This month the International Association of Business Communicators Canada (IABC Canada) announced the winners of its Silver Leaf Awards which celebrate excellence in communication. Spruce is proud to share that Ready2Listen, the video campaign we created for Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO), was one of 13 projects to receive an Award of Merit.
Building on the success of She is Indigenous, which Spruce launched with LFMO in 2019, Ready2Listen was created to tell more diverse stories about First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and 2SLGBTQQIA members. The campaign took the form of 14 documentary-style videos with strength-based messaging that was specific to each participant.
“The Canadian communications profession is thriving, as evidenced by the impressive body of work the Sliver Leaf program evaluated this year. Communicators across the country deliver exceptional, quality work year over year and it is a privilege to learn from each and every submission we receive and evaluate,” says Tamara Gale, National Programs Director, IABC Canada West in the IABC Canada Silver Leaf Awards news release.
Ready2Listen received a Silver Leaf Award of Merit in the Audio Visual category under the Communications Skills division. The videos were filmed and produced by Nina Jane Drystek, Pascal Huot and Adrienne Row-Smith, and the campaign concept, creative and strategy were supported by Nadia Collins, Paul Marconi and Andrew Vincent.
We are honoured to have worked on this campaign and hope that audiences far and wide will use these videos and the Ready2Stand toolkit to teach youth and other community members about the strengths of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and LGBTQQIA folks.
Details from our Submission
Designed to reach both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, as well as their supporters (family, caregivers, educators and community leaders) the videos focused on messages of encouragement and inclusion for Indigenous peoples. Two key messages were developed based on the campaign strategy and supported by statements provided by participants:
- Listening is an opportunity to learn.
- Standing with each other creates change.
As an Indigenous-led campaign, it was important for us to centre statements from Indigenous participants as key messages because they served to support the audience needs. One of the pivotal participant key messages came from Rose Archie: We are stronger together. Including participant statements as key messages also helped us connect this Ready2Listen to the original She is Indigenous campaign.
Thank you to all the feature participants who worked with us and shared their story as part of this important campaign:
Nina Jane Drystek is the Manager of Digital Communications at Spruce.
