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The NOW Group and our clients’ campaigns are nominated for six Reed Awards

Roll out the red carpet!

It’s Oscars Sunday in Hollywood. And if you’re anything like us, you’re stocking up on snacks for the big show.

But there’s more to awards season than just the Oscars.

The NOW team is thrilled to be a finalist for six Reed Awards, including Best International Firm. The Reed Awards honour the best in political communications from the US and internationally, and this year’s awards will be handed out in Atlanta on February 20th.

Earning a designation as a Reed Award Finalist isn’t easy. Thousands of entries compete, but very few make the cut. So if you’re a Reed Awards Finalist, know you’re in good company.
– Shane D’Aprile, Co-Publisher, Campaigns & Elections

The NOW Group is pretty unique for an ad agency. Sure, we like trophies as much as anyone! But our work isn’t about us winning awards.

It’s about helping people win.

We work with incredible organizations to strengthen public services, protect working families, and build stronger communities. And when our work is nominated, the recognition belongs to all of our clients and partners across the country. They’re doing important work every day – and we’re honoured to help them reach, grow, and move their audiences.

Here’s just a taste of some of the work we did in 2019, as nominated by the Reed Awards.

Best International TV Advertisement – It Takes a Teacher – BCTF
Best International Online Video (Sub-National) – It Takes a Teacher – BCTF

Best Advocacy Advertising Campaign (Grassroots) – BCTF

“It Takes A Teacher” has a great message: Investing in kids and their teachers is crucial in an ever-changing world. We matched that message with superb performances and meticulous attention to sound design – including the memorable squeak of a shoe on the basketball court. We’re thrilled for BC Teachers’ that their campaign is nominated.

Best Canadian TV Advertisement – Moments – ETFO

Together, we created an ad that emphasizes the common ground between teachers and parents: The shared sense of responsibility for children. The impact of the ad relies on striking a genuine emotional chord – and this ad achieves it with first-rate, authentic performances and beautiful production values. It’s great to see ETFO’s ad nominated.

Best Canadian Use of Outdoor Advertising – Post-Secondary Sexual Violence Prevention – Government of British Columbia

These ads needed to be impossible to miss – because the message cannot be ignored. Sex without consent is rape. The posters have been displayed on campuses throughout the province, as well as in bars and clubs. The website on the posters, SafeCampusesBC.ca, directs users to an information hub where they can get help immediately, learn more, and spread the word.

Best International Firm – The NOW Group

For over 25 years, NOW has been creating winning campaigns for good causes. And we can’t wait to see what we create together in 2020. Together, let’s do some good!

December 13th, 2019 by The NOW Team

You remember in the federal election, when Jagmeet Singh had that amazing viral video on TikTok?

A lot of people had three reactions:

One, good for him!
Two, what the heck is a TikTok?
And three, do I really have to learn another frigging app?

We’re all busy people. And there’s so much to keep track of. New tools constantly coming. And the tools we already use? They keep changing.

For those of us in communications and advertising, the pace is even faster.

But whether you’re an ubergeek or a confirmed Luddite, or somewhere in between, progressive organizers and communicators have to keep learning how to make the most of these ever-changing capabilities.

Our movements, unions, and non-profits have powerful and well-resourced adversaries. And we need to get better at taking them on.

It’s up to us to design smart campaigns that marry ever-growing digital potential with the power of offline action. And to do that, we have to pay attention to three big lessons that today’s most successful campaigns are getting right.

Tip #1: Message matters.

No matter what medium you’re in – TikTok, Instagram, or Morse code – one thing’s still true.

Message. Matters.

The right message can succeed even on a shoestring. The wrong message will fail no matter how much money you spend – or what whiz-bang tech you throw at it.

It needs to connect with people emotionally, contrast with the alternative, and offer hope for a solution. And that helps put your campaign on the winning track.

Tip #2: Whenever possible, our digital tools should lead people to action.

One of the most seductive things about the digital realm is how measurable it is. You can track shares, and likes, and views, and follows. You can plot them against demographic information. You can make charts. Charts!

But there’s a mistake in thinking that the fact we can count it… means that it counts. If it’s just the same people liking and sharing over and over again, we haven’t reached outside of our social media bubble. We haven’t persuaded anybody. And we haven’t built a community.

But the click, the like, the share… they can be useful if they connect to action that has an impact. That is, if we translate online action to offline action.

There are three key ingredients to the most powerful connections to action:

The first is urgency. People need to understand why it’s important to act right now. The second ingredient is meaning. Our audience needs to see a connection between the action we’re asking for, and the outcome they want. And the third ingredient is impact. Show your audience how this action is already changing things. And show that they, too, can be a part of the change.

Tip #3: Understand what tool does what job best.

You can get away without knowing the ins and outs of every social app. But you do need to know what each of the channels available to us is good for, when to use it, and where it falls short.

That applies to traditional tools, like TV and radio, as well as the latest and greatest. (More on what-tool-to-use-when in a blog post coming soon!)

With every channel, though – from radio and print to Instagram and TikTok – think about the communications fundamentals. What’s your message? Who’s your audience? What’s your call to action?

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your content and channels is the first step. Understanding how they can connect and amplify each other, though: that’s your superpower.

Together, let’s do some good!

It’s up to progressive organizers and communicators to put these tools to work for working people, not against them. We can use these tools to push back against the forces that are trying to cut public services, keep working people down, and make life harder. We can motivate and mobilize like never before.

And when we do that, we’re doing more than just building audience share. We’re building a community – and building our movement.

Heather Fraser is President and CEO of The NOW Group. This blog post is a condensed version of Heather’s speech to the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

Whether or not you made a new year’s resolution, the new year is upon us and with it comes an opportunity to look ahead. At NOW, here’s are some of the things we’re keeping an eye on.

1. Marketing gets influenced

It’s not just for fashion and health products anymore – even the federal government is experimenting with influencer marketing. By partnering with owners of popular social media accounts to have them talk about a chosen topic in their own voice, marketers are finding they can reach broader audiences, engage them for longer periods of time, and weave their story into conversations that are already under way.

2. Podcasting gets heard

They’ve been around for a while, but in the last few years attention on podcasting has exploded and we’re expecting to see more of it. If 2018 was the year you either became or knew someone who’s a podcast fanatic, 2019 might be the year you either become or know someone who starts a podcast. Some of our favourites include Pod Save America, Ear Hustle, Labournauts, Objection!, Just Work It, and NSGEU Union Matters (shout out to our client!).

We’re super excited about the potential for podcasting to tell in-depth stories about working people, to explain complicated ideas and policies, and create strong emotional connections that mobilize and move audiences.

3. The early bird gets the ad

With a federal election on the calendar this fall advertising spots are starting to fill up. Booking advertising early is going to provide significant strategic and financial benefits for anyone looking to reach voters.

4. The 2019 federal election

And speaking of a fall federal election, all the events leading up to the election – and its outcome – are ones we’ll follow closely. And, of course, we look forward to rolling up our sleeves and playing a positive role in determining its outcome!

5. The shifting border between news and advertising

Native advertising – ads whose form mirrors that of the content around it – has been with us for some time now, and the border between advertising and content continues to move and morph. As the news industry continues to re-make itself and its business model, expect the spectrum between advertising and paid content to include new entrants. On this topic, we’re reading The CANADALAND Guide To New Popular, Populist Political Media and keeping an eye on interesting news startups like Topic, The Outline, The Discourse, The Conversation, The Logic, and more.

6. Messaging platforms eat into social media; slide into your DMs

Is your work team on Slack, Skype, or Google Hangouts? Does your family have a WhatsApp group? Whether you’re exchanging short text messages and emoji with a group of 5 or 500, private group chats are operating outside of the public eye and playing a progressively bigger role in influencing what people think, what they think about, and in mobilizing people to act.

7. The continuing reign of storytelling

A lot has changed in media, but it never ceases to impress us that one thing remains the same: the value of storytelling. Regardless of what media we’re employing to put a message into the world and what context that’s happening in, it takes outstanding storytelling to tie together experiences, emotions, and facts to shape public opinion and motivate action.

8. The role of audiences in telling a story

As we all get used to a more participatory media environment, no story seems complete without an invitation to tell a story back to its teller. So tell us – what are you looking forward to in 2019? Let’s be in touch.

Written by Aylwin Lo, our new Account Manager and Creative Technology Specialist at our Toronto office.