Zig is back in the AOY standings this year as a finalist. Judges loved the Toronto agency's fresh take on Mr. Sub. "The use of archetypal 'good' people to hyperbolize lengths to which people will go to get their hands on a Mr. Sub sub is quite hilarious," said Sunil Sehkar, VP managing director, DraftFCB Toronto.

MOLSON CANADIAN

High-volume mainstream beer players like Molson Canadian have been squeezed into a perceptual no-man's-land between "cheapest" and "best." And a hodgepodge of strategic and creative approaches deployed in recent years left consumers wondering what Molson Canadian stood for. To quote a 22-year-old: "They're everywhere without saying much." And because Canadian guys equate Molson Canadian with "Canadianness," they felt let down when Molson Canadian didn't stand for something.

Zig thought that something should be Canadian guys themselves. Past efforts had successfully tapped into the Canadian identity but had not made it relevant to beer. The key was to connect Molson Canadian to Canadian values.

Molson Canadian's new job was to stand up for the Canadian guy and celebrate his way of life. Zig's "The Code" campaign is exactly what it sounds like - a celebration of the unwritten code by which Canadian guys live, in a multimedia, integrated platform.

Tracking results are the best they've been in over a decade. Brand equity scores are up and, most importantly, sales are above plan.

ESKA

Amid growing media attention and debate around the ethics and health of drinking bottled water, how could Eska make a case for yet another bottled brand?

Consumers have become increasingly conscious of what they put into their bodies. Instead of shying away from the debate, Zig decided to present the other side of the equation to leverage interest in the topic.

A series of posters (most prevalent in Quebec, as the Eska source is in Abitibi) posed provocative questions designed to make consumers think about the bottled water debate in a different way.

These unbranded questions drove people to thesourcematters.com and pensezpluseau.com, where they could learn "the truth about water." The website was designed to be a comprehensive, objective source of information - from the differences between bottled waters and why minerals are important to how different filtration systems work and details on tap water and the environment. The answers drove home the point that Eska is one of the purest, healthiest and best-tasting waters in the world.

Campaign reception mirrored the positive pre-launch research. International media covered the campaign, including the New York Times.

MR. SUB

Mr. Sub suffered from lagging quality perceptions - stale bread, limited toppings and poor selection - that had nothing to do with reality. And as a small Canadian player in the quick-service sandwich category, its media budget was consistently dwarfed by large competitors like Subway. So how to dispel product misconceptions while getting noticed on a limited budget?