2022 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

The Royal Canadian Legion has sold Remembrance Day poppies for decades as its primary fundraising effort. Unfortunately, awareness and relevance of the poppy program has waned over the last several years, particularly among younger generations. In 2020, COVID-19 further complicated things, as there were no volunteers or outlets
to collect donations.

HomeEquity Bank (HEB), the Legion’s head sponsor, wanted to help. It’s Canada’s only financial services company exclusively serving seniors, and it frequently advocates on issues that matter to them. In the past few years, HEB has partnered with the Legion on Remembrance Day, with the objective of ensuring the sacrifices of our veterans are recognized by younger generations.

Their challenge: help the Legion to engage a younger audience and raise funds for veterans while preventing the lessons of war from fading into history.

They identified that many young Canadians’ primary exposure to war is through general entertainment and online gaming. Popular war-simulation games like Call of Duty shape perception of conflict among younger people much more than activity on the actual front lines.

Their audience was engaged in the subject matter but had little understanding of the real-world experiences and sacrifices of veterans. No game could ever create a true understanding of war. They believed exposing gamers to the actual stories and experiences of
veterans could change that.

Their strategy: increase the awareness and relevance of Remembrance Day by having those who play games of war come face to face
with those who lived it.

In a first-of-its-kind effort, four WWII veterans, all over 90 years old, were recruited to form Team Legion, the world’s oldest e-sports team.

Each veteran received a laptop installed with video-conferencing software and the WWII game Call of Duty. On November 11 at 11:00 a.m., they shared moments, in-game and through Skype, with gaming influencers who live-streamed the event on leading video-game platforms: Twitch, Facebook Live, and YouTube Gaming.

Video-game influencers joined them on virtual battlefields, not to play but to lay down their controllers in respect and to hear their stories and honour their service. The world’s oldest e-sports team reminded younger generations that war is not a game.

The plan focused on channels they knew would reach younger gamers. Platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook were used to connect with audiences who typically follow and watch their
favourite streamers.

They set ambitious goals for Team Legion: over 100,000 views of the live stream, over 2 million earned media impressions, and an increase in online donations and individual donations of 15% or
more versus 2019.

All goals were significantly overachieved. The campaign connected with gamers, teaching them about war through the eyes of our hero veterans and generated 6.9 million earned media impressions, including a very significant 342,000 views of the November 11 live streams with the veterans.

Team Legion contributed to a 321% increase in Remembrance Day online donations, resulting in an astounding $831,000 raised in support of veterans during a challenging fundraising year. The average amount per donation also dramatically increased by 58%.

Credits

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Creative Director: Zak Mroueh
Art Director: Vic Bath, Michael Romaniuk
Writer: Dan Cummings, Jackson Kemp
Designer: Zoe Kim, Vic Bath
Account Team: Anjelica Kapetanos, David Tremblay
Planning Team: Tim Hopkins
Client: HomeEquity Bank / Royal Canadian Legion
Clients: Niary Toodakian, Yvonne Ziomecki, Vivianne Gauci, Erin Wilson
Media Agency: OMD
Media Team: Dwayne Mataseje, Mitchell Cornelisse
PR Agency: Provident Communications
PR Team: Morgan McLellan
Producer: Mitch Cappe
Production House: Zulubot
Post Production Producer: Mariya Guzova
Editor: Micah Rix-Haye, Ashlee Mitchell