Posts Tagged ‘Opinion’

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Is New Sportsnet Magazine Launch a View to Future?

Where are the billboards? Where is the radio flight? Where is the print campaign? After all, Sportsnet Magazine debuts on newstands this Thursday. This appears to be a launch of a different sort.

A great magazine begins with great content –  writers, photographers, etc. One such new hire is Steven Brunt, longtime sportswriter for the Globe & Mail. Mr. Brunt “chose” to announce his full-time move to Sportsnet on PrimeTime Sports, the flagship program of Sportsnet Radio, FAN590.  Not in 30 or 60 seconds mind you, but in a 20 minute conversation with host Bob McCowan. It was real, honest and very human. Mr. Brunt explained his main reason for moving was the chance to do something “really good” – in other words, the magazine. He also appeared later that evening on Connected, the highlight show on Sportsnet television. Again, an interview about the magazine…not a sales pitch. The website, sportsnet.ca, featured a sneak peak of the content.

Maybe a barrage of traditional media advertising exists and just I missed it. After all, Rogers has the vehicles and money to launch big. I prefer to think that this is how media convergence marketing should work – integrating the message into Rogers media vs placing it onto Rogers and/or paid media. If executed with aplomb, it’s smart. Very smart. To say nothing about cost savings. Keith Pelley, Rogers Media President, is no rookie in such matters, having spearheaded the Vancouver Olympic effort.

Regardless, I’ll pick up a copy on Thursday. Why? My curiosity is piqued. Not by a billboard, but by truly effective storytelling.

[In the interest of transparency, Rogers Sportsnet was a client of One on One Communications, my former agency.]

Posted: September 27, 2011 by jhuckle | View Comments
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Swiss Chalet Answers My Call

You may recall in my last entry, I bemoaned the fact that marketers in the quick service restaurant category rarely allow talent in to actually taste the product on camera. That’s right, rarely does one see a person actually taking a hearty bite into the very product that is being advertised. Why? Likely for fear that a small piece of food might get stuck to a cheek and that”messy” incident would turn potential customers off.

Enter Swiss Chalet.

In their latest TV effort now running in major markets, the product is pork ribs. After the requisite beauty shots and copy that trumpets the quality of said ribs, the spot ends on the heroes  – a youngish couple enjoying the product. In this case, the woman takes a big bite and leaves a smear of BBQ sauce the size of Texas on her cheek. Her dining partner tries – but cannot bring himself – to point out the “embarrassing” faux pas. She, on the other hand, has no problem pointing out a similar sauce issue on his cheek, albeit much smaller in size.

My point? A little reality makes the spot deliciously charming.

Posted: July 8, 2011 by jhuckle | View Comments
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Tweetindipity

I love Twitter.

Like everyone else, it took me a period of adjustment to “get it” but once I did, I fell in love with Twitter wholeheartedly. Why? In part because of it’s immediacy. It can also lead you to so many different places; down the rabbit hole, as it were. If you’ve ever spent an evening at home clickling your way through “if you like this artist, you’ll like…” links in iTunes, you’ll know what I mean. But mostly, I love Twitter because of serendipity. In my opinion, it is by far the most serendipitous social network out there. Let me give you an example.

This morning I was scanning through my Twitter list when I came upon this tweet from C.C. Chapman: “One of my favorite views…”. Naturally curious,
I clicked through to see a picture taken from his perspective in the back of a canoe. His son is paddling in front of him, his daughter sits squarely in the centre and his wife is at the front. The canoe floats quietly on a lake covered in lily pads and the scene is very peaceful. As an outdoorsy guy myself, it inspired me to look into canoes at Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC).

Upon landing on their home page, I spied a link to MEC Paddlefest, an annual celebration of canoeing and kayaking. I clicked through to discover that the event will be in Toronto, in our neck of the woods, in two weeks. I called to check the availability for the Canoeing for Parents and Kids program and $11.30 later, we were booked.

I then returned to my Twitter client—Hootsuite—and tweeted: “Inspired by cc_chapman’s photo, I’ve signed up for Canoeing for Parents and Kids as part of MEC’s #paddlefest. Can’t wait!” He responded with: “Awesome! It is a great family activity and SO peaceful. Hope you guys enjoy it.” and then re-tweeted my original post adding “This made my morning.” Indeed, and my morning too.

How has Twitter opened up the world for you?

Posted: June 1, 2010 by mcharbonneau | View Comments
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Frazzled

We’re coming off another busy week, getting ready for launch of the Canadian International AutoShow. In addition to the usual amount of work (think traditional marketing), we’ve been doubly busy monitoring and engaging in a variety of social media channels as well as exploring new ones. Which explains the relative quiet around this blog over the past week. This, for me at least, brings up an interesting question: where do other folks in marketing—who write such frequent, insightful and often long blog posts—find the time?

There are a few possibilities, of course. One, they’re not as busy. Two, they’re in a big enough shop the workload is better distributed. Or three, they just work a hell of a lot more than I do. Then there are the possibilities I haven’t even thought of. As I see it, such is life in a small agency where everyone wears so many hats and you can only accomplish so much in a day. I’d love to use the excuse that I’m new at blogging, but the truth is I’ve been maintaining a personal blog for more than 4 years. Granted, this blog is different. I could work longer hours but as it stands, many of my evenings are already filled with work for a non-profit organization. I’m not complaining, mind you; this helps push me forward and compliments our business.

If you find you’re juggling many tasks in a day, how do you do it? More importantly, how do you do it all and do each thing well?

Posted: February 5, 2010 by mcharbonneau | View Comments
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The “Up To” Promise

by Mike Charbonneau

A Speedtest.net test of our internet connection.

A Speedtest.net test of our internet connection.

Our recent efforts in the world social media multimedia have revealed (or, I should say, brought back to our attention) an issue with our internet connection. It’s slow. Really slow. Looking over our contract confirmed we have a high-speed connection which should give us “up to” 6 Mbps of download speed. Now, I understand the whole “up to” promise and how it’s dependent on where you are and the type of wiring that exists; it’s akin to achieving those theoretical gas mileage numbers but only if you drive at 20 km/h on a new road, with no wind, with optimum ambient temperature. But having checked Speedtest.net more than a few times, we rarely hit download speeds above 2.5 Mbps. Not what you’d call speedy.

So I called Bell to ask if there was a better option and apparently, there is. It’s called Optimax and it promises to deliver download speeds of 8 Mbps. Not up to but specifically 8 Mbps. And all for $10 a month more than what we are currently paying (on a 3-year contract and with a $125 installation fee). We expect the service on Monday, so I’ll keep you posted on the difference.

But the truth remains, we would have gladly paid the difference to get the service we required from the get go. I have to wonder why Bell couldn’t have looked at our service (which they can do), ascertained that it would never reach the ideal target and offered us a different option. I mean, think of it. They get more money, we’re happy with the service and now, we’re thinking of their company in a positive light for having given us with a solution.

I can see how it would require too much time and effort to look at each case individually. Perhaps “up to” is the easiest way to deal with everyone. But as I watch and participate in communications between brands and consumers, I have to wonder, is the easiest way the right way to go?

Posted: November 24, 2009 by mcharbonneau | View Comments
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