Canadian Tourism Commission's "Keep Exploring" Wins Gold at the Inaugural AToMiC Awards

TORONTO and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB Canada's "Keep Exploring" campaign for the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) won gold in the Transmedia category at Tuesday night's AToMiC Awards. The AToMiC Awards celebrate innovative partnerships, programs and new developments that build the Canadian media industry.

"I am thrilled and proud of our showing at the inaugural AToMiC Awards this year," says David Leonard, national president & chief operating officer of DDB Canada. "Our results speak to the breakthrough work we develop for our clients across a variety of channels, and once again shows that we are Canada's leading creative agency."

The Gold award-winning, integrated campaign leveraged a unique insight around the sharing of authentic traveller-to-traveller experiences.  All elements of the campaign led to the "Keep Exploring" interactive blog, which allowed consumers to get a richer picture of the travel experience and join the conversation.  On television, YouTube videos from travellers were used to tell a series of stories, while print ads emulated Facebook and Flickr.  Online ads used Google Maps and Street View technology to virtually transport travellers onto real Canadian streets.  Digital storescapes transformed empty storefronts into Twitter-based murals featuring interactive touch-screen interfaces and aggregated tweets and photos from travellers to Canada in real time.

The agency's Toronto and Vancouver offices won one gold, one silver and three bronze awards at the inaugural competition for a total of five awards, making DDB Canada the most awarded agency at this competition.  The winning work consists of:

• Gold, Transmedia, Canadian Tourism Commission, "Keep Exploring"
• Silver, Technological Breakthrough, Canadian Blood Services, "Rally"
• Bronze, Atomic Idea, Subaru WRX, "Sexy Comes Standard"
• Bronze, Print Engagement, BC Hydro, "Let's Team up Against Waste"
• Bronze, Experiential Engagement, First United Mission, "Street Sculptures"

About the AToMiC Awards

The AToMiC Awards celebrate the partnerships, programs and new developments that together build the Canadian media industry. With brands striving to be more closely integrated with content, and technology AToMiC is an awards program that brings all the partners together and puts a spotlight on the projects that really challenge the media status quo. Spanning advertising, technology, media creativity and content categories, AToMiC winners represent the best achievements across Canada's media industry, the collaborations that show the way forward.

About DDB Canada

Named Strategy's 2010 Agency of the Year and Top Creative Agency in 2011, DDB Canada is the most creatively acclaimed, internationally recognized marketing communications agency in Canada. Known for advertising that generates significant results for clients, DDB Canada is a "total communications company" whose fundamental belief is that creativity is the most powerful force in business. DDB Canada has offices in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. The agency's integrated groups include: DDB Kid Think (youth marketing), DDB Public Relations, Tribal DDB (online and interactive), Karacters Design Group, Rapp Canada (direct), Radar DDB (social media marketing), DDB Hodes Recruitment Communications (recruitment marketing) and Shopper DDB (shopper marketing).

About DDB

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks among the top five consolidated advertising and marketing services global networks, according to Advertising Age. Consistently one of the most awarded networks globally for creative excellence, DDB was Campaign's 2009 Global Network of the Year, the 2010 Spikes Asia Network of the Year, 2010 Eurobest Network of the Year, 2010 Campaign Asia Pacific Creative Network of the Year, and captured both the Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, DDB Group believes in the power of Social Creativity to grow the value and influence of brands around the world by creating ideas that people want to play with, participate in, and pass along.  DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC).

SOURCE DDB Canada