2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In 2023, White Ribbon, an organization focused on educating men and boys about gender-based violence, shifted their message to understanding, educating, and remedying the threat of transphobia that has become all too common in Canada. 70% of trans youth report experiencing some form of sexual harassment or violence. A tragic realization that many in the trans community feel the threat of violence isn’t a maybe, it’s an inevitability.

There are a devastating number of news stories covering violence and murder plaguing the trans community globally, and a constant discourse taking place in Canada around school boards issuing notwithstanding clauses, debating whether students have the right to live as their authentic selves without the educators notifying the parents.

Working alongside long time White Ribbon partner, Egale, a 2SLGBTQ+ organization, the idea began to take shape. We gained an understanding of the T-Day (transition day, or testosterone day if transitioning to male-presenting) which marks the day where a trans person begins living life out in the open
as their true self.

This reality, however, is melancholic, in that societal pressures and threat of discrimination mean that trans youth often don’t feel comfortable living as their true self until much later in life. This is compounded with the fact that they experience disproportionate levels of violence and murder, means that once they actual transition, their already short lives can often be cut tragically shorter.

On November 13th we launched Short Life Stories, a piece of film that told the story of Vivian, a fictional character inspired by the countless stories we’d heard of trans people who had fallen victim to murder and violence. We see events in her life unfolding centred around her moment of outwardly transitioning, juxtaposing these empowered moments of joy with friends and loved ones, with the looming, menacing threat of discrimination and hate, tragically culminating in her murder. The film featured real trans actors and was produced and executed by a team led largely by members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

We amplified the launch with community members like Toronto’s 519 2SLGBTQI+ Community centre, trans activist Faye Johnstone, Ontario MPP and White Ribbon collaborator Minister Marci Ien, and global partners like Adidas. We continued pulsing with our bite-sized educational content, syndicated coverage of our morning show interviews, as well as the social sharing from our acting talent, and political figures like Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

We secured almost $200,000 in donated paid media placements which helped get our message out to new eyes and ears through on target digital placements, national out-of-home placements, and a TV broadcast buy with a 30-second edit of our film airing during the NFL playoffs.

We saw 63,000,000 earned media impressions, 3,800,000 social coverage impressions, and 3.4 Billion impressions in press release syndication. Our story was picked up over 680 times, and our content was shared by influential spokespeople across politics, entertainment, and culture globally. We received 45,000,000 paid impressions, 35,000 website visits, and secured $200,000 in government funding as a result of this initiative.

Credits

Agency
Bensimon Byrne
Chief Creative Officer: Joseph Bonnici
Executive Creative Director: Debbie Chan
Creative Director: David Mueller
Associate Creative Director: Ana Segurajauregui Sanchez
Art Director: Nina Hang
Writer: Ana Segurajauregui Sanchez, Nina Hang, David Mueller
Producer: Katie Link
Business Lead: Pat Martini
Program Director: Oliver Glover
Account Director: Cole Douglas
Senior Account Manager: Olutunu Oyelola
Account Manager: Kayla Metcalfe, Rachel Romu, Samantha Sartor, Sreeja Sasidharan
Media Planner: Karin Julman
Digital Media Planner: Athena Bantis
Associate Director of Social Content: Rebecca Milner

Production
Westside Studio
Directed by Angie Bird
Executive Producer: Amanda Morrison
Producer: Michelle Woodward
DOP: Daniel Grant
1st AD: Chris Ross
1st AC: Carine Zahner
2nd AC: Ashley Mach

Wardrobe Designer: Richard Autio
HMU: Alanna Fennell

Location Manager: Alex Panavas

Editorial
School Editing
Editor: Izzy Ehrlich
Assistant: Zhenya Dolzikov
Post Production Producer: Yumi Suyama

AlterEgo
Colorist: Eric Whipp
Producer: Spencer Butt

FortYork
Online Artist: Melissa Vasiliev
Online Producer: Valerie Moss

Sound Design: Oso Audio
Music Licensing: Oso Audio
Track ID: Praise You (Cover)– Hannah Grace
Creative Directors: Daenen Bramberger, Harry Knazan
Producer: Lauren Dobbie, Jane Heath