MIND High School Associated With Prestigious Nomination for Bing Awards

MIND, which is part of the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), collaborated with Montreal-based digital marketing agency, Bloom® on course material and curriculum that has gained the attention of Microsoft Bing. Bloom® has been nominated for Bing Agency Awards – Philanthropist of the Year.

Teaming-up with EMSB pedagogical consultants Francois Dupraz and Travis Hall, and MIND teachers Monica Paraghamian and William Hesselink, Bloom® assisted in building curriculum that taught students the basics of digital marketing with the goal to increase media literacy and build core strengths for the students, like communication, creativity, management, entrepreneurial skills and critical thinking. With Bloom’s assistance, a pilot project was undertaken at MIND, a school that has been facing declining enrollment over the last decade.

Working in teams, the students were tasked with building advertising campaigns that aimed to increase awareness about the school and increase enrollment. At the end of the semester, the students presented their advertising campaigns at Le Salon 1861, a local co-creation space.

“Having collaborated with the school board’s pedagogical consultants and teachers, we were proud to be told that student engagement and attendance increased for this specific project and that our pro-bono work and consultations were critical to the success of the pilot project,” said Sam Lalonde, a Senior Campaign Manager and Marketing Strategist at Bloom®.

“The pilot project has gained attention all across the school board and we are already planning for the new school year with further curriculum refinements led by Bloom’s digital strategy team,” stated English Montreal School Board Chairman Angela Mancini.

This project stemmed out of a recognition that people often times cannot distinguish between what is or is not an advertisement online. Advertising on the internet is not as clear-cut as watching TV or reading the newspaper and, importantly, our children are targeted online. Additionally, critical resources on digital advertising for teachers and students from the university-level down are scarcely available. The pro-bono work that Bloom® did with the pedagogical consultants and teachers at MIND High School has laid a foundation from which teachers and students can learn and intelligently engage online.

The Bing Agency Awards aim to recognize and reward outstanding creative, effective, and passionate work by search advertising individuals, teams and agencies working with Bing Ads in the Americas.

The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah will be the host of the glamorous black-tie event to be held on September 14, 2017, at Capitale in New York. This year, Bing acknowledged advertising agencies from across the Americas in 15 categories celebrating individual, team and agency talent. The award finalists were selected based on their achievements and excellence in each category.

Bloom® is one of 6 advertising agencies selected out of 134 eligible agencies in North America and Brazil for Philanthropist of the Year. Bloom® is the only Canadian agency represented in the Philanthropy award category.

“We believe being shortlisted for philanthropy highlights Bloom’s industry expertise and MIND High School’s commitment to the success of their students,” said Martin Perron, CEO and Co-Founder of Bloom®. “Being shortlisted for Philanthropy of the Year highlights the outstanding work the teachers are doing at MIND High School. Everyone should be very proud of this recognition.”

“In our small efforts we have realized that we can inspire a younger generation to think critically while also building critical skills that they will need in a growing digital world,“ said Bloom’s Director of Strategy, Mike Walton.

Walton adds, “Being shortlisted for the Philanthropy of the Year award highlights the uniqueness of the project at MIND High School and is a standout project amongst the largest advertising agencies in the world.”

About MIND High School

MIND (Moving in New Directions) alternative high school is a co-managed, democratic school for independent and motivated students. Founded in 1975 by the PSBGM (now EMSB), MIND was originally located on the third floor of the International YMCA located at the corner of Park Avenue and St. Viateur. At this time MIND was known simply as “Alternative High School”. A vote was held halfway through the year for students and staff to choose a new name, and “MIND”  was the winner. MIND believes in an individualized approach to learning with their key educational values being: community, academics, individual development, co-management and school involvement.

About Bloom®

Bloom® is a digital marketing agency that specializes in Paid Search, Display, and Social Ads. Since 2007. Bloom® has been building and managing digital campaigns for hundreds of clients. Bloom® was selected as one of Canada’s best place to work as selected by Great Place to Work® — Category: Small Enterprise.

Microsoft announcement: https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/august-2017/microsoft-advertising-announces-the-finalists-for-the-2017-bing-agency-awards