Best of the Best: M&M's proves irresistible at 2011 CMA Awards

Mars Canada’s “Find Red” campaign for M&M candy took home the top honour at the 41st annual Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Awards Gala on Friday night in Toronto. Recipient of the 2011 CMA Best of the Best Award, the campaign was developed by Proximity Canada.

The campaign kicked off in November 2010 in Ontario with a video announcing “Red’s” disappearance. Consumers were challenged to find three hidden red M&Ms in Toronto using Google Street View with the winner driving away in a red Smart car.

Find Red ran for 30 days using a mix of media that included the Mars website, social media and the company’s four square account. According to results, the Canada-only contest drummed up 8.4 million impressions, over seven million QR poster views and 225,000 Twitter impressions. Plus the average time spent on the Mars website when the campaign was in the field was over 19 minutes; more than four times the industry average, noted the winning submission.

This is the second year in a row Proximity has won the top CMA Award.

The CMA Awards Gala is the largest marketing awards event in Canada. A full list of CMA Award winners can be found on the CMA website.