The de Gaspé Beaubien family quickly made a name for themselves in the field of philanthropy in Canada. Pioneers in their mission to support the development of durable social prosperity in their community, the family have always known how to use their vision in order to build durable and impactful projects.
Among all of the de Gaspé Beaubien family’s activities, did you know that Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien was the founder, president, and chairman of ParticipACTION?
A Mission of National Importance
In 1969, following a phone call with Mr. Pierre-Elliott Trudeau, Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien accepted the challenge of chairing the National Council for Fitness and Amateur Sports of Canada. Motivated by an urgent need for action, he first had to determine the status of Canadian’s physical fitness before undertaking any initiative whatsoever. A research study was conducted over a period of six months. The results were unequivocal: the Canadian population was sedentary and out of shape.
“I still remember, to this day, the shock that was felt with the whole committee when it was revealed that 85% of Canadians spent their free time in front of a tv or riding in a car. We certainly weren’t going to let that continue.” - Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien
An Innovative Marketing Approach
Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien proposed to Mr. Trudeau to create an organism that’s mandate would be to teach the importance of daily physical activity to the Canadian population.
“I had a pitch prepared about how the human body was meant to move and that I wanted to target young people – to start good habits early. Part of this was a national campaign to change the perception and attitudes of Canadians towards physical activity. In order to do this right, we would require significant funding.” – Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien
A minimum budget of five million dollars had been estimated at the time in order to launch an awareness campaign of this size. Faced with this sum, Mr. Trudeau had offered startup funding equivalent to half of the budget over the course of a few years under the condition that the rest of the funding could be raised elsewhere.
Once again, Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien demonstrated his marketing innovation abilities by launching ParticipACTION. With the help of the financial support provided by the government and national networks, they were able to raise the funds needed to promote physical activity on a national scale.
The strategic thinking behind the creation of a national campaign to motivate the population to adopt an active lifestyle was quite new at the time. Thanks to Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, ParticipAction has contributed significantly to the advancement of social and communication marketing in the fields of health, sports, and physical activity.
“ParticipACTION was a great bilingual title. We mobilized tv, radio, and newspaper ads. And in those first years we raised 2 million dollars of unsold media space, a sum the government matched. The response was overwhelming, and we succeeded in mobilizing communities across Canada,” – Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien
Aiming for long-term success
The de Gaspé Beaubien family have long favoured well-thought-out and concrete action plans that provide their initiatives with excellent results while maintaining long-term objective. As is the case with AquaHacking and the Business Families Foundation, giving back to the community remains at the heart of their actions; this is what they achieved with ParticipACTION. 50 years later, ParticipACTION still exists and has become a model in the promotion of physical activity on a national scale, hoisting Canada up to within the ten most active countries in the world.
ParticipACTION still encourages the community to enjoy a more active lifestyle, allowing our government to save millions of dollars every year in curative care.
“I will always be proud to have worked alongside those who launched and have supported ParticipACTION through all these years. Their deep commitment helped us all to become better people.” – Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien