Tony Bennett POV

Can You Spot The Ad?

It’s hard to miss. Welcome to The “perfect storm” is upon us.
Jun. 14, 2005

That’s how Tony Chapman, the MC of the 8th annual Understanding Youth marketing conference repeatedly described today’s climate for advertisers: an overwhelming fury of energy designed by forces we can’t understand, one with an awesome power to envelop everything in its path. That’s the metaphor he chose.

And who’s the target of this perfect storm of advertising? Youth.

Marketing to young people is nothing new: it’s being going on since at least the 1930s, when comics such as Flash Gordon, and the ads inside them, first
became wildly popular (and that was before adults were allowed to read comic books). But the language at the Youth Marketing Conference, held last week at the York Event Theatre, and the ferocity of advertisers desperate to “get into the minds of young people” raises serious questions about how much of it should be allowed.

Do teenagers really deserve to spend their time growing up engulfed in a blizzard of advertising? Beyond certain restrictions for alcohol and tobacco, are there any limits to how far marketers will go, and any that should be set?

The two-day conference served as a window into a world in which one thing is apparent: Advertisers will crawl anywhere to peddle their wares. With a young generation increasingly disinterested in television, marketers clearly see three red-hot mediums that need to be exploited — mobile communications, the Internet, and video games.

This picture of a brand-new Jeep is brought to you courtesy of the video game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. Increasingly marketers are focusing on video games and cellphones as tools to move their products.

To do so, they use a familiar formula of sex, smugness and rock n’ roll. An Axe deodorant ad, put up on the big screen, receives hearty applause. The “Axe Effect” can happen anywhere, any time, the ad assures, while one guy enjoys the attention of the standard TV ad hot chick ravenously groping him, as the elevator doors slide closed.

Meanwhile, listening to competitors within the marketing world try to knock the crap out of each other while waging war for the split second opportunity to make an impression on young people, can only be described as comical.

But as the military language and precision tactics that are used to “target” young people is repeated over two days, it’s both alienating and scary. “Hit them early!” “Branding tactics!” “Capture youth!” are buzz phrases. Longer explanations are worse: “If you study military history the only time you should follow a direct strategy is if you have a 3 to 1 advantage.”

And then there’s the jargon: “Develop a viral campaign strategy.” “Viral marketing” is when advertisers try to spread brand information by word of mouth, through text messages and emails. The site Web Marketing Today, published the basic features of a successful “viral marketing” campaign, including point 4: “Exploits common motivations and behaviours — Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations ... The desire to be cool. Greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of email messages. Design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviours for its transmission, and you have a winner.”

Michael Wood is vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited, a marketing research group. Using The Family Feud format, he breaks down the results of a U.S. youth survey by separating the crowd into two sides and asking all the gathered marketers what body parts boys and girls would most like to change with cosmetic surgery.

Answers are blurted out across the room until all the right ones are displayed on the game show’s giant board, which is beamed on a large screen at the front: stomach and thighs are the top two for girls, stomach and teeth for boys. Useful information when you’re waging a war for the attention of impressionable minds: broadcasting the insecurities of youth, so that they can be played for profit.

But there’s no shame in this room: only the quest for cash. John Bush, president of Sona Mobile Inc., the first presenter to focus on this year’s theme of “Mobile Nation,” says young people will spend $100 billion on mobile products and services in 2005. He says there are currently 270 million people around the world under 25 who own a mobile phone, and that figure will jump to 370 million in two years.

The numbers being thrown around are staggering: More than 38,000 new products and services, mostly geared at young people, are now launched each year, compared with a little over 15,000 just over a decade ago.

More than $50 billion will be spent in the global video game market by 2008; 115 million text messages are currently sent in Canada every month; $85 billion will be spent this year in North America on mobile communication products and services.

The last figure is why Stan Davidson, president of Magnet Mobile Media Inc., believes “now is the time for marketers to exploit this medium as a marketing tool.”

The cellphone is described numerous times as the perfect marketing tool. It’s always right in the hands of young people, constantly being flipped and scanned, as opposed to the hit and miss approach advertising has in television and print. One presenter even explained that though many schools don’t allow cellphones, most students know how to “shield” them from teachers, or you can “get them during recess,” he says. Get ‘em, get ‘em, get ‘em!

Videogames are also a huge target. The term that’s been coined for this new market potential is “advergaming.” Nick Loria says he left MTV to join the video game advertising company Massive Incorporated because when it comes to youth and the small screen, even MTV is passé.

According to the Associated Press, advergaming revenue is expected to jump from $200 million in 2004 to $1 billion in 2008.

A game like Halo 2, which did $120 million in sales the weekend it was released, has opened marketers’ eyes to the potential of gaming. Expect to see your screens and speakers blasting with ads from now on each time you plug in the PlayStation.

Because, in the view of the marketer, everything can and should be an ad. Not even buildings can escape, as one Future Shop was digitally transformed from its usual boring exterior with a click of a button to show its marketing potential. It was rendered to look exactly like a giant X-box.

MP3s are also being targeted by marketers, who were told that “podvertising” and campaigns hidden into downloads will be other fertile grounds for savvy advertisers.

The “perfect storm” metaphor is apt — there appears to be no way out for young people. The ads will be everywhere. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., the Canadian publisher of university textbooks, has been actively soliciting advertisements to be placed directly in its books.

A brochure from the company reads: “Do you really think 18-24 year-olds see those on-campus magazine ads? Do you really think they could miss an ad that is placed in a very well-respected textbook?”

Do we really think young people should be forced to deal with advertising in the classroom? Where is the limit?

The “perfect storm” now descending on youth has even forced established companies to forget about any other demographic. Only youth matters. CBS recently announced that JAG, Judging Amy, Joan of Arcadia and the Wednesday night edition of 60 Minutes, all popular shows, have been dropped from next fall’s primetime schedule because young viewers weren’t tuning in. “We’ve taken out four of our five oldest-skewing shows,” says Leslie Moonves, the network’s president, in a release.

The working theory driving the “perfect storm” is that young people haven’t yet aligned themselves with the products and brands that they will eventually buy for the rest of their lives. But the event was finally placed into context when six young students, aged 10 to 16, and all from Toronto, were brought out near the end of the second day.

Even though they were probably screened, they clearly had not been rehearsed. And they knew they’re being manipulated. Sixteen year-old Jessica Butler replies frankly when asked which ads work: “When you’re trying something new, that’s when you guys try to hook them.”

Brittany Dale, 14, explains that she would be completely turned off if she received a text-messaged ad on her cellphone because it’s part of her personal space, which is out of bounds.

When asked by the moderator to explain if she likes certain brands and why, Butler leaves the crowd momentarily silent.

“No. I’m skeptical about getting attached to brands because I don’t like getting manipulated.”

A voice of reason: And hope that the “perfect storm” of marketing might just destroy itself.

 

Casting Off the One-Off

MARKETING MAGAZINE
May 10, 2004

Marketers are developing promotions that keep consumers interested beyond the initial splash

"Daring" is not a word often associated with tea marketers, but last fall Tetley Canada decided to break from its usual marketing practices and give away a new resealable tea canister to M&M Meat Shops customers who bought certain desserts. The promotion worked so well that the Malton, Ont.-based beverage company decided the formula could work with other retailers, and offered the same canister this past Easter to consumers who bought Snoopy Easter bunnies from Hallmark Card stores.

Marketers and their agencies say they are no longer fixated on one-off contests that elicit a short-lived spike in sales and fade quickly from consumers' memories. Brand managers are beginning to see the benefit of developing brand-building strategies that involve creating multiple aspects of a promotion during the year or hosting a marketing event that becomes an annual affair. 

Although Tetley Canada has no way to track whether consumers who received a free tea canister were enticed to buy one of its 23 specialty tea flavours, sales of these lines, which include Summer Berry Herbal Tea and Classic Green Tea, have risen 12% over the last year, says president Glynne Jones. He adds the packaged-goods company will continue to do trials around the tea canisters this year.

"Where promotions, I think, have in the past been used just to try to influence volume in the short term, we're trying to...use promotions more to build the brand and the brand awareness within the consumer's mind over the long term," says Jones.

This trend in promotions is being spearheaded by financially healthy packaged goods giants who are more open to crafting strategic approaches, says Matt Diamond, partner and managing director of the BIG Ideas Group at Toronto-based Capital C. He says the marketing industry isn't "all the way there yet," but has matured from five years ago when it classified a promotion as a sweepstakes contest or instant-win competition.

"We call it the simmer and boil," he says of the philosophy to capture people's attention throughout the year. "You're going to turn up the heat and you're going to get the thing really, really simmering at a high heat."

A landscape of increasingly fragmented media, consisting of text messaging, Internet and viral marketing along with the traditional staples of radio, TV and print, make it harder to support brands and is pushing marketers to embrace this trend, Diamond says. This change has grown the role of below the line marketing, including event marketing and PR, from just an afterthought in company approaches.

Everyone's trying to capture the most coveted target market-teens and young adults-who are "multi-tasking like crazy," notes Diamond. He recalls a trip to Florida over March break during which pool-side kids deemed text-messaging on their cellphones "just as important as their suntan lotion."

Agencies argue economic instability has also put brand managers on the hot seat with their bosses. "The procurement departments are now really looking hard at marketing and dollars spent" to ensure a program is linked appropriately to the brand, he says.

A few years ago, Capital C convinced client Hallmark Cards Canada to use its name as a verb in promotions. The thinking led to multiple campaigns like "Hallmark the millennium," "Hallmark Mother's Day" and "Hallmark Valentine's Day," allowing the card maker to take ownership of the holidays, Diamond says. "So what could have been just a one-off promotion, we changed into a year-long promotion. That wasn't about 'Buy a card, get one free.' "

Smaller marketers like Spin Master have also clued in to the power of this type of marketing. The Toronto toy maker has for three years held an 18-week summer tour during which vans make 350 stops throughout North America, and Spin Master employees showcase its Air Hogs toy helicopters and airplanes. It gives people an "incredible experience to see, touch, play with our toy, to understand it, and feel like they've experience a part of the Air Hogs brand," explains Harold Chizick, director of marketing communications. He says the tour is more important to consumers than only once viewing a TV ad.

Every year Spin Master, which says it's sold 10 million Air Hogs and is still experiencing double-digit growth for the brand, brings along partners like Toys 'R' Us or Energizer. Recently the company, which Chizick says has received calls from media outlets and venues in cities it's visited inquiring about the next Air Hogs Van Tour, has decided to hold the event every year and catapult it to the next level by, for example, customizing vans to look like planes.

Diamond believes this type of strategic marketing allows Canadian managers of U.S.-based brands to inject some local flavour in the marketing message. Companies like Procter & Gamble years ago decided that since "Tide is Tide," there was no need for a Canadian-specific promotion for the detergent aside from switching ads to French for the Quebec market and including Canadian packaging, he recalls.

He says marketers who embrace strategic promotions will lean more on their agencies and so change the dynamic of their relationship. "If you're the brand manager, you're more of a general manager. So you need your agencies to be specialists. You don't have this dedicated promotional manager, let's say, for your brand."

Despite the benefits, some marketers have been reluctant to follow the example of companies like Tetley, Hallmark and Spin Master because of the way the brand management system traditionally works. "If you think of promotional marketing historically, there have been significant budgets in the hands of junior people," says Lisa Peirson, vice-president of strategic planning at Fuse Marketing Group in Toronto. People frequently move to other brand portfolios and hurt the continuity needed to nurture a brand, she says.

When people are more senior, explains Peirson, they start to recognize the advantage of applying marketing in a disciplined way over time with an eye to meeting the needs of the brand rather than those of the brand manager.

Everyone will reach the long-term goal more effectively if they share a vision of the brand's future, Peirson says, "as opposed to people coming in and (saying), 'What is the newest, greatest, hottest idea?' Relationships are probably the smarter way to go."

Reality TV's fear factor

MARKETING MAGAZINE ONLINE
Current Issue – Top of Mind
November 29, 2004

The bubble is bound to burst, with serious implications for networks and their advertisers

Will reality TV be the death of network television and mass marketing as we know it? TV executives certainly don't think so, and are betting the farm that this type of voyeuristic programming will be a panacea to falling ratings and runaway production costs.

The television schedule has undergone a radical makeover that compares to the lumpy New Jersey fireman becoming the hottest bachelor in Manhattan due to the tutelage of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Networks have thrown out their traditional formula of one-hour dramas and half-hour sitcoms-with a slight dusting of specials and movies-in favour of reality programming. There are over 125 of these shows listed on realitytvlinks.com.

This proliferation of programming isn't an accident. When a reality show hits with an audience, it's a triple for networks and producers: They attract a younger demographic, the best ones are absolute ratings slayers, and a recent study by Television Week, "Focusing on Reality Viewers," has proven that viewers of these programs are more susceptible to advertising messages.

The formula is pretty basic: Appeal to the voyeur in most humans by creating programming concepts that showcase one or more of the seven deadly sins, with the occasional train wreck staged to ensure water cooler chat at the office. It's the Jerry Springer Show with the Kissing Hatfield Cousins, set in a better location with more attractive people. Who doesn't delight in seeing pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and slothfulness woven into a plot line that calls upon real people's (mostly unscripted) desire to be humiliated in front of millions of people?

Some of these programs have high production values and fresh plot lines. The Amazing Race, The Apprentice and Rebel Billionaire not only capture the viewers, they own the water cooler chat, drive office pools that used to be reserved solely for sports, and their twists and turns anchor much of the entertainment-type news programming.

But as seductive as reality TV is, this bubble will eventually burst and the consequences will be far reaching for the networks and the marketers who depend on their viewers to advertise their brands. It's no different than the recent dot-com bubble we all lived through. For every solid business proposition, there were 100 start-ups that believed the Internet was the magic wand, and any idea would work-even if it was as preposterous as selling and shipping 25 kilos of dog food across the country for the same price as at the local Wal-Mart.

It will be no different with reality TV. The best shows will survive because they are built on a big idea- supported by the right production and creative resources-while others will fail because they fail to resonate with viewers who get bored with the formula.

What we need to ask ourselves is what happens to television as a mass medium when the bubble does burst? The "reality" of a reality TV schedule is that the networks have dramatically scaled back on investing in new sitcoms and dramas, which in their second life become reruns and content to fill our 300-channel universe. I imagine someone is already petitioning to start a reality TV channel, but I can't see this type of programming having the same second life on mainstream TV as reruns of MASH, Cosby, Full House and Friends.

Where will networks turn to find this content and to attract viewers who are already being seduced away from TV by video gaming platforms like Xbox, the proliferation of DVDs, the functionality of TiVo, and the interactivity of the Web?

This could become a major problem. Television's livelihood, vibrancy, elasticity, efficiency and reach are the cornerstones of mass marketing. We depend on TV as a key medium for connecting the consumer to our brands. We need to take steps now to ensure its long-term viability.

This challenge won't be easy, as the temptations and short-term returns of reality TV are so seductive. I believe it will take the combined effort of marketers, agencies, producers and network executives to develop the next generation of big ideas and content that works. We need the next Friends, Frasier, West Wing and The OC, not a third rendition of Average Joe. This will require a heroic effort, but it's one well worth the investment given TV's role as the primary fuel for mass marketing.

The challenge, however, could be fun. Why not solve the problem with a reality TV show? A major television network could tap into the creative talents and competitive nature of the top marketing agencies by offering up a $1-million prize for the best new sitcom or drama idea, plus the production dollars to film a pilot. I know we would go after this challenge. Wouldn't you?

TONY CHAPMAN is president of below- the-line marketing agency Capital C and a partner in Quebec-based agency P2P Marketing.

You say you want a revolution

MARKETING MAGAZINE
Jan 10, 2005

[TOP OF MIND] SHOP TALK

This time it will be the move from mass to niche marketing

History marked the early part of the 20th century as the end of the horse and buggy era and, with it, signified a cultural and industrial revolution of epic propor-tions. I believe that history will mark the early part of this century as the end of mass marketing and once again an era of profound revolution. This time, however, it will be in how brands are marketed and how con-sumers are sold.

Today we have too many brands, for too few consumers, who already own too many things, and have too many distractions combined with too much content, to give us two minutes of their undivided attention. Every market sector is over saturated, vol-atile, demanding and price competi-tive. What a wonderful time to be in the marketing business.

How boring it must have been to be in marketing when The Ed Sullivan Show reached half the house-holds in North America. Many plan-ned their Sunday dinner around this event and, in doing so, were glued to its content and its advertisers. The game was simple to play: Marketers were guaranteed a win if their prod-ucts were adequate and they could outspend their competitors on two key fronts-dominate, if not own, what little media existed, and leverage the consumer demand they created by investing their profits in controlling and rapidly expanding distribution,

Today, there's no such simple for-mula, no set game plan or guarantees.

Consumers no longer follow brands like sheep. The trade has con-solidated and, in most cases, has be-come highly efficient in its market-ing and operations. Deflationary pric-ing and a value segment are the norm. To succeed, marketers have to be faster, better and more efficient than their competitors. Faster at iden-tifying the needs of their consumers, better at producing innovative prod-uct and service solutions, and more efficient in how they drive out the non-value added costs to ensure they remain price competitive.
For agencies to succeed in this envi-ronment, we must have the ability to respond to marketers' needs, become better at collaborating with marketers and their various agency partners to create big ideas and be more efficient in how we do business.

Our motivation for continuous improvement is that we realize there are no guarantees. No longer are
mar-keter-agency relationships safe based on tenure, or excelling in a specific discipline. Even global client align-ments are no longer safe havens. Suc-cess will only come to agencies that produce results that deliver measura-ble value to their clients.

As John F. Kennedy once said: "A revolution is coming-a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough-but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability."

This change is inevitable, whether we will it or not. Whether we innovate and make things happen, or procras-tinate and wonder what happened. There will be no middle ground.

For this reason, it’s an extraordinary time to be in the marketing business. The rules have changed, and the board belongs to the agencies that can leverage and amplify every touch point where the consumer interacts with the brand. A consistent and compelling creative promise that has to be crafted and then cascaded across packaging, point of sale, retail theatre, promotional marketing, event and live, viral, interactive, SMS, MMS and promotional PR.

In terms of reach and frequency, the digital world will allow clients to exchange content, imagery and activation offers, tailored to that segment or even an individual consumer, at a fraction of the cos. The roll of mass media will evolve from the lead instrument in the orchestral where is shouldered much of the communication responsibilities for the brand, to becoming the percussion where its role is to set the rhythm.

This change will be so profound that history will hallmark the agencies that embrace the new model in the same way that history now recognizes the leadership of agencies like Leo Burnett BBDO, JWT, and Ogilvy in the mass marketing era. In doing so they will not only build their platform for future growth, they will create a rich environment of learning and discovery that attracts the very best talent and produces the very best solutions. What a wonderful time to be in marketing.

TONY CHAPMAN is president of Capital C in Toronto, and a partner in P2P Marketing in Montreal.

POV on Bell's Olympic bet

MARKETING MAGAZINE
March 07, 2005

2010 Games the ideal platform for 'We are all connected' positioning

By Tony Chapman

A "Texas Holdem all-in Bet" has been made by Bell Globemedia and Bell to secure broadcasting and telecommunications rights to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, and broadcasting rights to the 2012 Summer Games. In my opinion, Bell is not only holding the right cards, but the way it plays them could redefine marketing and sponsorship in the coming century.

Too much attention has been placed on advertising revenue, and whether there is even hope for a broadcasting profit, and too little attention has been placed on the Olympics-and especially the Vancouver setting as the perfect platform for Bell to position its products and services to the Canadian consumer.

This myopic view reminds me of a story I once read on the 1964 New York World's Fair. Many people questioned the motives behind this event, and few saw any possibility of attendance revenue ever covering the costs. However, to visionaries, the return on investment wasn't going to be achieved solely through attendance-the real return would be on how well America showcased its technological, scientific, manufacturing and capitalistic prowess to the world.

Anyone who had the opportunity to visit left with a first-hand appreciation for the giant American corporations and how they planned to define and shape the future. Others who couldn't visit relied on glowing media reports that declared New York the capital of the world.

How does this compare to Bell? There is no doubt that Bell Globemedia and its consortium partners, including Rogers Media, will fully leverage its media assets to provide the consumer with a 24/7 broadcast of virtually every Olympic event.

What I am fascinated with is how fast and far-reaching the technological revolution will travel by 2010, and how exciting it will be for the consumer to move from a voyeuristic look at Bell's "We are all connected" positioning, seen through clever TV advertising, to a hands-on experience using the Olympics as the platform.

By 2010, inexpensive and wafer-thin screens will decorate walls, counters and desks like today's picture frames. They might even be the flap that opens a knapsack, the inside of a lunch box, or a fashion accessory like a wristband or sweatband. You might see them as house signs that communicate the house number or a political party preference. We can't forget in-store theatre, the wall of an elevator or giant billboards that act as energy efficient window shades or windmills that power a city block.

More importantly, all of these screens will have wireless connectivity, enabling consumers to talk and text each other, and access whatever combination of digital asset they command-their home library, including pictures, music and videos, gaming, lottery tickets, online retailers, the Internet and, of course, TV and movie content.

Bell, with a line up of digital assets that includes Sympatico, ExpressVu, Bell Mobility and VoIP, plus its Bell World Stores and whatever is currently being invented in their labs or targeted for acquisition, will connect the consumer to the Olympics in an extraordinary fashion. In most cases it will earn a fee for its efforts.

I know my family would pay a premium if we could check off our Olympic preferences-knowing that the content we covet would be streamed to our personal video recorder, and be available for us to watch, anytime or anywhere. We would love the option of choosing camera angles, or having access to a gaming platform where we could compete against the athlete's best time. We wouldn't think twice about spending a dollar to send a good luck message or to congratulate a gold medal performance. If we were planning to attend any of the events, Bell's online auction engine would let us bid for tickets and travel, or if we stayed at home the same engine would let us bid for Olympic memorabilia. We would cross our fingers every night to see if we won the daily Pro Sports and TSN pool, and laugh out loud when one of our kids sent off digital postcards featuring their heads on athletes standing at the podium

2010 is clear demonstration of why "We are all connected" is brilliant positioning by Bell. In the short term it lends itself to wonderful advertising. In the future, through platforms like the Olympics, it will come to life through hands-on interaction between each consumer and the world they want to visit, shop, play, work and connect to. You can bet on it.

TONY CHAPMAN is CEO of Capital C and a partner in Quebec-based P2P Marketing.

Pepsi Canada tries to score with World Cup promotion:

Capital C stickhandles point-of-sale push

Even before the gold, silver and bronze were handed out for beach volleyball, synchronized diving and badminton and the rest, the hockey nets were going up in supermarkets across the country.
Sure, the Summer Olympics are in full swing in Athens, with the quadrennial complaints about ambush marketing, scant crowds and (for Canada) scarce medals, but that hasn't stopped Pepsi Canada from attempting to douse rival Coca-Cola's Olympic flame with its World Cup hockey promotion for the Pepsi, Gatorade and Frito-Lay brands.

The main concern for Pepsi might be whether Canadians are suffering just a tad from sports burnout by the time the hockey World Cup starts next month. "I think quite the opposite, there is going to be an incredible and insatiable appetite to get back into sports," said Tony Chapman, president of Capital C Communications, a promotions agency that has stickhandled the Pepsi point-of-sale push.
"We're not getting it from the [Toronto] Blue Jays, the CFL has a [limited] audience and I'm not sure the Olympics -- I mean I would challenge even the great sports enthusiasts to name five [Summer] Olympic athletes."

While it hasn't happened since 1996 when Canada lost to the U.S. squad, there are some arguments for affixing an advertiser's product to the World Cup of hockey event. Barring injuries, it pits each country's best players against one another (like, ahem, the hockey in the Winter Olympics), it has Wayne Gretzky at the helm (like the 2002 Olympics) and it is likely the last professional hockey we'll see in a long time with a looming NHL lockout. Given the male-heavy ranks of supermarket corporate buyers, it is also a fairly easy sell from the standpoint of PepsiCo.

"We're expected to win the same way a lot of people in the States are wondering how the U.S. lost to Puerto Rico in basketball," said Mr. Chapman. "I would say the coverage on the World Cup in the newspaper and who was going to be the defenceman replacing Chris Pronger had as much coverage and interest to the sports enthusiast to what we did in the Olympics."

Although the promotional agency chief is clearly biased, he doesn't believe the Olympics are a waste of advertising dollars. Big Games sponsors such as Bell Canada can use the Games to tout their wide array of technology and services and promote the themes of connection and convergence that make sense during a worldwide event. (Bell is also a major sponsor during the World Cup with the Making the Cut, CBC's hockey reality program).

SAME TASTE?
Not long after Sleeman Breweries successfully carved out the low-carb beer category with Sleeman Clear, the empire(s) struck back in the form of Labatt Sterling and Molson Ultra. While results are still sketchy, Sleeman looks to have created a winner with its offering, selling it at a premium price while the big guys have, by and large, dropped their prices. Molson has an interesting selling proposition, 4.5% alcohol versus the standard 4%, while Labatt has aggressively pushed Sterling in draught towers to replace Carlsberg taps.

So, when Labatt announced it was exporting its low-carb beer to the U.S., it was only logical that they name it Labatt Select. Turns out that somebody else owned the rights to the Sterling name in the U.S.

I AM EXTINCT?
Still to be answered in the great Canadian agency hunt known as the Molson Canadian pitch is whether the famous I AM slogan, created a decade ago by MacLaren McCann only to be abandoned then adopted by Molson's current agency Bensimon Byrne, will survive the current process.
A clutch of hopefuls, some say six, some say seven, are vying for the Molson flagship and reclamation project. But is I AM on the table? "Anybody who comes back with I AM will not stay in," said a brewing source last week. That would make "Joe," the plaid-jacketed everyman who passionately declared his national status in the 2000 commercial, a dim footnote in beer history. About what he is today to the new 18-year-old beer drinker.

LOW BUDGET EFFORT
It really sucks when the client has little or no budget. Except, of course, when you're trying to show just how much you do with little or no money. That's just what FCB/Toronto has done with its back-to-school campaign for retailer Grand & Toy Ltd.
One of a series of transit ads (done by students brought into the agency to stencil posters) states, "This low cost ad was made from low cost school supplies from Grand & Toy." All the ads feature pictures of the retailer's products glued onto the posters.

POV on Virtual Bartending

Strategy Magazine
December 2004
Beer.com's Virtual Bartender
by Pierre Hamilton

How do you lure 9.3 million unique visitors to your Web site in three weeks? Take the premise of Burger King's widely popular "Subservient Chicken," then substitute the chicken for Tammy, a "Virtual Bartender" who's willing to please.

That's the winning formula behind Beer.com's viral campaign. The effort began with 10 e-mail invites sent to pals of Beer.com staff in November. Web traffic increased 800%; the site regained its number one status under a Google search for "beer" and advertisers from the U.K., Spain and Italy bought ad space.
More than 10,000 visitors joined the pub club, a section (where membership is free) that grants visitors full access to the site and over 2,500 signed up for Beer.com e-mail addresses. The campaign was such a success that Beer.com created a fan club that sells Tammy souvenirs and increased the commands she can perform.

Peers Tom Short, VP creative services at Calgary's Rare Method, and Tony Chapman, president at Toronto's Capital C, step up to the virtual bar, place their orders and rate the campaign.
Concept

TS: Sex sells - or does it? The virtual bartender at Beer.com is a voyeuristic, fun campaign that is perfectly suited for the audience [19- to 25-year-old males] and the Web site.

TC: The advertisers that Beer.com attracts are online casino operators, dating services, beer fridges, plus the merchandise that they sell through their online store. Their strategy of dramatically increasing the number of sticky male eyeballs, through their virtual bartender, is brilliant. An outstanding example of viral marketing.
TS: This was more fun than bossing a man in a chicken suit around. Strangely, chick fight was the best command - try it.
The Internet is a social animal and it did as [well as] any provocative, well-done product would do through a small initial e-mail. Still it did not make it easy to forward the site to a friend - so it missed even greater results. The core audience will come back but it is a novelty that will lose its appeal. You can easily search for all the cheats on line to get the commands - so you can blow through the tricks fast.

TC: Because of the simplicity of the controls, users stick around. The bravado attached with viral marketing is how few seeded e-mails are required to create an online phenomenon. I have to believe that the investment they made justified more than 10 e-mails to launch it. At the very least the initial 10 were most likely targeted to friends, and included a strong call to action to forward it on to as many people as possible. The numbers they realized were sensational.
The results

TS: As a brand campaign serving the target audience it achieves high marks. [But] often the hype of a campaign like this overshadows the primary goal unless the call to action is clear to the user. I had fun, the execution was great, and then I left. Hmmmm.
[It got] lots of visitors but are they the right visitors? Old guys like me are not the market, yet I did visit the site and tell other old guys like me about it. The impressions [beer.com is] getting may not be what it's targeting, resulting in zero value to advertisers. Going on a road tour for poster signing events and/or hosting exclusive events with the VB would be the next best thing, and then you would get the high-value audience to sign up.

TC: I was surprised they didn't ask viewers to register, even as an incentive to unlock new commands. This would have given them a rich database to mine - in terms of releasing the next version of VB, supporting their advertising base, and their online store.

Plugging into the Digital Revolution

It's been a slow process but some Canadian marketers realize that if they want to reach consumers, they have to speak to them digitally. So what's stopping the rest of you?

by Lisa D'Innocenzo

SITD? If you have to ask, you may be in trouble, given the rate at which consumers are adopting digital media. The vast majority of marketers are still scratching their heads about how to advertise effectively within the digital domain. A few Canadian pioneers, such as Molson, Schneider Foods and Schick, are slowly finding their way in the hope that acting as leaders rather than followers will pay off in dividends for their brands.

Interest in digital media is "increasing exponentially among marketers," says Tony Chapman, president of Toronto promotional agency Capital C. Last spring, the Interactive Advertising Bureau estimated Canadian online spend for 2004 would increase about 30% to $200 million, from $150 million in 2003.
Chapman cites three reasons: recognition the coveted youth target is spending more time online; new technologies are able to communicate immediately and with low production values; and strong interactive capabilities.

Indeed, several players in Canada have suddenly come to the realization that young adults like to download songs from the Internet (to the tune of 70% of Canadian youth, according to Vancouver-based youth marketing firm Alias).

Kitchener, Ont.-based Schneider Foods is one of them. Purchasers of Schneiders Hot Stuffs, Lean Stuffs or Egg Stuffs got one bonus track from Canadian site Puretracks between June and the end of this month.
Maurice Bianchi, marketing manager of frozen baked goods, believes Schneiders will be one of the first consumer packaged goods brands in the country to offer music downloads to consumers. "It is always rewarding to be first to market with an innovative promotion because it reflects very positively on the brand."

The idea was hatched during a brainstorming session involving Bianchi and staff at Gencom, Schneider's Mississauga, Ont. promotional agency. It started with a discussion about how to develop an entertainment-based initiative that would appeal to a wide audience.

"We explored videos and movies first and then we came around to discussing music. The idea of a download just came naturally," he explains. "Soon after that, we noticed that some major brands in the U.S. were starting to do this sort of thing too, so we knew it would be a hot new promo idea."
The cost of the promo, which is supported through on-pack graphics, in-store displays and merchandising, as well as on the Puretracks site, will largely be determined by the final redemption rate of downloads, says Bianchi, who adds that selling the program internally was easier than he expected. "I just focused on the merits of the program, such as instant win, mass appeal, national coverage and the opportunity for multiple redemptions, which leads to multiple purchases."

Molson Canadian recently had a similar hook-up with Napster.ca. About 500,000 Molson Insiders - registered with iamcanadian.ca - received free access to the service for a month. Sales and promo staff handed out hundreds of thousands of "download cards" for free tracks, says Rob Assimakopoulos, Molson's Toronto-based VP marketing, who adds, "we have to be where that beer drinker is to deliver an experience to them. In Canada there's a much bigger penetration of broadband users than in the U.S. so [we're] certainly set for Canadians to be huge consumers of digital music."

And of course, McDonald's Canada has been giving away tunes from Sony's connect.ca with every Big Mac. The deal was heavily promoted in-store and via radio and TV advertising, using the QSR's now ubiquitous "I'm Lovin' It" campaign. The effort is part of the chain's worldwide strategy to reach consumers through their interests - music, sports, entertainment and fashion.

"We're always looking for new avenues to reach our customers," says Canadian spokesperson Ron Christensen. "Digital media continues to be increasingly a part of our customers' regular lives, and if we can be more relevant by tapping into those media, we'll definitely research it."

McDonald's would also like to up its hip status among youth, as opposed to being exclusively obsessed with winning over parents with two young 'uns and a golden retriever. "Youth was traditionally not a demographic we were speaking specifically to," says Christensen. "I don't think anyone can deny our advertising was safe." Globally the QSR expected millions of songs to be downloaded.

While these brands are using digital-related promos to connect with consumers, others are using the Net as a principal means to build awareness - with significant results.

In spring, Xbox Canada launched a viral campaign - an e-mail version of tag - created by Capital C. Each time a player tagged someone else they not only gained entry into a contest which gave away a limited-edition Xbox daily, they also viewed one of 12 videos of game footage.

The main objective, according to Chapman, was to capture consumer mindshare during a non-key retail period. But the video game console also wanted to reinforce its "social gaming" positioning and broaden its appeal - the initiative was largely targeted at non-Xbox owners. "Our goal was to be less concerned about the [existing] target, but more interested in how many people activated, how often they participated, and whether they were motivated to watch the promo material."

The inspiration for Tag came during a Capital C "Big Ideas Session" which involved the agency and two client-side participants - promotions, events and partnerships manager Dawn Martyn and group marketing manager Jason Anderson.

Recognizing that the target was gamers, the group decided a virtual campaign made the most sense.
Producing Tag was also much cheaper than producing a TV campaign. With a relatively small database, an effort like this could cost under six figures, says Chapman - and that includes the media buy necessary to seed it. Yet, due to the pass-along factor, the results can be enormous provided the creative is innovative enough.

Certainly that appears to be the case with Tag; the average participant entered the contest 12 times - viewing all of the Tag videos in the process. At the end of the six-week program, over 36,000 people had played and half a million tags had been sent.

Similarly, Mississauga, Ont.-based Schick Canada launched a Web-based brand awareness campaign in early April, when the packaged goods firm introduced a series of eight Webisodes, produced by Toronto-based interactive agency Unplugged Studio (creator of the Jerry Seinfeld Amex work). In the 'sodes, Peter, a sarcastic chest-thumping DJ, would go on about guy things - golf, relationships, and of course, shaving. The fake radio show shorts resided at Canada.com.

There were obvious benefits for Schick, which has long been in a cutthroat war with Gillette. "[On the Net], you're not competing with all this other clutter," says Helen Kargas, associate brand manager on Schick. "It's also a cost-effective way of reaching so many people. With TV, you constantly have to buy media time, you're paying talent fees, [whereas] you're just paying for the production of the piece here."
Interestingly, CanWest Global's Integrated Business Solutions (IBS) division worked with Unplugged to develop the creative concept (see sidebar below).

Despite these forays, several pundits say marketers are lagging when it comes to digital marketing and as a result missing out on opportunities in realms like video game and wireless marketing (see Gist Box, below). Most of the innovation in the digital space is coming from the States or overseas, says Andy Nulman, president of Montreal-based Airborne Entertainment, a wireless entertainment publisher.
"People are starting to understand there's a new way to reach specific segments, but as [with] any new medium, they are approaching it with...apprehension, and [with] square peg/round hole syndrome."
BTW, it means "Still in the Dark."

The Art of Brand War

To challenge the big brands, take a page from the military and use your story as a weapon

The easiest way to get share of voice is to buy it. With the right idea, creative, media planners and buyers, you can reach your target audience. It can be expensive, but it is highly efficient and effective, especially if you outspend your competition.
That's the advantage of being the market leader. Capitalize on your market share, your premium price and margin to out-shout the competition. The military calls it deploying a "direct strategy," where you take your enemy head on, knowing you have more weaponry-or, in the marketing industry, media-at your disposal.
What I am surprised at is how many challenger brands-those without the ability to outspend-choose to deploy the same direct strategy.
They compete using the same media strategies as the market leader, but instead of a booming voice, they can barely afford a whisper. Even if they uncovered a unique consumer insight, wrapped in stellar creative, with an uncanny buy, the odds that a whisper will be heard over a shout remain stacked against them.
Only a 3:1 ratio allows for a successful direct strategy, and without this overwhelming advantage, challenger brands must focus on a different strategy. Looking again to a military model, generals in today's armies know that if they are outgunned, they can't deploy a direct attack; rather, they turn to one of three other proven strategies:
1. Indirect-focus on changing the rules of the game.
2. Containment-protect yourself by containing your opponent.
3. Divide and Conquer-divide the arena of battle and seek total victory in a segment.
The first Iraqi war was a classic example of these strategies. Initially called Desert Shield, coalition forces chose to contain the enemy's advances, while they built up a 3-1 advantage. Once achieved, the operation was renamed Desert Storm, and the Iraqis faced a direct attack.
While the marketing business in Canada only feels like a war, strategy is just as important. But what strategy is right for you?
Although every brand situation is different, they all involve consumers, a story, and a budget. For a challenger brand to win over a consumer predisposed to the market leader, they need to uncover unique consumer insights and calibrate their message accordingly.
Unfortunately, the wider the segment, the more difficult it is to uncover unique and meaningful insights. For example, if you are in the business of selling "better for you" food products, targeting women 25-49 lends itself to a more generic message, while targeting moms with small children who are attempting to balance work, family and personal exercise offers a more meaningful opportunity for dialogue.
The key is to focus on the story that will encourage dialogue. Without a story that a consumer is willing to buy, most brands are simply a commodity. At Capital C, we use the criteria of "head, heart and hands" when evaluating the power of a brand's story. Head asks if the story is simple and easy to understand; heart asks if it's emotive enough to connect with the target audience; hands seek to ensure the story is easy to share.
The final ingredient in selecting your strategy is budget. In most cases, the market leader will be very television-centric, as this is still the most powerful medium, and likely what led to their market share. Brand leaders will find it difficult to ever abandon this strategy, so you know what to expect.
Armed with this intelligence about your competitor, seize the opportunity to leverage your marketing budget, and test new ways to connect with the consumer. This could include a fully integrated campaign leveraging packaging, in-store theatre, promotional marketing, online and viral, event marketing, and public relations.
With a narrower consumer segment, unique insights, a powerful head, heart and hands storyline, challenger brands will find unique ways to tell their story and level the field of battle with a bigger, better-financed adversary.
In the Canadian marketing wars, these are just some of the strategies that will lead to being heard above the shouting.
TONY CHAPMAN is founder and partner at Capital C in Toronto

Viva la Digital Revolution

From Marketing Magazine, Sept 2004   

A 2002 Ipsos-Reid survey asked Canadians the famous desert island question: If you were shipwrecked, and could only salvage one thing, what would it be? The majority of Canadians, 51%, chose their Internet-enabled personal computer, over their telephone or television, which came in distant third at only 12%.
    My bet is that if you ask the desert island question three years from now, the percentage of people choosing their Internet-enabled device will climb to almost 100%. In fact, by 2007 the concept of being anywhere without an Internet-enabled device will be as foreign as-and frankly as uncomfortable as-leaving home today without your watch or wallet.
    As I'm writing this article, the one billionth person is connecting to the Internet, and most of them still have computers chained to a cable. Even with this limitation, a recent AOL study completed in the United States, concluded the majority of people find the Internet the most essential medium in their life, and young people felt it was the most cool and exciting.
    The facts are there-every time we make the Internet faster and more accessible, online usage and applications increase exponentially. Imagine what will happen when WiFi really kicks in and consumers' cellphones, PDAs, PCs, watches, wallets, MP3 players and even knapsacks will accept and transmit streaming videos, music, e-mails, Web cam images, phone calls and more, any time and any place. We'll see a totally unplugged, digitally connected, technically proficient consumer who will control the world where they want to shop, experience and buy, all within arm's reach of their desires.      
This in turn will create a marketing revolution equal if not greater in magnitude to what society experienced when the printing press was created, or the telephone, newspaper, radio or television.   
Through ever more powerful search engines and filters, consumers will have complete control of the content they covet: movies, TV, videos, music, news, games, gambling, pornography, communication with friends, peers or the office, their social and business calendars,brands they are considering, and projects they are working on. Given he viewing experience of consumers with TiVo, I don't see a world where consumers will accept interruptions to their content flow to watch seven different TV ads pushed together.   
    Marketers are going to have to create need states, and then use the power of technology and creativity to offer consumers a layered approach to information where they can skip along the surface or drill down as deep as they want. For example, if a couple looking to buy a home drives by a house they like, the touch of a button will provide a fact sheet on the house. If still interested, they can immediately download a virtual tour, projected either on their PDA, cellphone or their car entertainment centre. Another click and they will get information on the local schools, including testimonials from parents and teachers, the local shopping malls, demographics on the neighbourhood and crime statistics. Another click and they shop for furniture, get an estimate on what it would cost to paint the inside, or be instantaneously approved for a mortgage so they can submit a bid.
    In a singles bar, flirting will move from eye contact, to a virtual exchange of rich personal information and text conversations which, if enticing enough, can lead to an option to connect. The same holds true for almost every category. If a consumer is shopping for a television, they can visit a display centre or peruse a virtual store. They enter the product code and in a second have a rich, and well-organized multi-media file. They can compare, and view testimonials. With another click, they trigger an auction where sellers compete by offering a package organized under price and value-added offers. The consumer can accept, decline or send it back for another bid. If someone wins, the final click signals a buy and the shipping and installation details are electronically matched between calendars.
    Even in the packaged goods arena, the world turns upside down. Grocery lists will be electronically prepared through scanning technology, smart fridges and cupboards, and family eating habits. Wal-Mart and Loblaws might become a more important venue for showcasing commercials than a TV network. In addition, grocery stores will offer marketers the opportunity to pinpoint consumers, and their brand preferences, and zap send value-added offers to influence behaviour while the consumer is shopping.
    I believe that history always repeats itself. At the turn of the century, many buggy makers laughed at those stinky, unreliable combustion-powered vehicles, and were confident in the reliability and tradition surrounding the horse-powered carriage. As the technology improved, and gas stations opened up across the country, buggy makers disappeared and consumers became unhitched-they could travel and expand their horizons beyond their town. This in turn created a social revolution that created cities, highways and the business of doing business.
    My advice to marketers is to not be buggy makers. In my 25 years in communications, I have seen only three kinds of companies, and three kinds of leaders: those who innovate and make things happen, those who imitate and respond to what happens, and those who wondered what happened. The facts are in front of us, bandwidth will continue to expand, digital imagery will continue to compress, consumers will be Internet enabled and unplugged, and we will have a marketing revolution!