Carte Blanche Leads Campaign to Protest F1 Cancellation

If young Canada-based agency Carte blanche communication marketing (www.cbcm.ca) has its way, Formula 1 Grand Prix boss Bernie Ecclestone is going to be inundated with a lot of mail.

On its own initiative, Carte Blanche has designed a bilingual postcard pre-addressed to Ecclestone that its hopes Quebecers will send by the thousands to protest the apparent loss of the race.

Some 108,000 cards have been printed by Transcontinental printing and are being distributed by the Pop Media network. And Le Devoir and Métro daily newspapers are running ads to build awareness and support for the effort.

The front of the card includes a photograph - by Tilt - of a burning cigarette with a lot of ash and the words '25 years of loyalty gone in smoke'. On the back is a message asking Ecclestone whether F1 is addicted to the tobacco industry as are billions of smokes, mentioning the role of Montrealers in building the race's popularity, and insisting that he reconsider his sponsorship policy.

The Carte Blanche team is hoping that the cards will all be picked up. signed and mailed to Ecclestone. (They must carry the $1.25 postage required for mail destined for the U.K..) Carte Blanche's founding team of Justin Raymond, Johann Smith, Marc-André Trépanier and Arif Igdebeli all worked on the project.

All the companies involved in the postcard's production, distribution and advertising worked pro-bono in their efforts to bring the race back to Montreal.

POSTCARD
http://www.cbcm.ca/grandprix.pdf

PRESS CLIPPING
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/August2003/20/c3227.html
http://www.infopresse.com/ArticleComplet.asp?IdArticle=7360
http://www.tobacco.org/articles.php?pattern=carte+blanche&records_per_page=10
http://news.globalink.org/183456.shtml

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More info:

Johann Smith
jsmith@cbcm.ca
Carte Blanche Communication Marketing,
Media Relations,

T +514.287.0992
F +514.287.9177
www.cbcm.ca