blog from the edge

CRTC Decides on fee for carriage

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:31:00 +0000

CRTC Decision on Fee for Carriage Consumers will have to dig a little deeper
Last week the CRTC finally announced their decision regarding “ fee for carriage”.
The issue in an nutshell is that Conventional TV broadcasters, such as CTV, Global, and City TV ,are not paid a fee by distributors ( eg. Cable companies, satellite companies) for their broadcast signal/content while Specialty Stations ( eg HGTV, TSN, Food) are paid a fee on a per household basis. This is a historical model whereby the Conventionals were guaranteed maximum distribution/mandatory carriage and therefore the biggest audiences possible to sell to advertisers.
With Conventional stations losing money for the first time in 2008/09, and Specialty channels enjoying record viewing and profit, Conventional owners questioned their ability to deliver local TV and Canadian content under the existing regulatory restraints.
The fact that the same companies in most cases own both the Conventional and Specialty channels( and often the cable company too) did not dissuade the CRTC from announcing , pending approval, a U.S. model which allows each station to negotiate a fee ( or some form of exchange) for carriage with each of the cable/satellite companies.
Another part of the announcement was that video-on-demand( VOD) advertising will be allowed and will be the selling domain of the TV stations ( not cable co’s).This is a positive result in terms of longer term revenue potential for the broadcasters and buying access and simplicity for media buyers.

If a carriage deal cannot be negotiated, the Canadian broadcaster could demand blockage of their signal, and the signal from any U.S station broadcasting shows where they own Canadian rights, denying consumers TV access to top U.S. shows ( eg American Idol ,CSI,Academy Awards). Ultimately, since the CBC is not part of this equation, and Rogers owns both CITY TV and the cable pipes; as will Shaw for Global TV , this is primarily a CTV issue .
Just as younger and tech savvy consumers who have abandoned phone “ landlines” for mobile only and long distance for Skype, not to mention CD’s and DVD’s for digital downloads of music and movies ( most often for free); some may cancel or never buy cable TV preferring to view (legally or illegally ) video content on their laptop/mobile device .
The end result is that most consumers will pay a little more for their cable bill; voices will be raised, consumers will complain but we will return to business as usual.
We at MEC do see positives in the decision given new access to VOD audiences, some additional revenue for Conventional broadcasters which may help mitigate pressures on pricing, an end hopefully to what became a public debate that seemed a waste of energy and resources.

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:24:00 +0000

CRTC May Open Access to U.S. Cable Audiences
On February 22nd, the CRTC will give hearing to a proposal by MEDIAdeNOVO to change policy so that Canadian advertisers could purchase advertising units on U.S. cable stations such as CNN, A&E, TLC and Spike.
Currently, Canadian viewers watching U.S. cable see U.S. ads created and purchased to reach U.S. consumers and 2 minutes per hour of product and service promotions from Canadian distributors ( eg. Rogers, Bell, Telus).We are precluded from buying inventory on any of the U.S. cable networks.
The proposal raises several questions :
What could this mean for Canadian advertisers and Canadian media owners?
Most revenue generated by the advertising on U.S. Cable will come directly out of Canadian specialty channels pockets. For advertisers, it will provide more choice for commercial placement, access to attractive niche audiences ; but a reduction in U.S. spill which for some, if the creative and product synergies exist, is simply gravy.
In terms of efficiencies and rates; I would predict that CPM ‘s will be very good.
But to put this in perspective $40 million in revenue equals less than 2% of the total TV media market; so it will NOT have a huge mitigating impact on rates or cost increases ( not that we anticipate much upward pressure in 2010/11).
As well, the sponsorships, integrations, content partnerships, promotions and cross station campaigns we can do with Canadian partners cannot be replicated by the U.S. cable avails.

Do many Canadians even watch U.S. Cable stations? Who?
Canadian viewers, despite the proliferation of new Canadian choices, spend 10% of there TV viewing time with U.S. Cable Networks. These are basically lost eyeballs and in many cases attractive niche audiences that would be a good buy target for Canadian clients.
As an example ,A&E ranks 4th, TLC 7th and CNN 17TH in deliver of adults in prime time ;often ahead of History, W, Space, Food , Comedy , Showcase and well above all the diginets. Weekly reach of U.S. cable stations is over 50% and duplication is surprisingly low with the Canadian counterparts.
Why MEDIAdeNOVO? Who is behind this bid?
MEDIAdeNOVO is an independent, unaffiliated entity whose backers include several veterans of the Canadian broadcast industry. There proposition is to sell only to National advertisers and to offer the benefit of one stop shopping vs buying from each of the local BDU’s( eg. Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco).
To “ sweeten” the proposal, they have made a commitment to redirect 70% of the revenue to a Canadian programming fund and to fund research on new media business models, social trends , technical innovation and make it freely available.
Will this really bring $100 million of “new” ad revenue to the market?
NO!It is MEC’s belief that with new TV options, we would merely shift some monies from Canadian specialty channels ( if the price is right) to U.S. cable. It would also provide cable inventory in periods where Canadian specialties channels are sold out ( so could in fact retain some monies that may in the past have either been not spent or reallocated to another medium). Let’s face it; the advertising pie is not getting bigger !( at least not as we strive to get back to 2008 levels).
How will MEDIAdeNOVO do it? What else is up there sleeve?
The technology has existed for over a decade in the U.S. to set up a network control centre to manage the insertion of Canadian ads by BDU across the country (in fact much more sophisticated insertions and near addressable techniques as well).
Future applications in this market of the technology include non-simultaneous commercial substitution. This has the potential to both “simulcast” in programmes that are NOT airing on the same night ( eg. If CTV pre-releases CSI , your commercial would air on both CTV Tuesday and NBC Friday therebye benefiting from the cumulative local audience ) . Another application would combat timeshifting, and repatriate to originating/local markets viewers that choose (consciously or not) to watch an out of market signal ( ie, you live in Toronto but usually watch the Vancouver feed of your show since it is on later ).

Is BBM keeping us in the dark?

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Another television season is about to begin and once again BBM has changed the measurement. Every year since the “merger” of BBM and NMR” television rating systems there has been a significant change in measurement. And, every year they do very little to educate the industry in how the changes will affect our lives.

I’m not saying that measurement is getting worse, in fact I believe the switch this fall from set-top box to PPM will give us a more accurate estimate of how television is actually being consumed. The real issue is why isn’t anyone showing us what it will mean?

When Montreal radio began being measured by PPM, we had people tripping over each other to talk to us about what it meant. Papers were presented at conferences, the Radio Marketing Bureau took a presentation on the road, BBM made presentations, CDMQ released a POV… Why the silence with the television switch?

Is it possible that no one knows what effect this change will have? Do they know what the effect is, but are afraid of the backlash? We are too far down the road to abandon PPM, there is unlikely to be a revolt, so why isn’t anyone talking? In 6 weeks we will be working with a new set of data, and we are, if not in the dark, certainly looking for a flashlight. Who is going to shine a light?

-- By Sharon Dixon | Manager MEC MediaLab

When is TV not TV?

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Television is going through a radical transformation from an analog, mass, broadcast medium to a digital (content distribution, audience measurement, infrastructure) medium. Increasingly TV is learning and applying weblike behavior to re-energize the medium:

Social (note the CNN Obama social experience for his inauguration using Facebook connect)
Interactive (the recent MMVA’s had 55% of the TV audience also online interacting with each other and behind the scenes content)
Searchable (better and better interactive programming guides or at network sites like globaltv.com)
Telescoping
Bookmarking (such as the etc.tv model in Quebec)
Addressable/Personal (several tests such as the GroupM Direct TV/DVR commercial addressability rollout fall 2009)

Most TV content is still viewed on TV; but second is computer (internet), third mobile and even fourth in outdoor/place based screen viewing of the same or related/complimentary content is on the rise. This adds the dimension of place and device shifting to the notion of timeshifting (PVR). It raises the question of message relevance and engagement based on the mood, device, screen, and place of consumption.

Theses are just a few topline thoughts that illustrate the importance of “traditional” TV planners and buyers working in an integrated manner with digital strategists, consumer insights, research and ultimately content creators to fully exploit the power of TV. Or should I say “digital Video.”

-- By Bruce Neve | President

Conventional Television Still a Powerhouse but No Going Back!

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:49:00 +0000

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”

-Charles Darwin

Many broadcasters blame the woes of conventional television on the current recession rather than a changing media landscape( and mountains of debt). They optimistically believe that when “good times”return , they can go back to their old ways; charging more each year for less ( eg. rising advertiser CPM’s), or more for the same, while controlling the consumer experience.

The proposed fee for carriage is a perfect example of charging the consumer more for the same old thing. There is no doubt that if approved, the cost will be passed on to the consumer, who will be given no real choice (eg. a real a la carte menu of channels). One rationale for fee for carriage is to help fund the high cost of providing local television.

But why not take a step back; what is the purpose of local TV? Is it to provide a channel for local/community voices within a broad reach platform; focusing on local news, events, school sports, municipal issues and more? Then instead of trying to deliver this the same old expensive way, why not start with a digital solution (internet, broadband streaming, video snacks, mobile), all created/distributed by young, student/recently graduated talent plus community activists/volunteers. In addition, local content is already provided effectively by local/community newspapers, community TV, radio stations and their websites and online newspapers (including video, RSS feeds, podcasts).

Other than (maybe) the CBC, I see no reason for National/Regional broadcasters to provide traditional, local TV. Let broadcasters like CTV do what they do best –provide quality, broad reach entertainment that generates WOM/watercooler talk, drives people to the internet/social networks and delivers large audiences/brand buzz/awareness to advertisers.

To rebound with momentum from the current economic malaise, broadcast owners must concentrate on serving unique, new, remarkable content and experiences to consumers while focusing on what consumers want:

Personalization
Choice
Control (my favourite shows when I want to watch and relevant commercials for me)
Interactivity

Several untapped areas that could deliver new revenue from either (or both) advertisers and consumers include:

VOD (Video on Demand)
Addressable TV
Download to Own
TV/Online 2 screen integration
Better Broadband TV Models ( Hulu .ca anyone?)

VOD
Why free VOD? Why not charge consumers for access to virtually all TV product in an on-demand environment (only 14% of Canadians own a PVR). Why no advertising? A limited inventory (like broadband) of commercial time would be attractive to advertisers; reaching an engaged audience in a commercial reduced environment and with the possibility of telescoping to extended length product content.

Addressable TV
This will require partnerships with cable companies, large media traders (like Group M), and solid data suppliers. There is new, unrealized revenue in every :30 second spot! In an addressable world, on the same network, in the same break, 3 (or more) households will each see a different commercial based on the personal profile of the viewer. Imagine a beer commercial in CSI Miami only being seen by men 19-24; while adults 25-54 with families see a Loblaws spot and adults over 55 see a senior priced cruise vacation. While each individual advertiser pays less, the total of the 3 is more than a single advertiser is paying now. The messages are more relevant to the consumer, so everyone wins.

Download to Own /Share
Offer the ability to download TV content to a computer hard drive ; one price commercial free, a lower price with limited commercial content.

TV/Online 2 screen Integration
We are starting to see more of this with sports but a well integrated online/TV experience for game shows, reality shows, award shows could deliver an enriched consumer experience and a multitude of interactive possibilities to an advertiser.

Broadband Streaming/Online Video
Canadians love watching online video and are ahead of people in the UK, US and Germany in hours viewed. Most “TV” shows streaming rights are owned (purchased by) Canadian broadcasters but they are not distributing broadly enough and therefore they are not monetizing their investments. CTV and Canwest for example, although seeing incredible growth in actual video streams , account for less than 1 % of all video views in Canada! Why don’t CTV, Canwest, CBC, Rogers, and Corus launch and promote together in a revenue share (based on actual views/streams) an HD, HULUCanada.ca?

Conventional Television may still the most powerful medium we have, but it needs to continue to evolve to claim that position and to drive more value to advertisers . It is now competing in an on-demand, interactive, fragmented, increasingly analytics driven environment and can‘t wait for the good times to roll again without exploring new territory.

-- By Bruce Neve | President

MESH Conference

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I had the good fortune to attend the MESH Conference as a panelist. MESH is a 2 day exploration on the current state of the digital nation. It covers all disciplines of technology from journalism, platforms, PR, social media, marketing, thought leadership, and publishers to name a few.

What was most applicable to this blog was the keynote on Day 2: Bonin Bough, the Global Director of Digital and Social Media for PepsiCo. As there are probably few who have that same title, Bough has a genuine insight into the digital marketing space, especially given the multitude of youth brands under his stewardship.

As a speaker, Bough was extremely engaging. It was obvious his passion and genuine love for what he does as he was always leaned forward and on the edge of his seat. As if he wanted to jump into the audience and share instead of be on stage.

He's also highly quotable in his insights as indicated by the flurry of tweets that were posted in his time on stage. Here's a few of the most salient.

"For us, digital is all about how we enable people to have experiences with us."

"It's all about talent and storytelling."

"You can no longer stand on a hill and talk to people. You have to come into their homes and share."

"If you are driving passion, interest in product will follow."

"Move from impressions to connections."

"The fact that you respond to customer's needs places you at a different trust point."

"All issues have an opportunity and changing those minds could lead to a stronger advocate."

It's obvious Mr.Bough has a deep understanding of the space and what marketers need to do in order to be successful. But it's deeper than that. But it's deeper than that. He might not have said anything earth shattering or unknown, but coming from this source, it's authentic and from a place of understanding. He's talking the talk, but it's because of experience, so it's verifiable and not just a talking head.

-- Travis St.Denis | Media Supervisor & Digital Specialist

CMDC Conference - The Future Is Ours

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Moderator: Bruce Neve, President, Mediaedge: cia
Panel: Dominique-Sebastien Forest, General Manager Digital Media & e-Commerce, Canoe.ca; Ian Busch, Brand Manager, Hellmann’s; Jammie Ogle, Supervisor, Communication Strategies, M2 Universal; Joe Strolz, VP Digital Media Sales, CanWest Digital Media; Justin Stockman, Creative Director, MuchMusic, CTV Globemedia; Matt Devlin, Account Director, communication Planning & Digital, ZenithOptimedia; Miriam de Carvalho, Relationship Marketing Management, Molson Canada; Neil Cameron, Associate Director, Excelerator Media; Paul Brousseau, Director of Consumer Advertising Wireless Division, Rogers

The last session of the day was focused on what young industry up-and-comers see as the future of advertising. The format saw 3 teams of 3; each including a media agency, media owner and client representative.

Modertaed by the semi-young President of MEC, Bruce Neve,(I swear, that’s exactly what I heard), it was an entertaining, fun and interactive end to the day.
Common themes emerged with all teams seeing increased addressability of ad messages driven by access to more consumer data thereby driving relevance and engagement to much higher levels.

Consumers will relax privacy; and control of personal information will be exchanged for free or near free access to rich personalized content.
All media will merge and mesh together in the digital cloud with internet everywhere and in everything.

The world in 2010 is truly one of diversification and personalization with mass media no longer playing a lead role in the building of brands.

Understanding consumers and creative thinking will be more important than ever; matched with technological skills and data analysts.

One team had a lot of fun with the idea of brands as BFFs; guiding and informing decisions, customizing experiences and with deep, personal knowledge.

Another foresees “data brokers”, with whom you will centralize your personal data and allow them to represent you, negotiating with a Rogers or Bell to allow addressable/relevant, personalized content /messaging in exchange for reduced fees for your cable, internet, wireless, etc.

All in all it was great to see 9 leaders of tomorrow , commanding the stage at an event that is usually the domain of established 50 something leaders that are more focused on today (and yesterday ) than the decade ahead.

-- by Bruce Neve | President

CMDC Conference - Managing the Unpredictable

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Brendan Hodgson, VP Digital Communications, Hill & Knowlton

At the height of the listeria outbreak, when most corporate executives would have been tempted to go to ground, Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain posted a heartfelt apology on YouTube (in addition to transit ads and press conferences). That savvy bit of damage control is the future in a Web 2.0 world.

One of the key messages to come out at CMDC is that social media is a major part of the new business reality. Those who learn to manage it properly will be better equipped to interact with their customers (and potential customers) in a positive way. Those who don’t master the medium are doomed to a future of battling with the very consumers they want to win over. Just Google “Motrin Mom” and scroll through myriad negative blogs and postings in response to a perceived negative ad.

Here are some expert hints on life in the web 2.0 world.

Keys for companies in this space:

Be transparent and manage your exposure
Manage your web footprint
Manage your responses, don’t overreact or under react
Own your brand everywhere and manage misinformation

Examples of the negative situations that were not handled well:

KFC restaurant rats video
Dell battery fire
Mattel lead paint
PETA KFC chicken video
Dove vs. Axe products

Final thoughts on engaging consumers in the web space:

Be timely
React appropriately
Amplify
Be real
Be smart

-- by Rodney Perry | Managing Partner, Director MECi

CMDC Conference - Creative Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Ryan Sandilands, Senior Director of Corporate Alliances Cirque du Soleil

Mr. Sandilands was asked to talk about being creative with regards to the future of media. And, while his intro was entertaining and his Scottish accent instantly made him enjoyable to listen to, his content wasn’t earth shattering.

Cirque du Soleil has the benefit of being a high-demand, limited time offer in most cities, thus providing an ongoing success story. They continue to do well in these tough economic times because tickets are generally bought well in advance, most customers are repeat business (they know they are getting their money’s worth) and there is no home version of Cirque.

Guiding Principles

Attention to Detail

Consumers may not notice cutbacks but people in the company know and it encourages them to not cut back on effort
They make $250,000 a night, never missed an opening night
Costs of quality production may not pay off short term but it does long-term

Balance Commercialism and Creative

Limit partnerships and blow out those sponsorships
Find partners that fit

Innovation

At the core of the business and offer
Empower individuals as they know their jobs best
Do not replicate even if it’s good… always try to improve

Do Business With People You Like

Long term relationships with few companies
10 yrs is the standard Vegas contract
Common values and goals

Power of Live Experience

All about the shows
Understand the relationship the consumer has with you product
Entertainment, suspension of disbelief

All ongoing communications must "touch" the consumer or you don't do it.

Overall, an entertaining talk with guidelines put into action with successful results.

-- by Niall Mulholland | Managing Partner, Connection Planning

CMDC Conference - Storytelling Across Multiple Platforms

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Dave Howe, President SciFi Channel, NBC Universal

Dave Howe seems like a typically disarming and witty Brit and was certainly one of the most engaging speakers of the day. That said, although it’s great to have non-Canadian experts come here and share their experiences and successes, it might be better if they actually spent the time to familiarize themselves with the Canadian marketplace.

Mr. Howe occasionally sounded like he was presenting to a group people in Dallas, Chicago or Atlanta. In fact, he seemed unaware that SciFi isn’t even available in Canada. He referred several times to programs that no Canadian would be familiar with, which seemed to annoy several people in attendance. Curiously, he said that all of their programs are actually filmed in Canada! A lot of time was also spent on the re-naming of SyFy (from SciFi). Although SyFy likely spent a boat-load coming up with its new moniker, it probably wasn’t the reason he was invited by the CMDC.

Once the chest-thumping was out of the way, Mr. Howe unveiled a fascinating look at SyFy’s groundbreaking “4D approach to Storytelling”, the 4Ds being:

Traditional
Interactive
Retail
Personal Experience

If SyFy content can’t exist across all platforms, it is not produced.

Certainly most media vendors have done a decent job of #1 and #2 and maybe even #3, on occasion. However, Mr. Howe focused on #4. He cited an example of a new show they are producing in a partnership with Liquid Comics. Fans will not only be able to watch a high-quality production weekly on SyFy and follow unique storylines on the web, but will also have the opportunity to play an interactive game online. Further, through a new technology, online gamers will have the opportunity to influence their experience, as the game will evolve with their input on locations, characters and storylines.

Although content that develops into personal experience (Star Wars/Disney) and experiential media that develops into content (Tomb Raider) are not new concepts, developing both simultaneously might be. This 360° approach could be the future of content development and should be closely looked at by Canadian broadcasters – and advertisers. There’s no question a personal connection with the Brand is formed through this approach and that’s something we’re all after.

-- by Dave Crammond | SVP MEC Trading

CMDC Conference - Money Talks

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Derek Burleton, Associate VP, Director of Economic Analysis, TD Financial Group

Every year at the conference an economist from one of the Canadian bank speaks on the economic outlook for the next year. This year Mr. Burleton took a different tack and spoke on the current downturn answering the top ten questions asked of economists today.

Why did 'it' happen?
Primarily a result of the American housing bubble. With the support of an unrestrained lending industry, Wall Street created complicated lending products and insurance of loans and sold the paper around the world.
Why didn't economists see 'it' coming?
Some economists did see it coming but didn't know when it would happen or the how big and widespread it would become.
Why is Canada late and not as badly off as other countries?
A more regulated banking industry created a more stable housing market and high commodity prices. But things are slowing down here. Manufacturing is trending steeply down now, and oil, once a big winner for Canada at $100 a barrel is now closer to $40 per.
Why is the US dollar strengthening during the slump that was largely created there?
The US dollar remains the "global reserve currency" and there's nowhere else to go. The Euro isn’t strong either.
When can we expect a recovery?
TD expects stabilization by the end of 2009
Will it be back to business in 2010?
No, it will take a few years. Regulatory changes are needed and they may slow the recovery, commodity prices will likely remain flat. Households need to build up savings. Unemployment will reach 10% and takes a while to return to previous levels.
Will we have massive inflation?
While the governments are printing a lot money, which is typically the cause of inflation, the money is needed in the short term to move credit markets, to allow governments to spend on job creation plans, etc. The anticipated slow recovery will give governments time to take the money out over time.
Will the US return to its dominant country status?
It will still be the dominant country but other countries will become more important relative to the US. Power is shifting to other countries, like, China, Europe, and Brazil
What is Canada's long term outlook?
Canada will continue to be affected by the US. We will come out of it OK but should look to diversify our trading partners for the future. There is talk of a free trade agreement with Europe.
Is there a future for manufacturing in Canada?
Manufacturing in Canada, focused in Ontario and Quebec, was previously 18% of the Gross Domestic Product. It will be approximately 10% and will never return to the previous levels. There will be an auto manufacturing industry in Canada but it too will be smaller.

-- by Ross Campbell | Communications Strategy Director

CMDC Conference - Media CEOs Look Forward

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Moderator: Scott Cuthbertson, VP & Director TD Newcrest
Panel: Keith Pelley, President, Canada’s Olympic Media Consortium; Francois de Gaspe Beaubien, Chairman of Zoom Media North America; Paul Godfrey, President & CEO National Post

The three CEO's discussion centred on the long-term outlook for media. This discussion was lively at times, but uneven. de Gaspe Beaubien at least made a few provocative statements. The first was that "we are living the Poseidon Adventure, the smart people are getting off, but many will be going to the bottom of the ocean.” He went on to say that digital is the future regardless of the medium and that those companies that don't embrace it will die. Of his many predictions two are noteworthy – there will be a renaissance in print allowing people to download content; and television will become video.

Paul Godfrey was also enthusiastic for print, and not surprisingly newspapers in particular. He predicted that people will still be reading newspapers, or content that we currently associate with newspapers, but would not speculate on what he thinks the delivery vehicle will be. His overarching theme is that people will continue to expect content and content creators will continue to exist.

Keith Pelley did not have a prediction for the future of his area, likely due to the fact that he is selling a specific event which will be long over 10 years from now. He does believe that digital is our future as it will allow for 1-to-1 marketing. And, on the television front people will continue to have a demand to watch what they want, when they want it. The survivors will be those that have the best brand.

-- by Sharon Dixon | Manager: MediaLab

CMDC Conference - A Marketer's Vision

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Javier San Juan, President & CEO L’Oreal Canada

Javier was one of the more colourful speakers of the day. He has an interesting and impressive background. Before coming to Canada in 2006, he worked in Argentina, Romania, Russia, Spain and France.

He joked throughout - mostly about his English! And, at times, his accent did make it difficult to understand.

Javier had three key points about his vision for 2020.

1. Take risks – it’s better to be sorry than safe:
He stressed the importance of being flexible and the importance of innovation. He talked briefly about innovation at L'Oreal (mainly in R&D), but he also talked about Apple and how it has been innovative. It was refreshing to hear him talk about innovation beyond L'Oreal. He also talked about keeping the consumer in mind, which was a theme heard throughout the day.

2. Abandon global customizing:
Mr. San Juan mentioned the importance of "thinking locally and not globally". He predicted that local marketers working on global brands will have more influence in the future, and that it is important to address diversity in each market and respond to the specific needs of that market in real time. Javier also talked about Luminato and L'Oreal's involvement. He stressed that it was not a sponsorship. The intent of the association is for consumers to interact with the brands involved - they are part of the creative content.

3. Move beyond the 4 P's:
The 4 P's will still be there, but equally important will be the 4 C's - customization, connection, content and conversation. Brands should be looking for "share of heart" and authenticity to be trusted. He also went on to say that they need a uniqueness that speaks to the consumer.

-- by Karyn Austin | Communications Strategy Director

CMDC Conference - Marketing to a Digital Generation

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Moderator: Brian Fitzpatrick, Managing Director, MindShare
Panel: Nick Barbuto, Director of Digital Solutions, Cossette Inc. and Ted Boyd, Partner & CEO 58Ninety Inc.

What are the top three issues for marketers and the digital generation? How do we as marketers leverage the power of social media? Should brands live in social space?

According to Nick Barbuto, key issues for marketers haven’t changed. He says, “the game is the same.” Target, reach and converting an impression into a relationship take precedence. New challenges however present themselves in light of the digital generation. Barbuto notes how easily savvy and wealthy targets can eliminate advertising. Essentially, targets can use technology to filter out media. The PVR is a prime example. The key is to execute in a way that is enticing and compelling to the target and to drive media activations with a reach focused on targets that are looking to be targeted. In a number of cases they are already looking for your product. It’s those people who we have to get in front of first and foremost.

Socializing your brand is a functional way to create relevance with consumers. If your brand can provide a space, service or product that is useful to consumers, then the consumer will gravitate to your brand. Barbuto noted brands should take a step beyond Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, citing the development of NIKE Plus systems and surrounding social communities that sprung out of the initiative.

Ted Boyd highlighted new challenges in the face of digitization, including the portability of the internet, personalization and the impact of privacy concerns, and what to do (or not) with social media. New issues of legal responsibility, one’s digital footprint and whether or not it is valuable to monetize these new social spaces are highly debatable. In addition, emerging mobile categories – ‘augmented reality’ at the retail level, and nouveau reading devices (Kindle) that could replace reading as we know it speak to innovations that will provide consumers with a personal brand experience.

Consumer insights will continue to drive value. Ensuring relevancy continues to be the key to success. According to Boyd we need to treat all these unknowns as opportunities; he coins the next decade as a “renaissance of research.” Ultimately, advancing with the digital generation is about learning and staying up to date in an ever increasing fragmented landscape. The digital landscape, Boyd claims, will be loaded with more opportunity and optimism than ever.

-- by Karla Stuewe | Media Planner

CMDC Conference - Talent Needs In The Next Decade

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Presenter: Katherine Dyer, Chief Talent & Transformation Officer, VivaKi

At every conference I attend, I start out hopeful that at least one speaker will reveal answers to burning questions – questions kindled long before I read the day’s agenda. The burning questions I had hoped Katherine Dyer would answer were: What type of people, education and/or disciplines will this evolving media industry require in the future? Will the media agencies have the resources to attract and retain these people amongst our growing competitive set? What can we do to develop the people we have, to build for this uncertain yet exciting future? Unfortunately, as with every speaker from every conference that I’ve been to, there was no burning bush at this year’s CMDC Conference.

Once she got past the obligatory corporate sales pitch, how much she loved her job and what made VivaKi [viva-key] so different in the marketplace, Katherine did touch on a few things of interest, but she really didn’t drive much home or directly connect her content to the media people who made up the majority of the audience.

On the topic of what type of people we’ll be looking for in the future, there was nothing hard and fast for the audience. In fairness, it’s nearly impossible to predict this – technology is changing and redefining the communications marketplace at an unprecedented speed. She cited various jobs (like being a professional blogger, again not really connecting with the audience) that didn’t exist three years ago that are hot jobs today. She also talked about having a greater need for diversity of skills in the future as well.

At MEC, we’re seeing the need for diversification of skills happening now. The role of the media person has evolved from simply buying time and space, to working in a higher strategic place, leading the development of branded content, creating and executing experiential marketing and word of mouth programs, etc… thus has the demand on the skills of our people evolved. At present, this diversity of skills for media people is happening from within, they build upon our foundation of being insight driven and consumer centric, versus other aspects of marketing/advertising that tend to be brand centric and channel driven.

To help develop people for the future, Katherine talked about the three principles that VivaKi uses to help mentor this new mind set: Skills, Opportunity and Change. They believe in rewarding exploration to build skills that are ahead of the industry. Becoming more fluid with talent, providing un-tethered opportunities to work anywhere in any job across their network. And finally, making a difference, people want to change the world and will work for less to be more socially responsible.

These three principles seem to be great and inspiring but are more academic than they are practical… well two of the three are. Rewarding exploration is key, though in my career I’m not sure if I’ve known anyone to be penalized for exploration. Embracing and pushing communications into the new and uncharted digital frontier requires an element of risk, for media people it’s often more of a calculated risk. Win or lose, the reward is the learning and the experience that the client, organization and the individuals involved in the project gain.

The two pillars that seem to be less practical in the real world of media are offering un-tethered opportunities and the social responsibility piece. Perhaps if there was a greater shift to globalization of communications and the media marketplace, opportunities within media to move from country to country may be more feasible. However, I tend to agree more with another speaker from the day, Javier San Juan (President & CEO of L’Oreal Canada), who said we need to communicate locally. Local relevance and understanding is critical, which makes swapping people from country to country and job to job on a whim to help keep them motivated impractical.

The last VivaKi pillar I’ll combine with my second unanswered question, will we have the necessary resources to compensate and attract the talent that will guide us into the future. This is likely going to be the biggest challenge the media industry will face, and is facing now, to evolve and compete in the future. The commoditized practice of buying spots and dots is no longer a core function of media. Increased fragmentation, complexity of media and the evolving skill/workload I mentioned earlier are the current realities of our business, while our current compensation model is pre’90s.

Furthermore, efforts to change this and allow the media industry to elevate and offer more robust/evolved services and stability and development of staff continues to be thwarted by media agencies undercutting costs, working for a loss and likely under-delivering on their promises to prospective clients. This is the biggest challenge we face: how do we restructure our services and compensation model and evolve and compete within our growing competitive set? When VivaKi conducted its survey on how many people would work for less to be more socially responsible, I don’t think they interviewed too many people in media – parting with one’s time is often difficult enough.

-- by Jef Combdon | Managing Partner, Connection Planning

CMDC Conference Keynote - Michael Roth

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:30:00 +0000

The keynote speaker, Michael Roth, CEO of Interpublic (a holding company for a number of agency brands including McLaren/McCann and M2 Universal), opened the day.

Unfortunately, his talk felt more like a presentation to a sluggish board of directors – long on catch phrases like "digital DNA" and “consumers are in control”, but short on details. Mr. Roth repeated what many have said before him: "Digital must be at the center of everything we do," and "to accomplish this requires rethinking the agency model along with ensuring that the appropriate talent is recruited."

He did stress that emphasis must be placed on creative, and that advertising agencies own that skill. To illustrate how the agency of the future could thrive, he showed an interesting pie chart which showed that the primary source of revenue for agencies in the past was based on a percentage of media spend. Due to the labour intensiveness of digital development, his theory is that in the future the model will be to generate revenue from creative development and production across all digital assets and the agency has to own that creative process.

Mr. Roth wrapped up with a couple of examples of how Interpublic is winning in the digital world: McCann's multi-platform campaign for Halo 3 (the single biggest entertainment title launch); and a new Nokia phone/application that allows users to upload video linked to GPS – a sort of video Twitter.

While he touched on all the key issues and said the right things, the speech felt a little empty.

-- by Mike Dougherty | VP Managing Partner

Marketing In A Down Economy

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:16:00 +0000

This morning, I attended a talk by Kenneth Wong, a Professor at Queens University specializing in consumer behavior, marketing and advertising.

He was a very entertaining and thought provoking speaker.

One of his key messages was: Detect, Avoid, Destroy the “Margin Sucking Maggot” which is the myth that you must maintain volume at all cost. Most clients strive to achieve this by cutting prices. They then have to cut “variable costs” which usually starts with advertising and then next is people.

Reducing people mostly destroys quality/service/morale; while ad cuts reduce share-of-voice (SOV). The combination only reduces consumer demand and sales; so you then have to reduce prices again.

He shared two (of numerous studies) that should satisfy the most skeptical number cruncher:

1)McGraw Hill study during the 1980-85 downturn (which was worse in many ways than the current environment) trending businesses that cut advertising and those that maintained advertising spend. Those that maintained, delivered market performance more than 10 times better than those who made advertising cuts . And, they had post recovery momentum that continued to pay dividends.
PIMS 2008 study proved a strong correlation between SOV and SOM. Therefore, if you maintain spend and your competitor decreases spend; your SOV will go up as will SOM just by sticking with your plan!

In fact this can be a great time to build share without sacrificing prices. Focus on productivity and margin; keep quality and price high and focus on strategic segments, precision targeting and current customers.

We have all heard that it cost 5-7 times more to attract and gain a new customer than it does to maintain one. And, you cannot build or maintain a relationship with only occasional contact.

So nurture, protect, reward your customers (and, it will be easier to sell them on your other products and services than someone you don’t know). Other words of wisdom were:

A 10% cut in price requires a 14% cut in variable cost or a 34% increase in sale volume just to pay out!
Don’t treat each sale as a separate transaction but rather consider lifetime value , loyalty and “ share of wallet”.
Harmonize what you can from a global basis to create savings but then invest the savings in things that matter locally. ( don’t just put to bottom line ). The return will only be greater in the longer term.

Mr. Wong considers the current environment to be more of a crisis of confidence (of banks, government, industry leaders) than an economic crisis. Consumers, that is everyday people, have to “feel good” before all this government intervention has any effect.

-- by Bruce Neve | President

Mike Lipkin - 10 Laws of Sales & Service Preeminence

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:33:00 +0000

I had the privilege of attending the Harvey’s Annual Conference this year. The first presentation of the conference was motivational speaker Mike Lipkin. Mr. Lipkin has shared the stage with such notables as Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton to name but two. He speaks on average 150 times a year and has numerous books to his credit.

Mr. Lipkin's presentation style was relaxed and casual with no notes and no slides, just energy and intelligence. Mike’s talk focused around “Live Above The Line”, not just in business but in day to day living. The “Line” represents what everyone deems as acceptable, including yourself. A representation of this was his word for 2009 was “preeminence” which among other things is defined as the benchmark against all others are judged – a great motto that MEC has always strived for.

Mr. Lipkin’s business process for Living Above the Line consists of “Lipkin’s Ten Laws of Sales & Service Preeminence." They are as follows:

Focus On Success

Fixate in a powerful goal
Know why you want to achieve it
Understand your primary personal promise

Own The Business

Act like it’s yours
Be totally responsible
Earn the respect of others, every day

Prepare To Win

Be a subject matter expert
Know what your consumers want
Master the process

Be Courageous

Take on big challenges
Back yourself absolutely
Make friends with your fear

Care Deeply About Your Consumers

Demonstrate your interest in them
Show how much you enjoy serving them
Go above and beyond

Listen Intently – The way you listen to others becomes their opinion of themselves (what he’s saying here is that if you listen with interest, it will build confidence in the person talking….if you’re check your BlackBerry, they will assume they are not relevant and think less of themselves)

Show empathy: listen for meaning
Ask the right questions
Restate what you’ve heard and ask for validation

Communicate With Confidence

Talk with authority
Provide proof
Walk the talk

Be A Team Player

Reach out to your colleagues: help and be helped
Bring you’re A-game every day
Share your best practices

Be Hungry For Kaizen (means continuously improving oneself)

Grow every day
Live above the line
Proactively search for the better way

Be Disciplined

Make every conversation count
Always be on when you need to be on
Condition yourself for preeminence

While most of his talk was common sense and most has been said before, what provided the most impact was the way he simplified the process into something that most could take-away and live each day without having to make significant changes to our lifestyle or business practices.

Mike Lipkin’s “Laws” and MEC’s personality are very similar. The goal should be to ensure they are re-visited daily.

His website is www.mikelipkin.com
His podcasts are available free on iTunes.

“Live Above the Line.”

-- Niall Mulholland | Managing Partner

Canadian AdWeek - IAB Canada’s Annual Canadian Media Usage Trends Report

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:58:00 +0000

As part of AdWeek the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) presented a trending of media habits for the past 8 years and made a minor prediction of internet usage 8 years forward. The presentation was compiled by PHD Canada and presented by Rob Young, Senior VP Planning Services. The IAB also used this presentation to launch a new “tool” to the industry.

The basic thrust of the presentation is that internet usage – both in time spent and reach – is increasing, while other media are trending either flat or down moderately. This is not ground-breaking news. It also showed the total time spent across with media is increasing.

The overall trends were illustrated using a cross-section of syndicated studies – PMB, NADbank, BBM RTS and comScore. The analyses were completed using NADbank (Newspaper Audience Databank), which is the industry standard for measuring daily newspaper readership on a market-by-market basis. I am not questioning the veracity of NADbank for its stated purpose, but it does have limitations for use. Firstly, it is not a national database – it is an agglomeration of individual markets into a single data source, and NADbank itself cautions the use of it as a representative national sample. Secondly, not all markets included in a NADbank release are newly measured each year – some markets are only measured every three years, but the data would be included in all of the study releases, so in effect by trending NADbank release in these analyses, the IAB is trending a portion of data to itself.

The “tool” has been placed on the IAB website which allows for the input of internet/television media imperative levels using PMB data which outputs a radar (or spider). The graph can then be copied and placed into other documents. Currently coding of the media imperatives must be undertaken manually, but will be available in PMB 2009 with simple coding.

-- by Sharon Dixon | Manager: MediaLab

Canadian AdWeek - Advertising in a Recession

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:33:00 +0000

As part of Canada's first AdWeek CARF (Canadian Advertising Research Foundation) presented a seminar on advertising in a recession. The first of two speakers was Nigel Hollis, Chief Global Analyst at Millward Brown. Mr. Hollis presented data on what happens to brands that increase advertising spending during an economic downturn, comparing them to those that don't.

The brands that are always discussed when this topic comes up, were covered once again – Kellogg's, and Chevrolet. During the Great Depression both these brands outspent their competitors and had not only better results during the downturn, but also had residual positive effects for up to five years after the recession lifted.

While these cases are interesting, the world has changed significantly since the 1930's. PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategy) a project begun by General Electric and refined by Harvard Business School is the amalgamation of years of data looking at brand share comparisons during economic cycles. This analysis also shows that brands which increase or maintain their advertising spend have positive brand effects. This is true of downturns prior to and after 2001 – with the post 2001 brands showing greater positive effects.

Mr. Hollis' added in data from BrandZ analysis (a WPP database available through Mediaedge:cia) which backed up this study. His position is that in order to be successful throughout tough economic times you should follow the 4 S's:

Solvency - have healthy margins for your brand
Spirit - encourage the will to win
Satisfy Customers - deliver of consumer needs
Spend Wisely - support your brand

The second speaker of the morning was Dhan Kashyap, Director of Strategy for Diageo. Mr. Kashyap took the audience through three case studies of Diageo brands which resulted in sales and profitability growth despite already being brand leaders, and being premium brands.

The brands illustrated were Bailey's, Guinness and Smirnoff. Each of the brands are leaders in their respective markets and had significant support across multiple media. In the case of Bailey’s the campaign was developed around increasing the occasions for consumption of the brand as it had 57% of the target who were either Adopters or Adorers (the final two levels in the Diageo purchase funnel). The campaign creative positioning and media placement had a spectacular effect – the brand grew market share with sales growth of 22.6% in the first year.

The other two brands utilized test markets for concepts in Toronto. In the case of Guinness, the traditional sales season is over the winter. In order to stretch the season a campaign was developed around a Hallowe’en theme. This increased sales 24% in September and October of the 2008.

Smirnoff used a takeover of the Windsor Arms Hotel with support across multiple media including social networks to generate 17,000,000 impressions leading up to the takeover in December 2008. No sales data are yet available.

-- by Sharon Dixon | Manager: MediaLab

Forrester Conference Report - Winning with Convenience

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:54:00 +0000

We're all familiar with the adoption curve we've known as marketers for years:

The long bladed hockey stick shaped line charts showing how readily consumers get onboard with new products or services. Regardless of scale on either axis, the shape remains constant no matter what is being charted.

Having recently attended the Forrester Consumer Forum recently, a new study and methodology the company is developing directly addresses this tenet of marketing and offers a system to turn this on it's head. We wanted to share it with you as we believe it is groundbreaking work that can garner very important insights into your consumers.

In establishing their main premise, Forrester lays the groundwork for the eventual hypothesis by first analyzing the consumer's needs. They start by challenging another tenet of marketing - Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. The view is that there is an inherent flaw with this in that the pinnacle - Self Actualization - actually occurs within all the underlying levels.

Instead, Forrester posits that all consumers share four universal needs, regardless of geography, age, income or any other social, economic, demographic, or psychographic strata. These are illustrated as such:

There are three principles behind these needs.

Each and every one of us has, at all times, all four of these needs.
Each need varies in importance depending on the individual.
The need profile can shift as people trade the needs off each other depending on circumstance.

Through these needs, we can construct a profile of our consumers that looks something like this:

This is an incredibly powerful tool with which to assess our consumers in a way previously unthought of. Beyond this profile and the understanding we can grasp at this stage, we can serve it up in a slightly different way in order to get at where we as marketers can use this profile. Look at it this way:

Th sum of viewing it like this is that within each need, there lies an opportunity for brands to increase certain needs and be the product or service that fills that void.

This is all well and good as is, but it doesn't answer a crucial question; how do we give them that they need? It's quite simple and profound: win with Convenience.

The concept of Convenience, at first glance, seems too simplistic, but at its heart is about removing barriers. Convenience can take many shapes - lower cost, improving how others see you, distribution, using the product, and a great deal many other obstacles to why and how consumers use a brand.

It's a simple equation, as Forrester has made it: Convenience = Benefits - Barriers. Nothing fancy, just getting directly to the point of why we do or do not use products or services.

While already this model has exposed its value, the piece de resistance lies in how Forrester models Convenience in a very useful and compelling way. It's called the Convenience Quotient and it takes the simple formula and maps it on an easy to comprehend graph that looks like this:

This simple graph allows you to see how you compare against your competition, but also how you can stack up against other ways of meeting that need. It boils down to a brand's ability to first know (rightly) and then increase its Convenience Quotient. As a brand that most meets needs, and even does so uniquely, success is sure to follow.

To take it back to the media realm, there is application for these models. As much of what we do now and in the neat future focuses online and especially social media, it becomes clear how we can apply this to media matters.

In first identifying the consumers' media needs, we can construct a profile by which insights and opportunities can be gleaned. Then through Convenience, we can find those areas where consumers' access to our branded messages face fewer barriers and also the medium (ie. social media) further elevates the Convenience of our brands in the consumers' mind.

-- by Travis St.Denis | Media Supervisor & Digital Specialist

Contact Us

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:35:00 +0000

160 Bloor Street East
Suite 500
Toronto, Ontario Canada
M4W 3S7

Tel: +1 416.987.9100
Fax: +1 416.987.9150
info.northam@mecglobal.com

Bruce Neve - President

Who We Are

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:33:00 +0000

Active Engagement builds business

We all love brands. Its why we spend billions every year choosing them, consuming them and living with them.

But were also becoming more demanding. We want brands brought to us in ways that are relevant, engaging and that add something extra to our lifestyles.

Real brand power and commercial growth lies in getting inside the minds, passions and behaviour of people.

Mediaedge:cia gets consumers actively engaged with our clients brands, leading to relevant awareness, deeper relationships and stronger sales.

Active Engagement is the inescapable answer to the challenges facing brand-owners across the world.

How We Work

We believe that great ideas sit at the heart of any strategy or plan that we develop, from the communications strategy right through to media implementation.

Putting ideas at the heart of our strategy and plans is fundamentally the best way to actively engage consumers with your brands and services, and, as a result, drive ROI.

MEC Navigator provides the "glue" to produce highly integrated communications solutions. The investment we have made in training our staff around the network means that MEC Navigator ensures consistent and faithful implementation across all markets.

Our Sevices

MediaLab
We believe it is essential that we root our contributions into a deep understanding of consumers and customers. MEC MediaLab does this through the use of qualitative and quantitative research. DigiFaces™ for example, is an online blogging technique allowing us to get into real conversations with consumers on how they engage with brands and why. Providing invaluable insight into where and how communications can create competitive advantage for our clients.

MEC Interaction

At the heart of our agency is interaction, specializing in strategic planning of all interactive communication channels from digital (online planning/buying, rich media, sponsorship, Search, affiliates and partnerships, viral marketing and mobile) through to all forms of direct response media.

In digital, our offer extends to creative development including web design and construction, all advertising formats, micro sites, content solutions, gaming, digital experiential marketing, installations, and search.

All activity is supported by market-leading analytics combining recognized industry tools, as well as our custom response planning tools.

Our interaction services are completely integrated. They sit at the heart of our organization because they are now at the center of the consumer universe, and are critical to forward looking clients and companies with whom we work.

MEC Access

We have combined the resources of all of our sport, entertainment and cause marketing businesses and staff to form MEC Access. This unified offer is the first to be fully integrated into a media communications agency.

With more than 350 specialized staff in over 30 locations around the world, we offer clients a one-stop shop for the creation and delivery of strategic partnerships and sponsorships across nine different platforms: arts, brand-to-brand, broadcast, cause, celebrity, film, gaming, music and sport.

MEC Access offers impartial 'rights free' advice, supported by insight and ROI solutions, and is ideally placed to advise brands on the role of strategic partnerships within the wider communications, to identify the most relevant solutions, and to implement integrated campaigns that meet clients' business objectives.

MEC Retail

We offer a consultancy with the ambition of helping manufacturers and retailers to use in-store communication, both strategically and creatively. With a long-term objective of developing solutions that offer shoppers a benefit, builds basket size, basket profitability and category profitability.

Our proposition to clients comprises three key areas:

In-store communications planning "bridge process"
Tools: a suite of bespoke web-based solutions
Client training modules.

Contributors

noreply@blogger.com (mediaedge:cia | toronto) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:33:00 +0000

Bruce Neve
President
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Bruce's posts

Dave Crammond
Sr. Vice President | MEC Trading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Dave's posts

Mike Dougherty
Vice President | Managing Partner
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Mike's posts

Alice de Boer
Vice President
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Alice's posts

Jef Combdon
Managing Partner, Connection Planning
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Jef's posts

Niall Mulholland
Managing Partner, Connection Planning
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Niall's posts

Rodney Perry
Managing Partner | Director MECi
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Rodney's posts

Sharon Dixon
Manager MediaLab
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Sharon's posts

Tracy Belamy
Managing Partner, Connection Planning
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Tracy's posts

Travis St.Denis
Media Supervisor | Digital Lead
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Travis' posts

Ross Campbell
Communications Strategy Director
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Read Ross' posts

Karyn Austin
Communications Strategy Director

Read Karyn's posts

Karla Stuewe
Media Planner

Read Karla's posts