The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, CIRA, wanted a compelling way to launch its new website awards program, the .CA Impact Awards.
Despite CIRA’s well-established credibility, the challenge was to establish credibility in a brand new award. And we needed that award to resonate with people who are already inundated with information, the influencers at the bleeding edge of Canada’s digital culture.
This required a powerful medium that could visualize the nuances and spirit of an inherently “un-visual” subject. So we set out to tell a compelling story with video, led by our online video production practice.
In 2011, the Impact Awards will honour the best .CA websites, but the story we’re telling in this video is not about websites. It taps into a much deeper notion of patriotism. We want people to feel pride in their contribution to Canada’s “living” digital history. We are looking for people who care because it’s where they live, in .CA.
Our video production team brought the concept to life with an authentic and emotional visual story. We wrote a powerful narrative, juxtaposing a more traditional voice with edgy and innovative production techniques.
Thornley Fallis proposed the Awards should be launched at a venue filled with the digital influencers we wanted to target. The meshmarketing conference in Toronto was the ideal location. The video played at the end of a keynote speech by one of North America’s most passionate online advocates, the founder of Common Craft.
The feedback in the conference corridors was overwhelming positive. Judging by the reaction to the video at meshmarketing, and the amount of early buzz in the blogosphere, the Impact Awards are poised to find a place amongst other respected awards in the digital space when entries open in 2011.
