Labatt Breweries of Canada took Best of Show at the 9th annual Sponsorship Marketing Awards (SMAs), winning for a fan-based sponsorship program involving Budweiser and the Winnipeg Jets that exceeded business objectives. The SMAs, presented April 25th at the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s annual conference in Toronto, recognize companies that maximize their investments in sponsorship marketing by developing innovative strategies that drive results. Other big winners were BMO and Scotiabank, which each won two awards. Click here for the media release.

By Mitch Joel, Twist Image 

Posted October 18th, 2009

So, why did a “New Media Guy” write a traditional business book? I wrote Six Pixels of Separation as an entrepreneur. It is written for businesspeople using real business language and case stories that illustrate how business can grow (and yes that includes making money). This book is about the strategy, tools and tactics I used to grow my business (Twist Image) from no employees in 2002 to over 90 full-time team members with offices in Toronto and Montreal. (more…)

By Sheila Corriveau, AgencyLink

Posted October 18th, 2009

Client-agency relationships can often go off the rails or simply get stale. There are numerous global studies on the length of client-agency relationships, particularly in the advertising industry. The relationship length is usually between two to five years, with exceptions on either side of that median number. A recent Reuters study said clients turn over agencies on average every four years.

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By Bill Keenan, Groundzero Marketing Communications

Posted October 18th, 2009

Eating Buccaneers is a feature film comedy about four self-absorbed advertising executives and one officious client who crash-land their small plane into the northern Ontario wilderness. They survive the crash, but can they survive each other? It’s The Office meets Lord of the Flies or a modern day Mad Men played for laughs and without all the smoking. (more…)

By Jack Bensimon, Bensimon Byrne

Posted October 18th, 2009

There are three distinct types of market research: Exploratory, diagnostic and evaluative. Together, they offer a linear progression of learning to help facilitate objective decision-making. In theory, the three forms of research should be utilized in equal proportion. In practice, there is no such balance. Most marketers over-emphasize evaluative measures at the expense of exploratory research. In category after category, an incredible sameness exists in product development, marketing innovation and advertising creative. A key factor in this uniformity is the absence of exploratory research. (more…)