Grey Canada shortlisted for Strategy Magazine Agency of the year

Based on 5 case studies that we submitted for the first stage of review, all exciting campaigns launched by Grey

1. Captain Morgan Rum – Got what it takes to be a captain?

Our campaign features 4 friends who would go to any length in the hopes of enjoying a “Guy’s night out.” Despite their best efforts, the inevitable discovery of their ‘doppelgangers’ leads to some highly comedic moments. A cigar store Indian wearing a soap on a rope in the shower, a Styrofoam-popcorn dummy on a riding lawnmower who falls off and gets mulched, and a macaroni man watching TV as his leg gets chewed off by the family dog. Entertaining and successful – we drove sales +18%.



2. GGRP – Direct Mail Campaign

Our awareness campaign for GGRP has gone on to become the most awarded direct mail in Canada in 2010 including a GOLD Lion winner at Cannes. Prospects received a fully operable record player – recipients simply folded the player as per instructions and manually spun the record using a pencil.
Immediate response to the piece was over 90%. Featured on over 500 sites such as Gizmodo, Wired and The Wall Street Journal.



3. Salvation Army – Christmas Kettle Campaign

For the 2010 Christmas Kettle Campaign we brought to life our theme of “With your donation, dignity is within reach”. Transit Shelters featured those in need; a homeless man reaching for a blanket, a hungry girl reaching for a loaf of bread. A reality based TV spot – where everyday consumers were forced to experience a loss of dignity as they awkwardly tried to get access to soup cans beyond their reach. The biggest gift however was the campaigns success, we were able to help raise $21 million dollars, $3 million more than any year prior.



4. GSK – Sensodyne Toothpaste

For the Sensodyne ISO toothpaste launch, we created the first, and largest ever branded 3D mapping projection in Canada. For 10 straight hours during Nuit Blanche, the Iso-active foam cleaned and rebuilt Union Station. To avoid noise pollution, people could dial in to hear the sound effects on their cell phones. For a $100,000 investment, over 6.3 million people watched iso3D live and through digital media, and sales jumped 58% in the first month alone.



5. Special Olympics – More than just a medal.

The most awarded Canadian radio campaign so far at The Clios, One Show and The New York Festivals, was the campaign we developed for SPECIAL OLYMPICS. In the campaign a voiceover speaks about how the Special Olympics helped change peoples perception of them. The misdirect happens when the real voice is revealed to be that of the special Olympic athlete. The misdirect demonstrates perfectly how we all need to see the athlete behind the disability and not the disability itself.

Link to the spot

Award time - Grey wins Cannes Bronze Radio Lion

As posted by Marketing Magazine: "Grey Canada won for Special Olympics Canada’s “Chuck,” wherein the titular character describes his experiences as a special Olympian while his voice transitions from “normal” to one slowed by Down Syndrome.

The ad, which was also a recent One Show contender, was one of Grey’s two shortlisted entries for Special Olympics Canada, the other being “Monique.” “People felt the transition worked better [in Chuck] so they moved it forward to Bronze,” said Paul Little, Canadian radio jurist and soon-to-be co-creative director at Sid Lee.

Listen to this wonderful spot for Special Olympics

Congratulations to all those involved.

Do you know the guys from Gibberish Media?

Hardly working: Start-up Guys
There are no guys this bad at the Hub but sometimes when startups are presenting their ideas to me, I do feel somewhat confused.
Enjoy this video
Sorry, they wouldn't let me embed it.

Cloud computing outlook 2011

Maybe I have been hanging with the Canadian Cloud Computing group too much lately but I can't read and learn enough about cloud computing. I really enjoy any articles that demonstrate what is ahead of us because of the increased use of this new technology. 

This infographic is making the internet rounds today, promoting a recent report commissioned by BitNami, Cloud.com and Zenoss. "The 2011 Cloud Computing Outlook survey was designed to collect information on the use of virtualization and the cloud computing technologies among enterprise users to help inform the evolution of cloud computing technologies and services." 

From the infographic it is interesting that of those who participated in the survey 20% said their company has no plans to develop a cloud computing strategy. Would be interesting to review results in 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years. It is unavoidable, data access via server structure is in everyone's future. If you aren't running your own servers now, how far behind are you?


Click to request a copy of the report.

Facebook IQ - a report on how prestige brands are utilizing Facebook

L2, a think tank for Digital Innovation located in NYNY, released their L2 Prestige 100® Facebook IQ, a report that details the top 100 prestige brands and how they drive their Facebook success.
 
The report that was conducted in partnership with Buddy Media, measures the aptitude of these 100 brands that are in the Auto, Beauty, Fashion, Watches & Jewelry, and Spirits & Champagnes industries.The Index scores each brand against more than 200 qualitative and quantitative data points to evaluate and rank their Facebook efforts across four criteria: Size & Growth, Engagement, Programming, and Integration. Basically it provides details and thoughts about how they are doing it right.

Ultimately the study demonstrates that when it comes to Facebook it is all about engagement, allowing and encouraging interaction. It is also important to be prepared to deal with all the challenges that engaging with an audience on an openly displayed platform will bring. The study also demonstrates how prestige brands can leverage the power they have created to inspire consumers to align with their products. 

The question of Glocal, how do you balance the global presence of a company but build a local following is also part of the learning with this study. "Across the Prestige 100®, 40 percent of brands maintain regional pages to target local markets and/or locally targeted posts, while 60 percent anchor efforts around one global Facebook page."

Making money through Facebook will take on a whole new meaning with the launch of iframe tabs that can be added to Pages to allow for Buy Now capability.  "With the advent of Facebook iFrames, the growing experimentation of mass retailers, and search for ROI, F-com is likely to see a great deal of investment on the platform over the next 12 months."

If you are interested in learning more about how you can truly  benefit from Facebook, I recommend reviewing this study. And if something inspires you, please remember that all of these Facebook initiatives began with a clearly developed strategy -- a plan with clear objectives and set tactical directions about how to achieve those objectives. Don't just jump into Facebook as a marketing tool, plan your way into it.

Canadian Cloud Computing - a great tool for SMBs

For an update on an earlier post about Canadian Cloud Computing, this Hub startup  received some great press recently in IT in Canada. Great article about how the Small to mid size businesses can really benefit from a cloud solution.

I love this quote from Wally Kowal, President and Founder of Canadian Cloud Computing: “We consider ourselves a cloud provider with a face. A lot of small and mid-sized companies are not comfortable with global operations and corporations. It’s okay if you’re a consumer and you don’t care where your data is – Google is great. But if it’s your company infrastructure that you are looking to put on the cloud, you want to know who you are dealing with. We’re not going to compete with Google – we are going to have a face. We have a phone number and you can get help from us anytime. We can do that on a smaller scale because we’re a smaller operator and we can offer that level of service.”

Communitech Apps Factory - help to build your app

Are you a not for profit with a great idea to engage with your audience via a mobile device? Well the Apps Factory may be the ideal option for you.

A team of developers led by Rob Drimmie, will create an early version of your mobile application. You can then use this prototype to demonstrate the idea to generate interest and further funding for the project. They are also happy to recommend local companies you can work with to continue to develop the app or you can take the project in-house to finish the work. Depending on your situation they will continue to guide you through the process of building a full fledged app.

They are currently taking applications for this term (they are open to new ideas until June 15th); you can get started here - submit a proposal. You must be able to describe the application you have in mind for your business and the problem that it addresses. Applications must be market-driven, and you should be able to define how you envision this application impacting your company, wealth creation or job growth.

Another great initiative located in the Hub.