Pardon Services Canada

The Problem

A flooded market. There are over 25 pardon companies in Canada, all with similar names, all looking to capitalize on a service that was perfected, professionally by Pardon Services Canada over 20 years ago.

The Solution

Integrated branding and storytelling. We used a ball and chain as a metaphor for your record holding you back in life and literally pulled it through every channel: TV, print, outdoor and online. The ball was real, and it weighed close to fifty pounds. Check it out.

To strike a human chord, we created a character: Lenny. And told his story through a campaign that ran the course of a year. He was a typical guy, with a few past indiscretions (not unlike 10% of the Canadian population). The ads, as they progressed, told a tale of him missing out on opportunities at work, losing sleep and his car, until he made his way to the Pardon Services Canada office to get the key to his freedom.

The Results

In the worst recession since the depression, Pardon Services Canada showed a positive increase over the previous years’ sales, every month, since the campaign was launched.

"We are a twenty-year old company which has gone through several different identities and images. Mike Catherall's approach was that of a genuine stakeholder. He spent time in the office, researched our business and competitors, and gained an implicit understanding of what we did and what we stood for. He articulated his understanding and defined us to the marketplace, and indeed to ourselves. The staff are proud and the market views us as genuine (in a marketplace of glib, commonplace articulations of identity). His approach is unconventional but it works - we are making more money."

Azmairnin Jadavji, CEO, Pardon Services Canada