Remembrance Day is a special day in Canada. We take a moment of silence at 11 am on the 11th day of the 11th month, to commemorate the very moment that World War One ended. To show our appreciation, we wear a poppy upon our lapel.
Remembrance Day
The history of Remembrance Day in Canada
In Canada, every kid in school learns about “In Flanders Fields,” a poem written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918). He was a Canadian physician, author, artist, and soldier during World War I. He served as a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. McCrae was inspired to write “In Flanders Fields” on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of a friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.
To view, click on the “In Flanders Field” Remembrance Day poem above.
According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. “In Flanders Fields” was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch. The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields.
These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliantly red color became a symbol for the blood spilled in the war. McCrae died of pneumonia months before the end of the war, while still working at a hospital for Canadian soldiers in Belgium.
Bell Canada
Bell Poppy Ad for Remembrance Day
This Bell ad tells a beautiful story from the eyes of a little girl, as she learns about Remembrance Day and does something very touching for a veteran. It’s a very Canadian storyline, and I hope you can appreciate every little subtlety in this ad. There are no words, and you have to pay close attention to every detail. In the ad, a little girl peers out a school bus window and sees a veteran selling poppies by the side of the road.
It prompts her to google “what is a poppy,” which starts her on the learning process about Remembrance Day. The little girl emails someone in Belgium, asking if they are near Flanders Field, a link to the poem above. Then a letter arrives, presumably from the person in Belgium. The little girl takes the note to the veteran, giving it to him in a very touching tribute and a beautiful moment.
Click on blue arrow to see ad
To view, click on the blue arrow to see the Remembrance Day TV ad.
Bell Dieppe ad
Bell Canada has a long history of paying tribute to our veterans. Below is an ad from the mid-90s, used for Remembrance Day and the anniversary of D Day. Back in the mid 1990s, we were still excited that we could call from anywhere. In the ad, a young 20-year-old visiting Dieppe phones home to Canada to talk to his grandfather, just to say “thank you.”
Dieppe holds a special place for Canadians. Two years before D-Day, 6,000 Canadians tried to land on the beach at Dieppe, but less than half survived. We see many tributes to the soldiers, but this one sends a chill through me every time I watch.
Click on blue arrow to see ad
To view, click on the blue arrow to see the Remembrance Day TV ad.
This remembrance day, wear a poppy. Lest we forget.
Advertising Decisions
The Creative Brief defines the box.
At Beloved Brands, we believe the best creative people are in-the-box problem solvers, not out-of-the-box inventors. This builds on our Strategic ThinkBox, which we used in our planning process. The box below demonstrates how we need creative work focused on the target, fits with the brand, delivers the message, and executes the strategy.
As marketers, we kick off the advertising process using a Creative Brief to define the box in which creative advertising must play. The execution aligns with the brand positioning work and delivers the brand strategy statements you wrote in your marketing plan. Moreover, we show examples of the good and bad of the Creative Brief. We also introduce our mini brief for smaller projects and the media brief as part of media decisions. We have a Creative Brief template you can use.
Use our Creative Checklist to determine if the creative work is in the box.
Then, we introduce a Creative Checklist that is designed to help you make advertising decisions. When you see the creative marketing execution come back from your experts, use our creative checklist to make decisions. Next, use your feedback to your marketing experts to steer the ideas back in-the-box. Importantly, the Creative Checklist highlights the gaps you see. Your role is to provide your problems with the work, while avoiding providing a solution. Let your creative marketing execution experts use their in-the-box creativity to figure out new solutions that will fit the box.
To illustrate, click to review how our Creative Checklist helps decide if the creative advertising fits the box..
Use our ABC's of Advertising: Attention, brand link, communication stickiness
Here are four questions to ask:
- First, is it the creative idea that earns the consumer’s attention for the ad?
- Then, is the creative idea helping to drive maximum brand link?
- Next, is the creative idea setting up the communication of the main consumer benefit?
- And, is the creative idea memorable enough to stick in the consumer’s mind and move them to purchase?
To illustrate, click on the ABC’s of advertising to see details.
Video on how to use in-the-box creativity
Look at our video on how to use in-the-box creativity to ensure our marketing execution stays on strategy. We introduce how our Creative Brief defines the box the work must play in. Our Creative Checklist will allow you to decide if the marketing execution delivers.
To view, use the ▶️ controls to play our brand strategy video.
