• "Pig in a Python" - I'm sure Michael Garrity has something to say about that.
• "Recommended Domain" - we have a LOT of advice on domains!
• "a ride to hell in six steps degrees" - no comment.
• "are chipmunks consumers" - well, Simon Smith, are they?
• "endless shoes" - every girl's dream, right Jon Lax?
• "where in sao paulo can you find nudity" - not on a naked billboard, that for sure!
• "Team Building Cartoons" - (pssst ... leave a comment and let Rob Cottingham know how much we miss his Noise to Signal cartoons!)

Thanks to Our Sponsors!

• PromoPosts: Commune Media shares some thoughts on comparative language in your marketing copy (Make sure you read the comments - some great discussion!)
• Job Openings: Project Manager at Teehan & Lax

Reminder - A Few Books left in the Mini Book Expo - Business Edition
In case you haven't claimed a book yet, we still have a few titles left.  The basics: claim it in the comments, publisher sends it to you, you read it, you write a review, we publish it here.  Simple!  MBEBE closes October 30, 2008.

Seen on Canadian Marketing Blogs

• Rebecca Atkinson shares 5 Questions to Ask Yourself about Seasonality Trends
• Jacquelyn Corbett Cyr wonders how we'll be smartening our ad spend
• Sonia Carreno discusses how businesses can harness user-generated content
• Dave Fleet recommends you Ask 4 Questions Before Suing Bloggers

Releases, Announcements and News

• Microsoft Launched Canadian ad network
• RedFlagDeals launches Scarlett, an online boutique for women of all ages
• Due to an email snafu and to Mercury being in retrograde, we missed including Adam Oliveira's comments in our "Overhyped or Next Big Thing - Inside the Marketers' Studio" this week.  We've updated the post to include his thoughts on Future Digital Marketing Platforms.

This Week's Video Meme

We hope everyone has a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!  And make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday!

This week at Third Tuesday, Niall Cook, Worldwide Director of Marketing Technology at Hill & Knowlton Inc. and author of the recently released Enterprise 2.0, shared his thoughts on social software and how companies are adopting it around the globe.

The discussion started with an interesting exploration of the “why now” factor for conducting this type of research and the obvious demand for it worldwide. He gave some theoretical background about how technologies required appropriate business climates in order to become fully adopted.

Alluding to the Gartner Hype Cycle that describes the time it takes for technologies to be integrated and adopted, Niall talked about the tools that have been available for some time and the global business environment that has only recently become an ideal climate for convergence and adoption.

Technology

Today's most successful companies have been developed as pure platforms completely content-free for others to fill. Some obvious examples include eBay, Google and Amazon. All of these companies have based their success on providing channels for others to communicate, share, sell or review content.

Business Environment

There has been a fundamental shift in power from:

• Producers of goods to the consumers
• West to East
• Employer to Employee

Niall made a specific point about the employer-employee shift in power that I think resonated with the audience. He said that where it used to be that CEOs could refer to teams as “my people”, today employees have full control over their “ownership” and feel that they are renting out their skills (on their terms) to the employers for a time that they feel is appropriate. In this shift, the CEO becomes a Chief Engagement Officer whose responsibilities are more focused on relationships and collaboration vs. hands-off leadership and control.

Here are some other interesting points discussed at the presentation:

The four main uses for social software within organizations are:

• Communication – encouragement of communication between employees
• Cooperation – informal cooperation with no specific tasks or mandates
• Formal Collaboration – teams, committees and groups with specific tasks
• Connectivity – forming a deepened bond between employees and creating an environment to heighten retention and peer guidance

Some Examples of Social Software

• Discussion forums
• Video platforms allowing employee uploads
• Phone to Podcast lines for mobile employee uploads
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Innovation Forums
• Proprietary bookmarking tools like del.icio.us

Barriers to Adoption

• Internal IT departments will start to experience diminished power as they become shadowed through outsourcing. When employees request solutions, rather than contend with the classic lines like “yeah, in 8 months” or other push back, they will look to outsource their requirements. This might turn their role into more of a consultative one.
• People organize themselves around clients, groups and then the company. It is challenging for corporations to pull employees out of these silos to generate real conversation and internal networking.

A New Breed of Expectations

• 2009 marks the first year of graduates that will have had no experiences without the Internet. It will be interesting to see how this demographic will change the business landscape by cutting through bureaucracy associated with traditional IT push back. This generation will not be interested in policies, as it will always gravitate towards lanes of least resistance and heightened productivity.

Organizational Tips

• In order to get social software adoption, it’s important to have senior management champion the cause alongside the grassroots employee level.
• Social software should not replace existing intranets. Organizations need to deploy tools that manage specific tasks. Social software does not replace the administration of health benefits or submission of vacation time (although we chuckled at the thought of open voting for whether employees deserved to take holidays).
• Implement RSS feeds to help organize the flow of information

While Niall shared some top line cases studies from companies like BBC and Oracle, there were many at the gathering that offered up case studies of their own. Representatives from RBC , McKinsey, Apple and Google shared some valuable insight into what types of tools are being integrated at their companies and the positive effect they have had on growth and collaboration.

Finally, Sean Moffitt from Agent Wildfire brought up an interesting point about the measurement of success within organizations. He mentioned that one of his clients had implemented a social software program and after a set period of time, they decided the program had failed. He went on to explain that roughly 20% of the organization had adopted the system and those employees (roughly 3,000) loved the software. But management focused on the 80% that had not adopted it and deemed the program as a failure.

At some point there will need to be a layer of measurement that tracks the heightened levels of networking, productivity and innovation regardless of the number of users.

Each of the above areas could become stand-alone subjects. As companies build their social strategies, we'll see more case studies and best practices surfacing. Stay tuned.

I was able to persuade a few of these smart folks to step inside the marketer's studio and tell us (essentially) what's hot and what's not in the particular areas as well as share some of their best resources about their particular expertise. 

1. What do you think was the biggest non-issue for your roundtable topic in 2008?
2. What do you think will be the hottest issue for your roundtable topic in 2009?
3. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about your roundtable topic?

~ | ~

Deborah Hall
Deborah Hall is the Vice President of Magnet Mobile Media. She will be moderating the roundtable discussion on mobile marketing.

1. What do you think was the biggest non-issue for mobile marketing in 2008?
The biggest non-issue is whether or not mobile marketing will take off.  It’s taking off and the brands that are behind it will benefit from engaging consumers in this medium in a relevant way that offers value. 

2. What do you think will be the hottest issue for mobile marketing in 2009?
One of the hottest topics for marketers in the mobile space will likely be the appearance of the iPhone in Canada in 2008 and how digital experiences are changing with more users accessing sites on mobile devices. 

In addition to mobile browsing, mobile phone users under 34 spent more time texting on their phones than voice calls – so the growth of text messaging continues to explode making it another opportunity for marketers to take advantage of.

3. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about mobile marketing?

• Mobilemarketer.com
• MobileCrunch
• M:Metrics

~ | ~

Bill Sweetman
Bill is the General Manager of the Tucows Domain Portfolio.  He will be leading the roundtable discussion on domain name marketing strategies.

1. What do you think was the biggest non-issue for domain name marketing in 2008?
The upcoming launch of a supposedly unlimited number of new TLDs (supposed 'competitors' to .com, .net, .org, etc.) was widely, and often inaccurately, reported in the media. In reality, it will be several years before any of these new TLDs will be available, and the success of any of them is far from a given. Most will fail due to lack of market demand, and it will be a long time before any of them could be in a position to have any negative impact on the value and importance of owning the .com version of a domain name. That being said, Tucows will be there to support any of the new TLDs that do end up gaining market traction.

2. What do you think will be the hottest issue for domain name marketing in 2009?
With marketing budgets under fire, one of the hot issues will be (if I have my way) the concept of taking advantage of the 'free' traffic an advertiser can obtain by owning or leasing the right premium domain name. Rather than spend a fortune trying to drive traffic to an obscure but trendy Web 2.0-esque domain name (you know, the kind that drops all the vowels), marketers will realize that owning a good, keyword-based domain name makes a lot more sense. So, for example, savvy marketers will come to realize that lonelyhearts.com  is a way better domain name for a dating site than luscio.us. (And yes, lonelyhearts.com is one of the domains that Tucows owns.)

3. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about domain name marketing?
You know, there's not a lot out there that's written with the marketer in mind, which is one of the reasons I often blog about domain names and domain name strategy for marketers on my own blog, Sweetmantra [www.sweetmantra.com]. If you're in the market for a good premium domain name, or simply want to see what sort of high-quality names are available for purchase, I'd recommend doing a search on DomainSurfer [www.domainsurfer.com]. This is a service provided by one of Tucows's retail divisions, Domain Direct, although the names that are up for sale are not all owned by Tucows.

~ | ~

Linda Burlison
Linda Burlison is an Online Marketing Specialist. She will be moderating the roundtable discussion on search engine optimization.

1. What do you think will be the hottest issue for search engine optimization in 2009?
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I believe we reached a tipping point in Canada in 2008. This is the first year where I’ve noticed more than a handful of mainstream Canadian marketers (and not just those from tiny traffic-dependent sites) began to see search engine optimization as a business fundamental – not just some mysterious ‘nice to have’ that is ‘added’ post-site-launch. 

Given this, I think (and hope) that for the first time in 2009 we’ll start to discuss some more advanced business topics related to SEO – and not just the basic technical principals and tactics.  For example, topics like – how can organizations implement SEO strategy across products and brands – especially given organizational resistance to change? How can marketers leverage social media and online community to positively impact organic search traffic? What impact does affiliate marketing have upon a company’s ability to drive organic search engine traffic? 

While maybe these aren’t ‘hot’ (as in exciting!) issues – they are examples of the kinds of issues that marketing professionals are starting to come up against and need to be aware of.

2. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about search engine optimization?

• Google Webmaster Tools 
• Search Engine Land (Danny Sullivan)
• Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization

~ | ~

Larysa Rodriguez 
Larysa is the Senior Manager, Interactive Marketing for Scotiabank's International Banking Division. She will be moderating the roundtable discussion on interactive marketing for financial institutions. 

1. What do you think was the biggest non-issue for interactive marketing for financial institutions in 2008?
Mobile banking

2. What do you think will be the hottest issue for interactive marketing for financial institutions in 2009: 

• Mobile banking
• Mobile marketing
• Social media for FIs - when and why?
• Measuring media effectiveness across traditional and digital channels   

3. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about interactive marketing for financial institutions?

• NetBanker.com
• MarketingVox
• Six Pixels of Separation

~ | ~

Adam Oliveira
Adam is the Executive Creative Director at Quizative Inc.  He will be moderating the roundtable on Future Digital Marketing Platforms.

1. What do you think was the biggest non-issue for Future Digital Marketing Platforms in 2008?
Viral - it really is a non-issue because it DOES NOT EXIST as a means or method. Marketers and advertisers callously throw the word "viral" around as if it's a technique that can be exploited. Truth is, viral is a RESULT, not a strategy. Anything can go viral if it's good enough to gain adoption. Marketers, advertisers and content producers should instead be focused around creating great ideas and great content.

2. What do you think will be the hottest issue for Future Digital Marketing Platforms in 2009?
The hottest issue will be the shift of episodic TV shows from traditional channels to online, e.g. Hulu, iTunes, Joost, etc., and how producers and advertisers can build viable business and marketing models around them. This is where more and more people are consuming content, and extends from web to mobile/portable devices. How is advertising going to be integrated into content? Are there other ways besides product placement? Can marketers take advantage of interactivity and metrics to segment and personalize advertising to content consumers?

3. What are your top 2 or 3 favourite resources/tools/blogs for marketers who want to learn about Future Digital Marketing Platforms

• Wired Magazine
• Digg

Following is a full list of the topics of the Experience Exchange.  What's hot or not for you in these areas?  Or what questions would you like to see moderators address?

• Podcasting & Blogs
• Online Video
• Branded Entertainment
• Conversion & Measurement (Usability Design)
• E-mail Marketing (B2B & B2C)
• Social Marketing & Online Communities
• Paid Search
• Search Engine Optimization
• Mobile Marketing
• Future Digital Marketing Platforms
• Changes in the Online Media Landscape
• Changes in Interactive Marketing (FIs)
• Changes in Interactive Marketing (CPGs)
• Changes in Interactive Marketing (Retail)
• Domain name marketing strategies

I was in Montreal yesterday watching the presentations at the IAB MIXX Conference. There were some interesting speakers and I had an opportunity to catch up with some of them at the show.

One of the presentations peaking my interest today was the one delivered by Pierre Côté of GRAMSCLO. GRAMSCLO is an agency that produces alternative reality content that can be branded and executed across multiple platforms. Most of the audience would agree that the presentation was somewhat confusing as Pierre attempted to convey the value of the concept it got buried somewhat in translation. So, I caught up with him afterward to talk about alternative reality games and why they are starting to make some noise.

Remember the Blair Witch Project? You might recall the media hype surrounding the film before it launched, while it was playing and shortly after. The movie was positioned as a true story but soon after audiences streamed into theatres it was revealed (in rumors at first) that the film had been a hoax developed by a clever New York based team that went on to form the marketing company called Campfire.

Pierre shared a Campfire case study in his talk for Audi A3. A news story appeared last year complete with footage from the surveillance cameras, of a car robbery at a dealership. The piece included the actual robbery, the police arrival, the wanted ads and the whole shebang that took place after the alleged heist. Consumers, ever fascinated by who dunnits and criminal acts, spent a lot of time internationally viewing and sharing the news footage and the articles that had been generated as a result of the headlines.

There were even banners created and served across the web urging people to report any facts about the missing car. When the auto show came to town later that year, Audi had cordoned off an entire area on the show floor to feature a placard with a picture of the stolen vehicle showcasing what would have been there had the robbers not taken the car.

Results of the Audi A3 Campaign:

In the first 3 months of the campaign:

• 45 million PR impressions
• 2 million AudiUSA.com visitors
• 500,000 story participants
• 10,000 dealer leads
• 4,000 test drives
• 1,025 cars sold

Ok, I get the attraction here. I get the viral effect, the newsworthiness and even the entertainment factor. The results almost seal the deal but with consumers becoming savvier to this type of “creative PR” activity, I can’t help but feel a bit skeptical about the future of these tactics.

Here’s what I like about the use of ARGs in media:

The level of engagement is quite deep.

• For consumers that take the bait and fall into the game, the quality of time spent is magnificent compared to more traditional ads.

Shareable Content in hot.

• With multiple media touch points the alternative reality could potentially hit a runners high and become a coveted piece of urban legend.

Efficiency.

• Video production averages $1,000/min and media buys across major networks with a large emphasis on ROS mixed with highly targeted channels create a reasonable blended CPM. Social networking is where it really takes off.
• A fairly high end program running for just over 40 days could be executed between $75k-$100K

Promotion of creativity.

• This strategy provides a great channel for producers across all disciplines to push the boundaries and have some fun. I’ve seen murder news stories, stolen items, spooky sightings, fake hostile take-overs and I’m sure I’ll see more.

Here are my initial concerns:

Fundamentally, consumers don’t like being duped.

• At its core, the tactic can be viewed as deceptive. Over the past year we’ve been focusing on transparency as a key ingredient to building strong communities and brand identity. The idea of a company creating bogus press releases, video and media units could backfire.
• Consumers are used to separating advertising from reality. The ARG model as described in the Audi case study doesn’t allow the consumer to make the mental decision to evaluate the value proposition. Instead, it catapults the user into believing something that is not true and that’s playing with fire. Consumers are time-crunched and impressions are expensive. The value derived from these diversions must make up for the distraction.
• It’s taken over ten years to develop the online channel as a respected source of news and information. The idea of corporations exploiting the space to get some attention seems backwards. When everyday is April Fool’s day, it stops being funny and becomes somehow delusional.

All that said, I believe that Pierre is pioneering a cutting edge space with few players in the game. I also think that Campfire is an agency to be watched as they are doing some really creative work. They just picked up 3 MIXX awards for their Verizon MyHome 2.0 campaign. I have to admit in all my skepticism, that the thinking at least on that campaign, is as fresh as it gets. If more campaigns arise that provide true value to the end consumer, I'll become a serious fan of the tactic.

I’m curious to see how the content will keep fresh enough to dupe the public again and again. It’s an interesting study in psychology.

Maybe we like falling for alternative realities from time to time? Regardless, Pierre Côté, Campfire and I'm sure many others will be at the ready to capitalize on our naivety.

We sat down with Dawn Bowles, founder and CEO, to discuss her thoughts on being an entrepreneur with a social conscience.

1. First off, what's your definition of social entrepreneurism?
I believe a true social enterprise is one that builds sustainability and social giving into the foundation of both the financial model of the company as well as the way it conducts its business.  While it’s important to have things like “triple bottom line reporting" and audits around social and environmental impact, I believe those initiatives are “after the fact” mechanisms. In some cases that’s great but other outcomes just can’t have numbers put to them -- clean water, food to eat, etc.

Now, this is my “if life was perfect” definition. In reality, just starting down the road of exploring ways to build positive social and environmental impact into your business model would be a great start at changing old models that don’t work for the overall benefit of society anymore.


2. What started you down the path to becoming a social entrepreneur?
It definitely didn’t happen overnight. It was a long process. I was working in the investment industry in the early 90’s and witnessed the extreme amounts of money that people and companies were making with little if not zero “give back to society”.  It was heartbreaking.  At the height of the heyday in investments, my boss told me that if charities contacted us for sponsorships or donation, I was to say  “we had a policy of not giving to charity”...

I left the industry not that long after and went traveling where I saw even more of the divide between "haves" and "have nots".  I started doing some work with Credit Unions and realized there were other business models that were more about giving back to community and stakeholders in various ways — I sought out higher education around responsible business and found the Masters Degree at the University of Bath, UK.  I would recommend the program to anyone wants supported knowledge and practice on change-making. Shortly thereafter, while studying alternative business models and pondering the waste that we produce around the way we give and receive gifts, the idea for DreamBank was hatched and then cultivated to eventually launch to the public in July this year. Finally!

3. Can the goals of social progress and capitalism really co-exist? 
Yes and no. Not exactly as they are now but if we can use the innovation and motivation quotients inspired from the entrepreneurial/capitalist mind as a base to create new and useful ideas that generate funds for both a profitable business and for social finance, that would be the perfect combination.  We have to meet people where they are to make change.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with “profit”, it fuels a lot of good work and projects and, frankly, keeps the entrepreneurial mothership motivated and alive, both figuratively and literally. There is a fire that burns in this space that just does not seem to get sparked in the same way in the not-for-profit environment.

How does the social entrepreneur avoid compromising her values in lean economic times?
As a tech firm, we have required substantial investment capital to get this far and will continue to need more in the future. To date we’ve really worked hard to take money from investors who are onside with our values.  This means not accepting investment from those who are just interested in the good return we can provide. This has sometimes been really tough when we are down to some ugly numbers in our bank account. If our investors are “bottom line only” and they have influence through their ownership votes, eventually there will be contention and disagreement about priorities. So ultimately the pain now is worth the gain later, though this certainly continues to be one of our biggest challenges.

4. How has your experience of marketing DreamBank been affected by its social entrepreneurial nature? 
In some ways it makes the marketing challenge easier as it maximizes on the consumer trends that are already happening  - people wanting to reduce waste, people looking for ways to make their lives more convenient, the increase in charitable giving and the fact that DreamBank is a unique product which is way easier to market than a "me too". That said, because DreamBank is unique and has several benefits - keeping the message clear and focused can be a challenge - but at the end of the day that's not a bad challenge to have!!

5. Any advice for fledgling entrepreneurs with a conscience out there?
This is a fantastic time to start a social enterprise! Remember though, it’s still a business and even if the idea could make some really great positive change, you will want to do all the regular research and business planning you would do if you were to, say, open a factory.  If you are going to make change with business, the business model and plan has to be viable and show how, over time, you can become revenue positive. Those basic principals hold true for any business.  If you don’t have a business mind but have a great idea, get some help from a business person. There are more and more support organizations and communities out there to help you do it.

And make sure you support yourself and your idea by spending time with other social entrepreneurs. I recently went to an event through Social Ventures Institute and it really helped to be among like-minded folks and be reminded why we are doing this.   Follow your dream and good luck!

FOUR REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SPEAK AT THE CMA NATIONAL CONVENTION

• Play a key role in Canada’s largest marketing convention.
• Showcase your most successful business stories and case studies.
• Contribute to the marketing world’s "knowledge bank".
• Gain a high level of professional visibility and national exposure.

Does your business have a story that should be told? Share your experience and case studies at the CMA National Convention, April 27-29, 2009 in Toronto.

The CMA National Convention & Trade Show is the number one event where senior marketing decision - makers learn, network, get inspired and solve challenges.

SUBMIT YOUR SPEAKER PROPOSAL BY OCTOBER 15, 2008

To submit a proposal, simply download a speaker proposal form and send your completed proposal to Jeanette Soo, Manager, Conventions & Special Events via fax at 416-441-4062 or by e-mail jsoo@the-cma.org.

We are looking for speakers on the following topics:

• Creativity and Creative Thinking
• Retailing
• Branding
• Open Innovation & Ideation
• Emerging Trends/Media
• Digital
• Mobile Applications
• Collaboration/Workflow
• Workforce Management
• Data/Analytics
• Global Marketing
• Innovative Direct Marketing
• The Green Environment

Speaker selections are already in process, so don’t delay. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jeanette at 416-644-3763 (or 1-800-267-8805 ext. 224).

Last week, Toronto-based Spark Internet Marketing kicked off a campaign to "ignite interest" in the federal election by offering Canada's first downloadable digital lawn signs. They've got signs for the four national parties and a non-partisan one encouraging Canadians to vote.

I caught up with Adam Green from Spark Internet Marketing to ask him five quick questions about this twist on the general election to form Canada's 40th government.

What are the campaign elements?

Why did you decide to do this digital lawn sign campaign?

Why do the 2-minute real person poll?

How did you come up with this idea?

What election issues do think are important to digital marketing professionals?

"Anything that effects the business economy is important to digital marketing professionals, but I think in the past few years we’ve seen a lot more government intervention and regulation in the Internet and media. It will be interesting to see where each party stands on those issues. We should, however be thankful we don’t have senators like Ted Stevens who defined the Internet “as a series of tubes”."

About this time last year my first post was published on One Degree about the growing popularity of mobile in Canada.  The stats looked promising for marketers looking to test or incorporate mobile into their marketing mix – although most tests were SMS based.

What a difference a year makes.

Since publishing that first article, Canadians have not only continued their torrid adoption of SMS (CWTA will release stats this week showing we are on pace to double last year's output to 20 billion) but they now have access to the iPhone, Blackberry Bold, Palm Centro, Samsung Instinct, Nokia N95 and many other next generation devices with fantastic mobile web browsers – which means mobile web access is here for the masses. 

Last week I wrote a piece about user behaviour and motivators of the mobile web user - but what about all of you who still don't understand the difference between the “desktop” web and the “mobile” web?

Go buy or borrow a copy of Mobile Internet for Dummies from Wiley Publishing.

Co-authored by local mobile evangelist Michael O’Farrell, this reference book is an easy read that has something for everybody – even those who can already find their mobile browser without asking a niece, nephew or local paper boy.

I was able to scan through the ~300 page book in a few hours and was impressed at how well the book built from the most basic level of information (how to find your mobile browser and how to identify sites that are made or optimized for mobile) to fairly complex level of information – like social networking on mobile and how to build your own mobile website.

Overall I was satisfied with the balanced view the authors took on a variety of topics, as they could have easily used the reference book to push their own industry agendas more aggressively. For example, Michael O'Farrell is the chair of the dotmobi Advisory Group and was careful to always offer the reader multiple points of view, tools, and references when it was appropriate.

You can get an excerpt of The Mobile Internet for Dummies from the publisher.

Recognizing that the industry is moving at a blistering pace, the authors have set up their own “desktop” blog to support the book and capture trends as they happen. Considering the book has now been out for a few months, it looks like the authors are missing an opportunity to further monetize their audience as the site is pretty light on content so far.

I guess they're too busy text messaging to update their blog :)