Which meant we needed something truly unique; something that perfectly married traditional media with digital power.

And, for CATCH, we think we may have found that unique, buzz-building magic in Augmented Reality (AR). At its most basic, AR is “simply” a digital layer pasted over an image of real life in a way that the two can interact meaningfully. Still a technology very much in its infancy, especially in our leaner-budget part of the world, it has been used with varying success by a number of worldwide brands. We hoped to harness this visual wizardry in the simplest form we could. So we used it as the anchor of an instant-win contest linked to the CATCH festival.

We named the “Experience Seafood Like Never Before” Contest to speak to both the unbelievable experience of the AR, and the essence of the CATCH event. And rather than explain any further how the contest works, we’ll simply encourage you to try it. Visit us at our custom-built Facebook page, print the AR tag, and enter the contest. We’ll be here when you get back.

Five days into the 21-day contest, the results are already impressive. Our Facebook “likes”, contest “likes”, contest entries, contest shares, and CATCH site visits are up higher than we even expected. Stay tuned for final results once the contest and festival are passed.

In the meantime—we know you want to—go ahead and experience the contest once more. Who knows, you may even win the daily prize.

This has gotten so ridiculous I’ve come up with a name for them:

Zomberries [zom-ber-eez] – noun, plural: Zomberries are individuals who think that their reciprocal response is so important that they are willing to forfeit their terrestrial existence, and in some cases their safety, to fondle their QWERTY at every opportunity.

When I recently attended the AIM Conference, Zomberries where everywhere. The conference was on social marketing and especially mobile marketing. Like many, I make sure I keep a healthy dose of skepticism since we are in the business of finding and adapting media that will help our clients with their businesses and brand today and tomorrow. Though I was encouraged by the conference on a number of levels, which we have touched on in previous blogs, the BIG picture remains the same as ever. There is a balance that must be maintained or the market will shift. In the case of mobile, the danger is that if the activity starts to over consume your existence, the quality of your real life diminishes. New media and the virtual world should augment our reality for the better. So the next time you’re weaving down a busy sidewalk with your head buried in your Blackberry, make sure you look up once in a while or you’ll smash into another Zomberry.

*Sent from my trampberry.

Let’s start at the start: entry-level salary. According to the study, most students feel as though $43,000 is a fair starting point. Co-writer of the study, Sean Lyons, agrees this is a fairly realistic expectation, but that’s about as down to earth as it gets. He concedes that as students approach graduation, their expectations become more grounded, which is understandable. The way Universities hype themselves up these days, upon enrollment you’re practically led to believe you’ll be a millionaire. So, let the misconceptions, and skepticism begin…

Maybe these are my ambitions talking, or maybe I’m fitting into the study perfectly, but despite the lofty goals of a promotion within 18 months, and a salary of up to $70,000 after five years, I don’t think they’re too far fetched. Now mind you, not everyone will achieve these goals, actually, probably only a fraction will, but does that mean we shouldn’t set ambitious goals? I grew up with my mother reading me The Little Train That Could, and if there was one thing that stood out, it wasn’t that trains are powerful machines; it was that with the right attitude and work ethic, anything was possible. I don’t know if my “millennial” peers were fortunate enough to flip through this book, but I think it was a common moral within stories, and thus established as our own.

However, on the other hand, “millennials” have grown up with some poor role models, which may have given us the false perception that a lavish lifestyle is standard in today’s day. The Hills, Sex and the City, and Entourage are all popular shows within my demographic, and the lifestyle maintained is anything but conservative. Frankly, I have noticed a dramatic shift to high-end clothing and accessories among students, even in the short two-year period since I graduated. I think every girl owns at least one Coach clutch/handbag, and guys strut around with Ray-Ban sunglasses on like they’re rock stars. For many, parents pay for university, and if not, loans are acquired, thus making an abundance of money highly accessible to an increasingly materialistic student body. Sean Lyons uses this to explain the surprising (or not so) results of the study – a compelling argument to say the least.

At this point, nobody really knows why students have such high expectations, but what I really want to know is, who cares?! If students want to break the bank on Lululemon pants, or an Ed Hardy T-shirt, that’s fine by me. If they think they’re going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, who am I to tell them they won’t be? Students will be students, reckless, adventurous, and ambitious, and if it takes them until the age of 25 to realize that the luxuries in life don’t come easy, that’s fine, so long as they learn that valuable lesson. In the meantime, let them think they can, because when the wheels hit the tracks, the true pony will carry the heavy load over the mountain, and the rest will stay at the station.

Several members of our team attended AIM sessions and had this to say:

Erin Lynch, Account Manager:

I attended the AIM conference his past Thursday and Friday with a mixture of interest and dread. As someone whose username on twitter is @ludditelynch, I am usually quite reticent to adopt the latest technology or expand my horizons beyond what’s worked for me in the past. As such, I figured I would be pushed beyond my comfort zone, confused and mystified by the presentations. Miraculously, this was not my experience at all. Apart from being the only person in the sessions without a smartphone, I found myself surprisingly up-to-date on the strategies and technologies associated with digital marketing and social media. Truthfully, in the first two sessions I attended, I learned very little and actually aided the presenter in remembering a name for a particular technology.

Far from being disappointed by the fact that I didn’t learn a whole lot at the sessions, I am very pleased with the realization that simply by virtue of working with such a great team at trampoline, I know more than I thought I knew about this stuff. Seemingly by osmosis, I have broadened my horizons. And while I’ll probably never be the one on the very cutting edge of the latest gadget or technology, I definitely feel ahead of the curve. Therefore, as I tweeted on Friday from my sad little slide keyboard phone, the biggest thing I took away from the AIM conference was that we’re doing an excellent job of parlaying the latest social media and digital trends into the strategic mix for our clients’ businesses.

Dorian Burns-Coyne, Account/Office Administrator:

I sat in on the How Newspapers are Helping Local Business Win Online session. Put on by North American communications leader Transcontinental, I expected a flashy presentation with a lot of impressive numbers, and it was just that. The information reinstated what is starting to become common knowledge, and that is Canadians love the Internet. Year after year, the number of Internet users, the amount of time spent online, and our reliance on the Internet increases. Much like the Internet, Canada is vast and diverse, and Transcontinental has recognized this by creating websites such as WebLocal.ca. With websites like this, users can share what they read in the newspapers, by posting useful information within their local online communities. This provides consumers with an online hub of information, which is relevant to the businesses within their community, complete with peer-ratings, thus promoting the prominent local businesses that may not break the top five search results, but are five minutes down the road.

Nadine LaRoche, Account Manager:

To be frank, I didn’t come back from my two days at the AIM conference with much in the line of fresh ideas. But I don’t think the conference was particularly aimed at folks like us, either (the kinds of folks, for instance, whose president wouldn’t hear of us attending last Thursday and Friday’s talks without having trampoline’s Twitter account lined up on our phones and the conference’s hashtag in hand).

While some of the more advanced talks did dive a little deeper than the entry-level ins and outs of online marketing and social media, most of what I attended served as a refresher, a reminder that that advice and instincts we’ve been dishing out and relying on over here at trampoline are on mark and up-to-date. The conference also allowed me the opportunity to share a room with many of our clients, and a quick peek over at their nodding heads and engaged expressions flooded me with that same relief and satisfaction.

Of the sessions I took in, it was one with Eric Karjaluoto of SMASHLab that brought me back to the office talking. Eric opened the second day of the conference with a fast-paced talk on how companies might better connect with their customers, notably, the need to “speak human.” Anecdote after anecdote uncovered that it’s the companies you’d recommend to your mother, the ones that help you, not handle you, and the ones with a clear and passionate purpose that we can’t help but buy from, work with or throw our vote. It’s these businesses that “speak human”—the problem solvers, not the problem staters—that keep customers, and when they make mistakes, they just try harder. “Companies that speak human care as much about who is buying now,” said Eric, “as who is buying in the future.” Now that, that’s a fresh idea worth holding onto.

The troubling facts started making headlines this time last year. Following the global economic meltdown, the print industry as a whole was in dire straights, and Hef’s empire was no exception. After reporting that Playboy Enterprises Inc. had lost $13.7 million in its first quarter of 2009, speculation rose that Hugh was looking to sell the iconic brand for $300 million. However, a year has past since then, and Hugh Hefner’s still at the helm, but with a new strategic direction.

Maxim et al., move over, Playboy is planning on taming down their website in order to make it office friendly. Rather than sparring with online competitors over R-rated content, Playboy announced last week that it will be catering its content to the average businessman, thus emphasizing their – you guessed it – great articles. To some this may come as a shock, as Playboy has one of the strongest brands in the world, and an iconic logo to boot, but even the best can be forced to change when decreasing sales trends emerge. However, with such a well recognized logo, Playboy has been able to apply their brand dominance to many products, in various markets, and with their latest deodorant/body spray launch last year, they don’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

Earlier this year, in an attempt to grab consumers’ attention, Playboy printed an issue with Marge Simpson as the cover girl. Next month, the new look of Playboy goes even further. In the June issue, the centrefold will come fully equipped with 3D glasses! No longer will three-dimensional creatures like dragons and blue giants dominate the revolutionary 3D market. Though, despite the surging trend, Hugh claims he had the idea in the ‘50s – he even had the photographer take the pictures – however, he never ran it, as it wouldn’t have been financially feasible to include the glasses. Although the glasses are still an expensive gimmick, HBO was able to strike a deal with Hugh that would reduce the financial burden, while promoting their new series True Blood. Despite being tawdry, I’ve got to hand it to Hef and Co. for revealing another side for readers.

All puns aside, Playboy has seen a significant decrease in readership, dropping from 3.15 million in 2006, to 1.5 million in 2009. It’s easy for print industry players to blame the internet and the recession for their rapid downfall, however, those who are willing to adapt and appeal to the tech savvy generation have a much better chance at surviving than those who don’t. Moreover, when a magazine like Playboy starts releasing monthly issues with 3D glasses, it just goes to show you that Hugh is committed to keeping the brand alive, consumers guessing, and readers… reading.

The smartphone market isn’t for the faint hearted. This time last year, Palm had launched the much-anticipated Pre, with intentions of taking a piece out of the iPhone. Initial responses indicated that the Pre was a success, and with approximately 800,000 phones sold in Q1, it looked as though the brand may have potential. Hype died down though, sales dwindled, and in less than a year the company stock price had hit a 52-week high of $18.03 (October ’09) and had bottomed out at $3.65 (April ’10), followed by their buy-out last week by Hewlett-Packard. So why did HP acquire Palm if they were in such dire straights? Well first of all, HP wanted to ramp up their smartphone sales (yes, HP has smart phones), which sold a mere 100,000 units last year – practically nothing when you consider there are 45 million smartphone owners in the U.S. alone. HP made this move for Palm’s OS, however, I don’t foresee the collaboration of two duds making much more of an impact than their combined sales.

Alright, so HP is out of the equation, but what about Nokia. Nokia is top selling cell phone company in the world and they’re teaming up with Microsoft. Despite their clout, I’m not sure if they have what it takes to conquer the market. Personally I see Nokia as the General Motors of the mobile industry, and Microsoft as Crysler – just because they’re collaborating doesn’t mean they’ll produce a high quality product. In fact it may make the product worse, although, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, in every market there is always a low cost, low quality product that caters to the layperson. Both Nokia and Microsoft have built their empires on this premise, and have done quite well in their respective industries. Nevertheless, as design becomes a top priority universally – whether it’s phones, computers, or cars – even the low end products must be aesthetically appealing.

Which brings me to the big three, Apple, RIM, and Google. Initially, RIM established itself on the basis of functionality, security, and professionalism; Apple focused on design and special features; and, Google had a little bit of both. However, over the years, all three companies have learned from each other, which is why RIM is redesigning its product line, the iPhone has increased its size and business functions, and Google continues to fine tune all of the above. Despite being tech power houses and the current ringleaders, that doesn’t mean the market is completely impenetrable to new entrants. For example, what if Facebook stepped into the ring? With 400 million registered users, who login on a regular basis, it would be like fishing with dynamite. Of course, they would still need to create a legitimate product and establish a reputation with consumers, but by looking at the numbers, and the advertising potential, it’s tough to say they couldn’t make a dramatic impact. Long gone are the days where prominent cell phone companies were just that. Being a multidimensional company is almost imperative in today’s day, and I can’t think of a company with a larger, more loyal consumer base.

Maybe I’ve been “Liking” too many things from Facebook these days, but with their recent moves to transform the way we use the internet, who’s to say they can’t make an impact in the smartphone market? I guess what the question boils down to is “to like or not to like?”

Yesterday, May 4, was the actual “birthday” of the navy and in recognition of this, sailors were granted “Freedom of the City” from Mayor Peter Kelly. It was indeed a spectacular sight with 1,000 uniformed sailors marching through the streets of downtown Halifax to congregate in Grand Parade at the steps of City Hall. With trumpets blaring and drums beating, they proudly marched into the square to be greeted with reverence and appreciation by the crowd. Upon arrival at city hall, Rear Admiral Paul Maddison knocked three times on the doors with his scepter asking to be granted access to the city. This tradition dates back to roman times when soldiers were forbidden to enter the city after a battle without gaining the express permission of the emperor. Naturally, permission was granted, and the highest honour a person or group can receive was bestowed upon the East Coast Navy.

Thank you and congratulations to the Canadian Navy, through whose hard work and dedication we remain “Glorious and Free”.

As a die-hard Montreal fan, my phone exploded last night with a slew of text messages raving over the win, but to my surprise they weren’t all from my fellow Habitants. Boston fans, Pittsburgh fans, and yes, even Toronto fans, expressed their joy in Montreal’s inspiring come-from-behind, under dog, victory – some even announced they had officially jumped on the Habs band wagon! As much as I would like to believe they developed a passion for the bleu, blanc, rouge over the course of three hours, I think it really comes down to the fact that everybody likes to see an underdog succeed. This isn’t limited to sports either – movies, politics, business, everything! Slum Dog Millionaire, Barrak Obama, and Apple are all examples of prevailing underdogs.

What does this have to do with business, or better yet, advertising? Let me break it down into three parts.

First and foremost, you have to need a good product. If there’s one thing that ad agencies love, it’s a legitimate product to build a campaign around. Successful products do what they say they will, and do it well. This generates positive word of mouth, sales, and ultimately sustainability. Think Porter Airlines. They cater their service to business people, strive for superior customer service, and charge low prices. Four years after launching, they’re now set to offer an IPO. Let’s not forget their excellent advertising either.

Secondly, the company must be relentless. If your product/service is as good as you say it is, you’re either going to have skeptics that will shoot you down, or conglomerates that will try and eat you up. Getting past these obstacles is tough, but persevere and you’ll be that much stronger. Amazon is a great example of this. After eight years without posting a quarterly profit, except for those driven by holiday sales, Amazon broke out of the red and into the black. Being based primarily in an industry that typically has little to no advertising, they have a couple catchy ads, too.

Lastly, momentum. If you succeed at the first two steps, this will either be your biggest opportunity, or your worst nightmare. If your great product catches on, fends off adversity, and then picks up momentum, you need to be able to meet your demands. If an opportunity is missed because you could not produce enough for your customers, you could sink as quickly as you soared. For example, Argentinean wine producer, Fuzion, is currently caught up in a nation wide wine craze. In November 2008, after consumers swept a seasons worth of stock off the shelves in a couple weeks, the LCBO placed an order that was equivalent in size to the one they just received. Despite being faced with a significant challenge, Fuzion realized the opportunity, embraced their momentum, and came through to please their customers in the critical holiday season.

Underdogs are loved by society for their uncanny ability to overcome adversity and succeed. However, the honeymoon doesn’t last forever, and soon the surprising results are standard expectations. As a Montreal Canadiens fan, I’ll embrace this sudden surge or support on their journey to the Stanley Cup. Although, I can’t help but think, are my adversaries actually happy, or are they just glad they don’t have to face the Ovechkin and Capitals anymore.