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February 2008 - Strategy Magazine
Creative

LCBO says stop blushing, start acting

by Annette Bourdeau
page 24

Worried that taking the keys away from a tipsy friend is a faux pas? The Toronto-based Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) would like you to reconsider that.

A new anti-drinking and driving campaign from the LCBO and Oakville, Ont.-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada features good Samaritans saving strangers from tumbling down the stairs and walking in front of a moving car. It plays on the idea that if you wouldn't be too embarrassed to prevent such mishaps, why should stopping a friend from drunk driving be any different?

"The LCBO tries to take a more thoughtful approach. It's a matter of appealing to someone's intelligence," explains Karen Howe, VP/ CD at Toronto-based Due North Communications. "In this category, there are a lot of people just wagging fingers."

Two different washroom executions feature texturized posters made to look like a brick wall or a tree, with the tagline: "Too embarrassed to stop a friend from drinking and driving? This [tree/wall] won't be."

The campaign targets suburbanites in their early 40s who don't typically drink too much, but may accidentally have one too many at a friend's house.

The 30-second TV and two 30-second radio spots broke before the holidays, while the washroom efforts debuted in January. The campaign will run in higher rotation leading up to the May "two-four" weekend.

advertiser: Bill Kennedy, executive director, corporate communications; Jacqueline Waldorf, senior communications consultant, social responsibility; Jim Fitzpatrick, broadcast producer, LCBO; Andrew Murie, CEO, MADD Canada

agency: Due North Communications

CD: Karen Howe

AD: Shawn Wells

copywriters: Karen Howe, Sam Zivot, David Gee

agency producer: Louise Blouin

account team: Jill King, Loralei Derera, Justin Xavier

print production: Dee Tung

prodco: Wilfrid Park

director: David Tennant

executive producer: Angie Colgoni

editor: Mick Griffin, Rooster

sound: Chris Tait and Terry O'Reilly, Pirate Radio and TV

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