst the best in the world. 

The Summit Awards were founded in 1994. This year’s competition included advertising companies from 27 countries. Summit Awards are selected in 18 major categories based on innovative and creative concepts, strong execution and user experience, and the ability to communicate and persuade. 

This year’s competition included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

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How do you say thank you, when thank you isn’t enough?

You show how you feel. And that’s exactly what Canadians are doing, every evening, to applaud health care workers. 

From balconies and porches, front steps and driveways, people are using anything we can – pots, pans, voices, and hands – to show our gratitude for the dedicated people who are taking care of all of us. It’s heartwarming to see and hear. And these powerful images and sounds are the inspiration for new ads from the Hospital Employees’ Union that thank British Columbians for staying home to keep everyone safe.

HEU represents more than 50,000 members providing patient care and keeping BC’s hospitals and long-term care homes safe and clean. 

NOW couldn’t be more proud to work with HEU to bring this campaign to life. We pulled out all the stops to deliver ads that wouldn’t just be compelling and beautiful – but also fully respect all public health directives.  

Filming at six locations across the province, the team of videographers at Gab Films captured the uplifting visuals and inspiring sounds of everyday British Columbians showing their support for health care workers. We also filmed a shift change outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, where health care workers can hear the sounds of support at 7 pm each evening. 

Throughout the filming and production process, we ensured that physical distancing was always maintained to keep everyone safe. The 15 and 30 second ads are now airing across BC. 

On behalf of everyone at The NOW Group, thank you to all health care workers, on the frontlines and behind the scenes, for taking good care of all of us.

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It’s World Book Day! And with everyone stuck at home during this pandemic, there’s never been a better time to crack open a great book, step into someone else’s shoes, and set out to explore the world with new eyes.

As a creative agency, our team likes to read. A lot. And we keep those creative juices pumping with a pretty eclectic array of books on the go. 

To celebrate the joy of reading on this World Book Day, we asked around NOW’s virtual-office to see what we’re reading right now. And here it is: Our team’s first-ever recommendations for good reads.

An Ocean of Minutes, by Thea Lim. Take a story about a couple separated by crisis and borders and flip it 90 degrees so they’re separated by time, instead of distance. An Ocean of Minutes is a novel that leans on time travel but it’s not sci-fi – instead, it explores separation, longing, and imagination in a world that’s been thrown askew. Sound familiar?

On The Line: A History of the British Columbia Labour Movement, by Rod Mickleburgh. As an agency devoted to promoting social good and helping unions connect with working Canadians, we love a good labour history. And exploring BC’s labour history is an incredible journey – from mining strikes and fiery speeches, to the lasting victories that unions have won for BC’s workers. On The Line is the story of how the labour movement has helped to build BC – and the vital role that unions play in making life better for all working families.

Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention, by Tings Chak. Through a little over a hundred pages of precise illustrations, photos, and words, Chak informs, enlightens, and provokes us about the way we use built environments to restrict human movement and the ethical responsibilities designers face. A unique work from the perspective of an author who wears the hats of both artist and architect.

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, by Ronan Farrow. This is a powerful book about the importance of survivors’ voices – and the irreplaceable value of investigative journalism in uncovering truths that powerful interests would prefer to keep buried. Catch and Kill documents Farrow’s struggle to uncover the stories of multiple sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, who now sits convicted in a New York prison cell. Farrow reveals what it took to bring so many women’s stories to light – and help catalyse one of the most important criminal cases of the 21st century.

What Goes Up: The Right and Wrongs to the City, by Michael Sorkin. The social conscience of the architectural design field, Sorkin tragically passed away on March 26 as one of New York City’s first victims of the COVID-19 virus. But he left us with a profound legacy through his decades of writing and architectural practice. Drawing inspiration from George Orwell’s reasons for writing, Sorkin hoped that his own design practice “strikes a blow against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.” Full of thought-provoking ideas about building better spaces for all city residents, this collection also showcases Sorkin at his witty and playful best. Who knew that every architect should be aware of the flowering season of azaleas?

There There, by Tommy Orange. This novel looks at what it means to be “native” in a modern American landscape – not as one all-encompassing group but as individuals with unique experiences and struggles. The unique structure of the story allows the narrative to shift perspectives between twelve characters, almost spiraling towards the climax as they all make their way to a Powwow in Oakland. The writing is vivid and poignant, and you find yourself thinking about each of the characters for hours after putting down the book. Can’t wait to see what Tommy Orange writes next!

The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972-1975, by Geoff Meggs and Rod Mickleburgh. This book looks back on the time in office – and the long list of legacies – of Dave Barrett, the first NDP premier of British Columbia. It was just three years, but Barrett’s government helped shape the future of BC as we know it. It passed hundreds of bills, set up public auto insurance, created pharmacare, and so much more. This book is well worth the read – and a timely reminder of how much a government can do to help people, if it has the political will.

P.S. Next time you order a book, please support your local independent booksellers. We can’t imagine our neighbourhoods without them – and we need to make sure they survive this difficult period.

And a big shout-out to public library workers across Canada for making incredible e-books and electronic resources available during this period of isolation. Thank you, librarians, for making the world of books accessible to more people than ever.

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The winning tagline for the Covid crisis seems to be “We’re in it together.”

It might be new as a rallying cry, but it’s always been true. We just didn’t talk about it before.

This pandemic is not the ‘great equalizer,’ as Madonna declared from her $5,000, petal-filled bathtub. Those who were already struggling are being hit the hardest. And nothing short of an earth-crushing asteroid can equalize a world with this much inequality (although smart social policies, fair corporate taxes, strong public services, compassionate immigration laws, and transformative climate policy would be a start).

But this pandemic is the ‘great exposer.’ It’s showing us just how close to the edge many middle-class and working class Canadians have been pushed. And it’s proving that a better future is possible.

For many Canadians, concerns about eviction, access to food banks, and income assistance had never touched them directly. And a ‘precarious job’ was thought to mean some combination of low pay, no security, and no benefits. 

This is a wake-up call: it could be any of us. And one catastrophic event can turn almost all jobs into precarious ones. 

None of this precarity was widely-recognized as a problem until it became a problem for ‘everyone’.

In a flash, people who felt they had secure paycheques, suddenly didn’t. My niece with a union job in Toronto’s booming film and TV industry. My friend, the massage therapist and owner of a wildly popular specialized clinic, that takes bookings two months in advance. Another friend who works in a dental office (Who could imagine a time without a demand for dentists?). It was a stretch to think that any of these jobs could vanish, one at a time. Let alone losing all of them overnight.

Yet, the system has been cracking – and those cracks didn’t happen overnight. For decades, we’ve seen governments cutting public services, squeezing the most vulnerable, and trying to convince all of us that those cuts wouldn’t hurt us a bit. And year after year, the evidence of families’ growing financial hardship has been mounting.

Last fall, personal bankruptcies were up 10% over the previous year. Headlines in early March shouted that Canadians own $3 trillion in personal debt. With an average household debt of $72,950, we’re carrying $1.76 in debt for every dollar of disposable income. And average debt per consumer increased 2.7 per cent in 2019, compared to a year earlier.

Here’s the thing: people who live paycheque to paycheque are in a world of pain when those paycheques end. Families drowning in debt can’t float when they can’t cover the monthly minimum. 

And now, the rug has been pulled out from under people – and there’s no floor to stand on. 

“No shit,” say the millions of Canadians whose lives keep getting harder thanks to conservative governments, like Doug Ford’s and Jason Kenney’s – governments that remain intent on cutting the public services and social supports that we need now, more than ever.

But none of this precarity was widely-recognized as a problem until it became a problem for ‘everyone’. And by ‘everyone’ I mean the stock market. And corporations who suddenly don’t have consumers. And governments facing a collapse in revenues.

Overcrowded shelters have been overwhelmed, underfunded, and stretched thin for so long that many simply can’t provide the safety and security that every human being deserves.

Now that it is a problem for ‘everyone,’ we suddenly see that governments can act swiftly to help people, when they have the political will. 

Governments around the world are proving that it’s possible to provide direct financial assistance to help people who are unemployed. In mere weeks, basic income went from being a great hope for many activists and the fantasy of Andrew Yang’s long-shot candidacy… to a cheque that Donald Trump is signing. (Of course, truly universal basic income will take much, much more than a one-time cheque in the midst of a global crisis). 

At the same time, municipal governments are proving that it is possible to take real action to provide emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness – and proving, by doing so, that so much more can and should be done to improve long-term access to housing for everyone. Because overcrowded shelters aren’t just a health hazard today; they’ve been overwhelmed, underfunded, and stretched thin for so long that many simply can’t provide the safety and security that every human being deserves.

The truth that this crisis exposes is that we can do better. 

We don’t have to settle for a politics of austerity and precarity. We don’t have to live in a country that pushes working families to the brink. We don’t have to ignore the needs of vulnerable people in our communities, with the hope that it “never happens to us.”

We can do better. We can build a future where safe and affordable housing is a right and a reality. Where working families have secure incomes, benefits, and pensions. And where the health and safety of everyone is protected, on and off the job. 

The crucial test will be what happens after. Having exposed the precarity that people face and proven that governments can do so much more to help, what happens when this is over? What happens to that political will, when certain politicians try to take us back to ‘normal’? 

Pandemic or no pandemic: we’re in this together. We always have been. And this time, let’s make sure we don’t forget it.