The Really Brief—Week of Oct. 7

by Chris Powell

Oct. 11

Rogers is putting its best feet forward to promote its coverage of the NHL season. Developed by Publicis, the “Canada’s common ground” spot features dozens of images of feet belonging to everyone from construction workers and fishermen, to yoga enthusiasts and toddlers, before the voiceover states “In Canada, our common ground is frozen” and a quick cut to hockey face-off.

Publicis creative director Jed Churcher said the goal was to create something distinctive in a populated advertising space. “Brands from beer to mattresses have strong partnerships and connections to our beloved sport,” he said. “So to ensure we stood out…we needed to create a piece of content that didn’t feel like a quintessential Canadian hockey spot.”

The notion of our common ground being frozen formed the basis for the campaign. “From that one line, we knew that a puck drop would be the perfect key visual to punctuate that insight,” he said. “Everything fell into place from there.”

 

Oct. 10

Andrew Parsons
Sarah McKay

Church+State has made three recent additions to the agency. Sarah Mckay joins from Pound & Grain as account director, while copywriter Andrew Parsons arrives from Grip.

The agency has also hired Allie Graham as senior podcast producer. Graham was previously a producer on the Canadaland podcast. “Brand stories can be told a thousand different ways,” said Church+State founder Ron Tite. “Podcasts are one more. And their popularity is growing rapidly. We’re thrilled to be involved in defining this emerging category.” Graham is working on the National Business Book Awards podcast as well as Church+State’s own podcast, The Coup.

The first content from Samsung’s new #PowerUp campaign has just been released. Samsung is working with Director X, three young directors from his production company Popp Rok, and three up-and-coming music artists to shoot music videos using only the Galaxy Note 10+. Here’s the first video for Liz Lokre shot by Kat Webber, using a square video shot under water.

In addition, Twitter and Corus’s social agency So.Da are working together to produce behind-the-scenes content with Director X and Webber talking about shooting with the Galaxy Note and its unique features and capabilities, including the ability to shoot under water.

Oct. 8

The Canadian Media Directors’ Council celebrated some of the brightest young Canadian minds in media at the Future Impact Awards last month. “There were over 200 amazing stories of people who demonstrated impact and invaluable contributions and who are shaping the future of media,” said CMDC president Shannon Lewis. “We wanted to harness and celebrate the spirit of these young minds and encourage them to be champions of tomorrow.”

The winners were:

Notable Newcomer of the Year: Matt Scullion, Reprise Digital;

Mentor of the Year: Julia LaPlante, Jungle Media;

Innovator of the Year: Morrow Oxley, Cossette Media;

Collaborator of the Year: Jaskiran Dhillon, Mediacom;

Insight of the Year: Elim Chan, Jungle Media;

Trendsetter of the Year: Ericka Mercado, Wavemaker;

Marketer of the Year: Nicole Gauthier, Ford;

Advocate of the Year: Fidel Romero, IPG Mediabrands;

Techie of the Year: Sarah Benzinger, Connection Planning UM; and

Media Leader of the Year: Geneviève Guay, Dentsu X.

Also with the CMDC, a new executive committee has been announced, with Zenith president Kristine Lyrette serving as chair; PHD Canada president Caroline Moul as youth ambassador chair and Cundari managing director Luke Moore as financial chair. All of the roles are for two years.

“I’m honoured to be chosen to chair the CMDC at such an important time,” said Lyrette in a release. “The association will work at the heart of many of our industry’s biggest issues. I’m looking forward to working with a board of media leaders who are determined to demonstrate the value of our industry, the role we play in the economic growth of clients’ business.”

Oct. 7

Juniper Park\TBWA has created a video game for the U.S. gun control group Brady. Called “League of Legislators,” the online game was inspired by this summer’s shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio—after which one of the pro-gun talking points was that video game violence was among the causes.

In the game, housed on the Brady website, game players act as U.S. representatives trying to get to Capitol Hill to sign gun legislation, avoiding lobbyists and bribes from the gun lobby along the way. “The message of this game is clear: If video games can cause gun violence, then they can end it as well,” said Brady president Kris Brown.

Tim Hortons has promoted global CMO Axel Schwan to regional president for Canada and the U.S., with a mandate to drive growth in the two markets. Schwan first joined Tim Hortons parent Restaurant Brands International eight years ago as marketing director in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and was later VP of marketing and communications in Europe before becoming the global CMO for Burger King.  He joined Tim Hortons in the global CMO role in 2017.

Boston Pizza has announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Hockey Night in Canada that will see it include the show’s branding in its more than 390 locations, as well as on its takeout and delivery containers.

On Saturdays, Boston Pizza managers will also wear the same iconic baby blue blazers worn by HNIC personalities. BP will also have a regular presence on the Sportsnet program Tim and Sid, and will be a presenting sponsor of Hockey Central on Thursdays throughout the regular season.

The 6dad, Norm Kelly, has joined Hill+Knowlton Strategies as an associate in its municipal public affairs team. Kelly was a longtime councillor and deputy mayor in Toronto, earning the nickname 6dad on Twitter, where he declared he was a Drake fan. “Norm Kelly is part of the fabric of municipal politics in Toronto. Few are better positioned to advise our clients in their municipal dealings,” said Elizabeth Roscoe, senior vice-president and national lead of public affairs at H+K Canada.

Sobeys parent company Empire has partnered with the Canadian Olympic Committee to become the official grocer of Team Canada, while Sobeys’ soon-to-launch e-commerce service Voila will be the online grocer of Team Canada. It’s the first time the COC has had a national grocer as a sponsor. A marketing campaign is in the works for 2020. Empire also announced it will become the the exclusive partner of the Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team

“No sporting event brings the country together like the Olympics. It’s the highest honour for Empire to support our athletes, who come from every corner of Canada for the love of sport and country,” said Michael Medline, president and CEO of Empire Company Limited.

Chris Powell