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Sid Lee won a Bronze award at the 2018 Strategy Awards for its Molson Salutes the Dépanneurs campaign. Alex Bernier’s creative team wanted to create a campaign that would matter to Montrealers by looking beyond traditional advertising.

Dépanneurs hold a special place in Montreal’s history, but many of them have lost their shine over the years. The idea was to give iconic dépanneurs a makeover in Molson’s image and to revitalise their signage.

“Since the history of Molson, Montreal and its infamous dépanneurs go way back, it felt right to create something more or less permanent that was going to make everyone look good for many years to come,” said Jean-François Dumais, the creative director.

On top of having won several awards, the ad project was effective: limited-edition Molson Export beers sold quickly and sales at the 25 revamped dépanneurs increased by 18.8%.

“The more we can create work that’s culturally relevant, the more we can have an impact. You can never go wrong when you create what people actually care about,” added Dumais.

Sid Lee is a creative agency that isn’t afraid to break the rules.“We help our clients see market and brand challenges as opportunities for growth. This is why winning an Evolution Strategy Award is so satisfying, because it recognizes innovation in brand strategy. It’s a testament to our approach and the client’s bravery, given Molson’s openness to a non-conventional solution to a common problem: a loss of relevance amongst its drinkers,” said Elliott Altilia, the senior strategist on the project, proving once and for all that you can create an ad campaign that’s profitable for the client, and that’s significant and touching to the community.

Read the article here on Strategy.