TORONTO: Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism won the Grand Prix at the 2012 CASSIES for a campaign seeking to attract "sophisticated travellers" to the region, developed alongside Target, the agency.

Rewarding joint case studies submitted by brand owners and their agencies, the CASSIES recognise entries rigorously demonstrating that "advertising is a prudent commercial investment - not a cost". Warc subscribers can read the winning papers here.

Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism aimed to attract visitors to the most easterly point of North America by engaging "sophisticated travellers" who were "pre-nest" or "empty-nest", and aged over 45 years old or in the 25-34 year old demographic.

Using a mixture of national TV, cinema, newspaper ads and targeted online media, this resulted in annual tourism revenues climbing by $374.6m during a period when the national travel market contracted by 7.1%.

For the first time in the region's history, annual visitor numbers surpassed the 500,000 mark, while related web traffic also increased by 25.4%.

Alongside the Grand Prix, eight Golds were handed out at the ceremony. Kraft and its agency, The Hive, scooped one such prize, for reviving the long-running "Caramilk secret" tagline and positioning for the Cadbury brand.

Subaru, the automaker, took two Golds at the event, for campaigns championing its Outback and Forrester models respectively. DDB was the agency concerned in both cases.

Other advertisers picking up Golds included McCain for a wide-ranging effort covering lines like its frozen pizza and potato products, and Smarties, the confectionery brand.

Elsewhere, OLG Poker Lotto, the lottery game, James Ready, the discount beer, and SpongeTowels, the paper towel range made by Kruger, also claimed Golds.

The CASSIES are run by the Institute of Communication Agencies, the Association des agences de Publicité du Québec and Association des professionnels de la communication et du marketing.

Warc subscribers can see the winning case studies from the 2012 CASSIES, as well as a summary of the core trends observable across this year's entries, here.

Data sourced from CCA; additional content by Warc staff