TORONTO: A campaign by Cossette for SickKids Foundation, a children’s hospital in Toronto that gave donors a ‘winning’ charity to support has won the Grand Prix at the CASSIES Awards, Canada’s only industry awards recognizing business effectiveness.

In addition to the Grand Prix, a total of six Golds, 11 Silvers and 13 Bronzes were awarded to 31 campaigns at an event last night in Toronto. (WARC subscribers can read the full entries here.)

The SickKids Foundation’s campaign needed to shift its donor base to a younger audience. To do so, it stopped acting like a charity and switched its tone to that of a performance brand.

Launching with an online video showing the hospital’s focus on fighting disease, the campaign supplemented the core message with widespread OOH and a rebranded website that allowed donors to specify the personal concerns for which they were fighting.

The hospital was able to raise $57.9m from the campaign, with a particular increase in online revenue, which rocketed 695%.

Among the Gold winners, Anomaly and AB InBev’s Budweiser reconnected with hockey fans by creating a wireless home device to let fans know when their team had scored a goal.

P&G, working with Leo Burnett, used the techniques of perfume advertising to promote its detergent brand, Gain; the brand broadcasted two self-parodying ads on TV and online, supplementing the media hallmarks of perfume: outdoor and magazine ads.

Global brands among the Silver winners included Nissan, which worked with Juniper Park\TBWA to remind customers of the brand’s off-road prowess. Meanwhile, Danone’s Oikos won Silver in the Sustained Success category for its campaign that positioned the brand’s Greek-style yoghurt as the dream snack.

Sourced from Cassies; additional content by WARC staff