By Laurie Wilson
Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism and Target Marketing and Communications made it two Best of Shows in a row at Thursday night’s ICE Awards, the annual celebration of Atlantic Canada’s top creative and design work.
The 2025 Best of Show recognized two works by Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism and Target: The AI-powered “Hello Humpback” whale-watching-and-tracking campaign and the tariff response “Silver Linings,” which built on the destination marketing organization’s larger “The Reason” work for 2025. The agency based in St. John’s, N.L., collected 31 honours on Thursday at the Light House Arts Centre in Halifax, along with its 11th Best of Show all-time.
Target also won top honours last year for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism’s “Our Song – VRBO response” Super Bowl campaign.
Other big winners on the evening included Wunder, which won Reactive Advertising and triple Public Service Gold (OOH, TV and Integrated Campaign) for its work on the “FU** the CBC” campaign for Friends of Canadian Media.
Halifax-based Wunder also won Film Golds for TV single (30 seconds or less) and TV Campaign (30 seconds or less) for its “Still Not Retired” video for Assante Wealth Management.
Elsewhere, Arrivals + Departures won Gold in OOH for the “It’s All There At the Square” campaign for Scotia Square and M5 won Gold in Radio/Digital Audio for its “Prepare for the Extra Unexpected” campaign with CAA Atlantic.
Thursday night also marked the launch of the ICE Awards Hall of Fame, with Noel O’Dea and Paul LeBlanc enshrined as the inaugural inductees.
O’Dea has created a legacy that includes the repositioning of the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism brand, as well as decades of work with national and regional clients including the likes of Air Canada and Irving Oil.
And LeBlanc is a key cog in changing the creative landscape on the East Coast as the founder and former CEO of Extreme Group, now Arrivals + Departures, which has offices in Halifax and Toronto. LeBlanc is also a founder of the ICE Awards.
