15 Below Project

The Brief

In 2007, we celebrated 15 years of success in the advertising business. To mark this milestone, our chairman/CCO put out a challenge for a big idea that could grow with the company. The wide-open brief had only one condition – it had to be something that would give back to the communities we work and live in.

The Solution

The winning idea evolved from the insight that, in Canada, when the temperature drops to –15 C, a cold weather alert is issued to help get homeless people out of these extreme winter conditions. But with an estimated 300,000 people living on the streets, not everyone is able to get out of the cold.

The 15 Below Project was set up to create survival gear for the homeless. Our first initiative is the 15 Below jacket, a high concept, low-cost, immediate solution, which uses newspaper – an effective and easily accessible insulator – to protect the wearer against the cold.

15 Below jackets are being distributed to people living on the streets of several cities in North America during cold weather alerts.