A six-week bilingual television campaign emphasizing the importance of a university education is targeting both students and the Quebec government, which is also one of four sponsors of the initiative.

The three spots for the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universites du Québec (CREPUQ) focus on Quebec’s three biggest industries, which are health, education and the environment.

“The health, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability of Quebec society relies on the quality of education and research,” said Heather Munroe-Blum, president of CREPUQ, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, in a statement.

All three spots show a scene and then it goes reverse to emphasize that nothing would be accomplished without education.

In the health spot, a patient is lying in a hospital bed attached to an intravenous drip and surrounded by doctors checking vital signs. The intravenous drip goes into reverse, the monitors shut down, the doctors exit the room backwards, and the room goes dark. At the end of the spot, copy reads, “What matters most when saving lives? Knowledge matters,” and then the screen shows the website WhyKnowledgeMatters.ca.

A voiceover lists different degrees related to the health field, including Doctor of Medicine and Bachelor of Science. The spot ends with the CREPUQ logo and lists the four sponsors, pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis, Hydro-Québec, Rio Tinto Alcan and the Quebec government.

The two other ads are similar except the copy in the education spot reads, “What matters most when educating millions of students?” and the environmental ad reads, “What matters most when protecting the environment?”

“The goal of the campaign is to get people to realize the importance of a university education, and once in university, it’s also important to have good programs and good professors,” explained Jean-Jacques Stréliski, vice-president, associate managing director at Publicis Canada, which created the campaign. “It’s also a reminder to the government that their level of funding must be maintained,” he added.

ZenithOptimedia handled the media buy.