AdDude's Insights

Must get blue Smarties! Must get blue Smarties! JWT in Toronto presents a blue talking cat for Smarties. The cat has a weird accent, that sounds like a leprechaun or something. And there’s a trippy mind-control vibe. Now, humans generally don’t need mind-controlling critters to make us eat candy. We’ll do it anyways. This is an intesting strategy for Smarties as they were focuse before on “when you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?”. This focus on colour is smart because it is an assumptive close. Its not if you are eating Smarties, but when you’re eating Smarties. This time it’s all about the blue ones.

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Blue cat, Candy, Chocolate, JWT, Smarties, Toronto. | #

Right now, heart-stopping playoff hockey is one glaring reason residents of Toronto may be tempted to visit Montreal, but a new tourism campaign for both cities hopes to add to the list.

Today, Tourisme Montreal and Tourism Toronto launched a collaborative marketing effort designed to encourage people from both cities to see what the other has to offer. The campaign plays with the ongoing rivalry between Canada’s biggest cities, taking the Ashley Madison approach to travel and cheekily suggesting it’s OK to “cheat” on your city. A new Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by Edelman, running PR for the campaign, found 85% of Torontonians have had an affair with La Métropole at least once before, and half of those don’t always admit their indiscretions to friends.

“We want our residents to know that it’s OK to enjoy what each city has to offer,” said Andrew Weir, Tourism Toronto, in a statement. “Torontonians in particular often feel guilty that they like Montreal, so we’re officially giving them permission to confess their love–and of course, we’re encouraging Montrealers to do the same.”

The creative by Sid Lee includes mobile confession booths in each city until June 7, featuring a hotel-like room with an inviting bed where residents can put on a bathrobe and confess their affairs with Montreal or Toronto on camera. The videos will be uploaded to QuickieWithMontréal.com/PtiteViteavecToronto.com, where users can learn more about each city, see what others said about the cities and vote on their favourite confessions. One winning confessor from each city will win a trip to Toronto or Montreal.

But while many Torontonians have visited Montreal, Sid Lee co-creative director Jo-Ann Munro said the biggest challenge is to convince Montrealers to head West on the 401 for the weekend. “Apart from the Anglos, no one in Montreal is that interested in Toronto,” she said. “For Torontonians, it’s more about convincing them they haven’t seen everything in Montreal on previous visits. But your average 35-year-old francophone Montrealer still has the old impression of Toronto that the sidewalks roll up at midnight and it’s still the pinstriped, blue suit of cities. So this campaign, using this sexy language to talk to Montrealers, is a good tone for Toronto to take.” Thanks to Marketing Mag for pointing this out.

2 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Marketing, Mobile, Montreal, Sid Lee, Toronto. | #

This is just marketing 101 strategy. Don’t go for the whole piece at first, just build segment by segment. This is a perfect offering for such a diverse city like Toronto. The new wireless carrier Mobilicity wants Canada’s urban ethnic communities as its customers, offering plans with unlimited calling and texting to countries such India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as China and South Korea.

The company is offering flat-fee plans ranging from $15 to $65 with a variety of features including caller ID, unlimited North American calling and unlimited global texting. “You can text China, you can text India. You can text wherever you want with no additional fees, unlimited,” said CEO Dave Dobbin.

Dobbin said Mobilicity is appealing to new Canadians with add-on plans that will allow unlimited calling to several countries. Customers can add $20 a month to any of Mobilicity’s voice plans starting at $25 to have unlimited calling to East Asia and South Asia.

Mobilicity launched its advanced wireless network in the Greater Toronto Area on Friday and plans to be up and running in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa later this year. Toronto agency Dentsu was hired as creative agency for the brand late last year.

“Clearly, we are looking at serving the new Canadians that are coming to our country,” Dobbin said. “We are looking at serving the ethnic communities that are out there.” Dobbin said his company can make these kinds of offers to customers because the business has been built to be low cost.

Independent technology analyst Carmi Levy said Mobilicity has come up with specific customer target groups instead of trying to directly compete with the established players. “Instead of boiling the ocean by targeting everybody, they’re taking a more realistic approach by segmenting their marketing efforts toward demographic groups that have not traditionally been well served by the national carriers,” he said.

Dobbin also has an eye to scoop up other customers who would like to make a switch. “We are looking at serving people who have been undeserved by Canadian wireless companies.” New company Public Mobile, aimed at Canadians who don’t already have cellphones, has said it plans to launch its network in Toronto and Montreal this month. Globalive’s Wind Mobile launched last December and Quebecor’s Videotron will launch its new wireless business in Quebec and eastern Ontario later this year, delaying a planned summer launch, while Shaw Communications has said it will launch in late 2011.

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Ethnic Marketing, Marketing, Mobile, Toronto. | #

My name is Eric Lifson. I am a York university graduate with an Honours degree in Communcations Studies. I am currently in my third semester at Seneca College in the Creative Advertising program. I have a passion for anything advertising/ marketing related.

I play the drums and am a know-it-all when it comes to music. I love watching sports, specifically basketball and hockey. I have a very quirky personality and am quite ambitious.

I live in downtown Toronto, Canada. I have lived all over North America. Originally from Montreal, Canada. I lived in Vancouver, California (where my house collapsed in an earthquake), and Colorado.

Welcome to my corner of the world wide web. Enjoy!

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Eric Lifson, Toronto. | #