Now that another year of CATCH, The Nova Scotia Seafood Festival is behind us, so is our Augmented Reality-based campaign for the event. If, during the campaign, you never had the pleasure of meeting Figgins, our contest host-fish, don’t despair. We’ve created a video showcasing the various components of the campaign–including our friend Figgins–and summarizing the impressive results. We’re proud that we managed to harness the power of an emerging technology in a much more than token way. Once again, it seems that unconventional thinking, great ideas, and the desire to work together can make great things happen in the online realm. [...]
Saint Mary’s Facebook contest: a huge success.
Faithful readers of our blog and visitors to our site will already know that a few months ago we created a unique contest for our client Saint Mary’s University—one that centred around a custom-built Facebook App that encouraged users to interact with the brand by submitting their own version of a Saint Mary’s ad. Now that the contest has wrapped up, we created a short video to capture the intent, mechanics, and results of the campaign. We tried to make sure it was entertaining, so we hope you enjoy it. [...]
Technology
Texting is a waste of time
Everywhere you look, you can see people peering into their bitsy screen and fumbling over Thumbelina-size keys trying to stay connected to work, friends, children, partners… life. We’ve all seen them — stumbling down the sidewalk, steering with their knees or even holding on to a baby carriage while they type away, oblivious to the real world passing them by. Whether e-mailing, texting or SMSing their life away, they have chosen to unplug from the real world while they hook-up with their NBF who LOLs at every benign transmission from you or their 500 other BFFs. [...]
Event
AIM Conference roundup
Marketing types and Internet aficionados alike flocked to the Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference in Halifax last week where more than 20 speaker addressed 35 different workshop and keynote topics from Internet Marketing 101 to Innovate or Die: Brand Building in 2010 to Marketing in a Hyper Social World.
Several members of our team attended AIM sessions and had this to say: [...]
Technology
Who will outsmart the smartphone?
We can’t say they didn’t warn us. Analysts have been predicting the rise of the smartphone for, what seems like years, and it is finally starting to come to fruition. This past week HP bought up the pioneer of the PDA, Palm, followed by the collaboration of Windows mobile software and cell phone giant Nokia. The latter was said to be a strategic move to break the dominance of Research In Motion who, by the way, just launched new phones and a new operating system at a wireless conference in Florida. This is of course, to compete with emerging tech titans Apple and Google, who are taking the market by storm with their iPhone and Android operating systems, respectfully. With all of this going on, Acer announcing its plans to enter the smartphone market was practically insignificant. Meanwhile, for companies that hesitated to jump on the bandwagon early (Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, etc.) the future is grim, but for those with a foothold, the market’s their oyster. So what does this all mean? Who has the potential to become the smartphone super power? The possibilities may surprise you. [...]
CAMPAIGN
CATCH yourself off guard
Hoping to build buzz is like hoping to create a viral video. Everyone wants to do it. But it’s not something you can just do. A bus shelter, a TV spot, a newspaper ad: you can “just do” these things. But sparking a cultural movement, seeing your message spread on its own, getting people actually excited about spending time with your brand: these things take an equal dose of luck along with the skill you bring to the project. Regardless, we approached our latest campaign for CATCH, the Nova Seafood Festival, with exactly this lofty goal. Our ambitious client, bless her heart, wanted us to go beyond getting the word out, and do something that would build that elusive buzz. [...]
Reality Check
The little student that could
Undergraduate students have been getting a bad wrap lately for being naïve and unrealistic with regard to the working world. In the past few months, I have heard more people complain about students’ sense of entitlement, than all my university years combined. However, according to a study released in the Journal of Business and Psychology last week, this stereotype is actually fairly accurate. The study concludes that most undergrads believe they will receive a promotion within 18 months of their first day, and a 63% pay increase in the first five years. Maybe the critics are right, or maybe there’s an abundance of ambition within the campuses, regardless, as a recent grad just starting out, I feel it’s my duty to put these assumptions, stats, and misconceptions into context. [...]
Media
Hugh Hefner’s new vision
Whether it’s a lame joke or a fair assessment, you know the print industry is in trouble when Playboy is struggling. Although the brand may be slightly taboo, the relevance to modern business is uncanny. With increased competition on the web, an uprising youthful market, and technological advancements, it’s time for Hugh to pull a few tricks out of his red silk robe sleeves. Over the past year, Playboy has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons – decreased sales, buyout speculation, and now strategic direction – revealing the astonishing truth that it’s not all about the great articles… That is why Playboy’s popular, right? [...]
Event
Canadian Naval Centennial Freedom of the City parade
This year marks the Canadian Navy’s 100 years of service in protecting the waters of our great nation. In celebration of this, ceremonies are taking place across Canada and with Halifax being the home of Canada’s East Coast Navy, we have no shortage of festivities. [...]
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