Trending: Top 5 Must-Do's for Launching eCommerce

This is the second of a two-part series on non-traditional retail systems in Canada (Part I is available here).

eCommerce really isn't anything new by now in Canada- it's been around for over a decade, though in recent years has started to show explosive growth. This is in line with an upward trend for internet use and digital convergence: according to StatsCan, 81% of Ontarions used the internet regularly in 2010 and 51% of all Canadians placed orders for goods and services via eCommerce systems (114 million orders total, valued at around $15.3B). Most major national and global brands operating in the CPG and FMCG spaces have an eCommerce presence in one form or another. What we're now seeing is a series of disruptive technologies and platforms which are making eCommerce affordable for SMEs and owner-managed businesses.

As a Canadian business owner, one of your key questions about eCommerce systems should be this: how can I leverage eCommerce technologies to enhance my sales model and increase the health of my bottom line? Believe it or not, it's a big question that is sometimes forgotten about during the race to keep pace with the next big thing and be where the customers are.

eCommerce: Defined

The bread and butter of eCommerce in Canada is, of course, online shopping. Now-global brands like Amazon and eBay have established the perception that this is where there's serious money to be made for business. Which is true, but eCommerce isn't just confined to B2C companies. At its core, eCommerce is really just the transaction of payment across an electronic network in exchange for goods or services (most commonly the internet, through a closed transactional system on intranet or LAN would also meet this definition). Thinking back to our article on mCommerce- this type of commerce is also an eCommerce system, strictly speaking (though we differentiate the two, because there are important conceptual and technological differences between them).

Should you rush out and hire someone to develop an eCommerce system for your business right away?

That depends. What type of business are you in? If you offer CPG retail or high-margin recurring/subscription services in the B2C space, you should definitely take a hard look at the available technologies and put some thought into how they can benefit your growth and/or service essentials. You should also talk to a professional services firm with expertise in the eCommerce space. Hint: overhead costs for eCommerce systems are almost always significantly lower than for brick-and-mortar retail. An expansion into eCommerce would likely be far less expensive than an expansion of your physical location, and could very well yield the same (or better) revenue growth if properly implemented. Some Canadian businesses are also successfully adding eCommerce features to enhance their in-store operations. For example, Staples allows customers to order customizable print products online which can then be picked up in-store.

We can't stress this enough: unless you have an in-house marketing team which is highly experienced in eMarketing and eCommerce deployment for Canadian SMEs, have a conversation with an agency that has demonstrable expertise in this space before you move forward!

Top 5 Considerations for Bringing eCommerce to Your Business

1. Be a Savvy Planner - where does eCommerce fit in your sales model? What are your goals? How will you measure success? Will eCommerce support your existing model, or eventually replace it?

2. Be Design Conscious - the days of slapping together a functional (but boring) eCommerce site are over. The big players have invested significantly in design, and if their site looks better than yours, you may be seen as less credible. Think of it this way: if you walk into a grocery store you've never been to, will you be more or less likely to return if the floors are cruddy and the lighting dim when the grocery store across the street is clean and well lit?

3. Be Data Driven - ensure that a robust analytics platform is built into your eCommerce system, so that you can enhance your USP as time goes on and capture customer data to refine your online selling process

4. Be Security Conscious - consumers want to know you're doing everything within reason to protect their personal information, especially credit card numbers and home addresses. Thankfully, most payment gateways have invested significantly in securing this data- and you'll get that benefit (and brand equity) when you partner with a good one.

5. Be Innovative - if you're not offering consumers a serious added-value with eCommerce, what's the point? Remember: the purpose of technology is to make our lives easier. eCommerce is experiencing rapid growth because it eliminates time-wasting trips to physically go out and shop, allowing consumers to use that time for other tasks.

Sources:

Statistics Canada. The Daily: October 12, 2011. "Individual Internet Use and E-commerce".

Trending: Top 5 Must-Do's for Launching mCommerce

This is the first of a two-part series on non-traditional retail systems in Canada (Part II is available here).

Okay, I've heard of eCommerce... but what the heck is mCommerce??!

If you just asked yourself that, don't worry- you're not alone. Just like eCommerce was on the bleeding edge of retail technology at the turn of the century, we're now seeing the emergence of some extremely innovative commerce and retail applications for mobile platforms. As with the development of most new technologies, we're currently experiencing an explosion of competing products and services that directly precedes the eventual consolidation and standardization across an industry.

As a small business owner in Canada, one of your key questions about mCommerce systems should be this: are people actually using this technology to make purchases?

mCommerce: Defined

mCommerce is any retail technology that acts as a consumer purchasing system which replaces or complements the traditional Canadian in-store Point-of-Sale. This differs from eCommerce in one key way: eCommerce systems are designed to completely replace the traditional brick-and-mortar retail model. Simply put, there's no physical store front, and all of the traditional retailing functions (on the consumer side) are replaced by an online store.

Canadian mCommerce can mimic this approach by offering a digital storefront which is custom-designed for mobile platforms (usually in the form of a mobile-friendly website and secure shopping cart/payment systems). But, and this is a really fascinating but, mCommerce is also being used to enhance the traditional in-store and retailing experience (particularly in hospitality services). For instance, Starbucks offers a payment system for mobile devices which allows its customers to purchase in-store goods via the generation of a QR Code through the Starbucks Mobile App (this incorporates process elements of the mobile wallet concept; a subject for another day).

So, are people actually making purchases through mCommerce systems?

Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: Not as frequently as eCommerce or traditional store visits. However, the adoption rate of mCommerce by consumers in Canada is rather astonishing. KPMG's annual Consumers and Convergence Survey revealed that the number of people who used a wireless mobile device to make a purchase in 2010 doubled over the 2009 number

(which was up 30% or so from the previous survey). The Canadian Payments Association is fully onboard with this trend- one of their key priorities in developing the Vision2020 Strategy is to establish industry standards and a framework for mobile device payments.

Should you rush out to put together an mCommerce system to support

your existing operations right now? Probably not, unless you're a small business owner in the Canadian consumer packaged goods or hospitality/retail food services and cater to an affluent, technologically-savvy crowd (here's a good measure: how often do you see your customers whip out the latest BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android device?). Keeping an eye on the development of mCommerce systems and including a medium to long term goal of developing the infrastructure necessary to support mCommerce in the future is absolutely essential for the majority of B2C businesses, however. One day, you will have to go there to keep up; and spending a couple of thousand dollars now to prepare makes more sense than having to do a complete overhaul at the 11th hour (which will cost a lot more).

Top 5 Considerations for Bringing mCommerce to Your Business

1. Be a Savvy Planner - where does mCommerce fit in your sales model? What are your goals? How will you measure success?

2. Be Design Conscious - consumers using mCommerce are tech savvy: if the application is poorly designed, it will hurt your brand equity and kill the sale

3. Be Data Driven - ensure a robust analytics platform is built into your mCommerce system, so you can enhance your USP as time goes on

4. Be Security Conscious - consumers want to know that you're doing everything within reason to protect their personal information

5. Be Innovative - if you're not offering consumers a serious value-added with mCommerce, what's the point? Remember: the purpose of technology is to make our lives easier.

Your Mobile-Ready Implementation Plan

If you don't have a strong in-house web team, talk to an expert. Trust us, you'll save a lot of time and bypass the lion's share of the growing pains by getting expert advice and help in execution right from the beginning.

1. Invest in a mobile assessment - is your website mobile friendly across all three major smartphone platforms? Is your content mobile optimized? Does your content management system include mobile content options and tracking features specific to mobile? If your website IS mobile friendly, does the deployment include a browser sniffer? Mobile users won't punch in the URL for your mobile website, they'll punch in the URL for your regular website -- your website needs a mechanism to detect a mobile device and automatically serve up the optimized content.

2. Plan for digital - it's not impossible, really. Your existing promotions (contests, sweepstakes, coupons) port over to web and mobile technologies very easily. After all- most web and mobile applications were designed to make the real world easier and more fun.

3. Once you cross the threshold, don't look back - you've prepared, you've planned, you're ready to execute... so go do it. That's how you built your business in the first place, right?

Q&A: How does it go mobile?

Q: I already have a web video promoting my store online, and it's hosted on YouTube. How do I get this on mobile?

A: QR Codes! Use a QR Code on an advertisement, exterior signage (think roadside or store exterior in a mall/managed property). To fuel user engagement even more, you could use these QR Codes in an 'easter-egg hunt' style promotion (we've done it before, and people love them!).

Q: I run a monthly sweepstake through my website to build my marketing list and enhance CRM. How can I use mobile to fuel this growth?

A: Location-based check-ins! Add an element to your sweepstake encouraging users to check in with foursquare and offer nifty, innovative prizes to drive engagement. These customers will actually advertise for your business for free every single time they visit you in the future and check in. Turning customers into brand ambassadors is a great way to drive traffic... and it doesn't cost much (you'll spend more on one media buy for a newspaper ad).

Q: I'm trying to build out an exceptional customer-service team. Can I make this more efficient or user-friendly by adopting mobile technologies?

A: Absolutely! Services like live chatting can be migrated to mobile by integrating a 'live chat' function into your website, and ensuring that its design is mobile-friendly. Even a year ago, this would have been prohibitively expensive for many small business owners in Canada, but advances in coding via the html5 covenant are making many processes which previously had to be custom-developed a standard part of the web's native language.

Footnotes:

"QR Code" is a trademark of Denso-Wave Inc., used with implicit permission.

Sources:

CPA Payments Strategy, Vision2020

KPMG International, 4th Annual Consumers and Convergence Survey (2010)

A New Take on Coupons

I stumbled across a really cool example of billboard advertising on The Marketing Blog (brought to you by the editorial team from Marketing Magazine) today: James Ready beer has these innovative billboards in Southern Ontario that act as giant coupons. The idea is that passersby can take a photo of the billboard and show it to the vendor mentioned in the ad to save some money.

I just think it's so creative. Everyone and their dog has a camera-phone combination nowadays and so many businesses are jumping on the smartphone app bandwagon, offering cool technological ways of connecting with their product or service. That's great. But what I like about James Ready's approach here is that it's a witty mix of high-tech (you need a camera on you when you see the ad) and low-tech (you need to be the one to take action and take a photo of the sign... you can't just click "download"). And the whole coupons-save-you-money thing plays in so well with their raison d'etre (being a cheap beer).

Starbucks' "Pledge to Do Some Green" Campaign

Just stumbled across the new Starbucks Canada marketing campaign, and I think it has a lot going for it.

Here’s how it works: You log on to the Starbucks Canada's Facebook page, “PLEDGE TO DO SOME GREEN”, and get rewarded with a free tall cup of Pike Place Roast coffee. Sounds pretty good, right?

To redeem your coffee, you need to fill out a pledge form outlining what act of green you’re planning to carry out for your community. These range from using a reusable mug every time you visit Starbucks, to planting a children’s garden, to donating to the partner charity, Evergreen. After submitting the form, you’ll get an e-mail coupon for your coffee. It’s a great idea for Starbucks to give away a cup of coffee this way rather than just handing them out in stores. Every pledge form filled out contains a customer’s address, and other personal information. To the person filling out a pledge form, it’s 2 minutes work for a free coffee. To Starbucks, this campaign will create a valuable source of demographic information. My guess is that if x number of people in your now Starbucks-starved neighbourhood are taking the time to fill out this pledge form, you can expect a new café springing up sometime soon. Also, I’m sure a lot of people redeeming their coupons for a free tall coffee are going to splurge on one of those pizza-size cookies or the signature lemon cakes. And I can’t blame them, that stuff’s delicious.

Starbucks is moving marketing dollars onto social media (much like Pepsi and other major corporations), focusing on green marketing, and including a free giveaway. All smart moves! I also like that that the company has partnered with a Canadian charity, Evergreen, in rolling out this campaign. If the national angle wasn’t enough, they’re encouraging you to get involved in doing green in your community. It’s a good idea for Starbucks to get its Canadian customers thinking they’re doing good in Canada and in your own neighbourhood. It’s a stretch to think people will start identifying Starbucks as a local coffee shop rather than the international megalith it is, but I think this initiative and others like it could get Starbucks a little more credibility with the “I live green and shop locally” crowd. Note: Those guys drink a lot of coffee.

And imagine the future advertising opportunities that this campaign produces: The amount that Starbucks manages to raise for Evergreen will be impressive. I’m sure there will be tree plantings and community beautifications inspired by this, and that certainly creates buzz.

All in all, this thing makes a lot of sense.

My New Favourite Place for Summertime Fun in Ottawa

This summer, if you are wondering what to do in Ottawa to beat the heat, look no further than Canada's newest and largest theme waterpark, Calypso. Those in Ottawa, Montreal, and everywhere in between are in luck as this water wonderland is located in nearby Limoges, Ontario!

The park opened earlier this month and I can vouch for its awesomeness, having spent the day there this past weekend. Oddly enough, I heard about the park via the Globe and Mail in a recent article profiling owner Guy Drouin. I haven't personally seen or heard any marketing and advertising for the park around town, but I imagine that word of mouth for this destination will soon take off like wild fire.

All you need to do is check out the Rides and Attractions section of the website to get a sense of the excitement that this place generates for kids of all ages. My advice would be to arrive before the gates even open to avoid the lines!

Kotex Keeps It Real with Hilarious Tampon Campaign

Period talk. Feminine hygiene ads. Whatever you want to label them, advertisers have been trying to sell tampons based on the notion that women somehow equate twirling on a beach to having their period. We've all seen these highly laughable, but always slightly uncomfortable tampon ads over the years. Laughable, in that women with long, perfect hair are seen running along a beach or cuddling a kitten or jumping around in pink athletic gear delivering some cheesy line about feeling "fresh" or "free" or something equally ridiculous. They're uncomfortable in that any woman that's had to endure watching one while there's a male within a 50-yard radius knows the exact real life definition of awkward. That being said, I have to give it up to the ladies at JWT New York for this brilliant campaign for Kotex. It's hilarious and ballsy - they weren't afraid to go and make fun of themselves. They actually took clips from their old, guilty-of-doing-exactly-what-we're-now-making-fun-of ads and put them in this spot to prove their point. The writing has chops too. They originally wrote the ads with the word "vagina" but several networks rejected it, so they quickly replaced it with "down there" and two out of three networks rejected that. What they did run with may not be 'keeping it as real' as the creatives at JWT would have liked, but it's Laugh Out Loud funny. The lines in this spot are just too good for me to mention - I have a strict "zero spoilers" policy on stuff this good. Watch and ENJOY!

Oh, and just for kicks, I've included their mega-awesome print ad for a double dose of hilarity.

Did You Learn Anything, Tiger?

Wow. Nike's first Tiger Woods-centric commercial since everyone's opinion of the golf great drastically changed last fall has surfaced. They aren't brushing scandal under the rug. They have Tiger staring the audience in the eye, while the voice of his late father asks him if he's learned anything. I'm absolutely fascinated by this approach. I find it really powerful. Surprisingly, I don't view it from my regular cynical standpoint. I have lost a lot of respect for Tiger Woods in the last few months, even though I must admit that his personal life is really none of my business. Even so, I really do appreciate the message of facing your demons and learning from your mistakes that this commercial conveys. Nike's standing by their man, espousing responsibility for one's actions. Somehow it almost makes me want to cheer for Tiger's triumphant return. I never would have guessed that a Nike commercial would make me feel this way.

Mad about Movie Marketing: Tetley Tea Ventures into Limited Edition Wonderland

Early this week, I opened the cupboard doors in our cozy makeshift kitchen at Marketing Breakthroughs, only to discover a fun surprise: a well-conceived, appropriately themed marketing piece. And just what was this little marketing gem? A limited edition Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Tetley Tea tin. It’s quite a mouth full, isn’t it? Perhaps a cuppa of Tetley’s English Breakfast featuring Alice will help wash it down…

Using Canada’s number one tea as a cross promotional tool to hype the new movie and boost tea sales is a nice strategy, as Tetley and Disney are a perfect pairing. When you think of the movie, whether it’s the classic animation we all grew up with from Disney’s original, or their current adaptation from Tim Burton, tea is as Tetley Marketing Director Michelle Faris puts it: “steeped throughout”. It’s a natural marketing extension and one I’m willing to bet will do quite nicely for Tetley. If I could have made one suggestion for the campaign? A plain tin of tea with only two words written on it: Drink Me.

Friday Breakthrough: Twitter Saves Lives, Cola Kills, and Who Knows What Calbee Does?

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1. In social media news this week, two celebrity Tweeters, actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos, were involved in the intervention of an apparent suicide threat/attempt by a young man in Florida after allegedly receiving disturbing Twitter messages from him. Apparently, Demi Moore's Twitter account was involved with a similar case last spring. With a great number of followers comes great responsibility, I suppose. It's nice to hear that Moore and Vardalos took action.

2. A group called The Alliance for a Healthier New York has initiated an advertising campaign to garner support for a soda tax bill proposed by Governor David Paterson. Darren Franich of EW.com points out the relevance of this campaign to Lady Gaga's latest hairstyle, wondering aloud if the pop star is showing her support of this campaign with this new look.

3. Well, this video certainly was the highlight of my Friday so far. Check out this weird/creepy/unintelligible commercial for Calbee, a Japanese snack food company. Why? Why not? It's Friday. I can't say I get how the commercial's content relates to the product being sold, but I'm sure it catches people's attention!

Have a nice weekend!

The Most Worthy of the World’s Best Commercials 2009

Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing the World’s Best Commercials as per the 2009 London International Awards. Although some spots were obviously made with the sole intention of winning awards, others were able to do the near impossible: connect us with the brand in an entertaining and surprising way. Here’s my top pics from the World’s Best:

First up, an automotive ad for Volkwagen that actually had an idea in it. I say that because the other automotive spots that took home hardware were all about making the Art Directors look like gods, and little else. You can’t help but be charmed by this one and good on Volkswagen for keeping up their tradition of amazing advertising.

How do you take a 19 second beer commercial and make it not only memorable but also absolutely freakin' hilarious? See for yourself.

Although these were my absolute favs, there are plenty more on the list that are worth watching. Check them out after the jump.

Jane Austen is to Zombies as Sir John A. MacDonald is to the Rolling Stones

Lately, I've noticed a few OC Transpo buses around Ottawa sporting a new ad by Chez 106. They are certainly eye-catching, due to the uncanny image of Sir John A. MacDonald with a bright red Rolling Stones' Forty Licks-style mouth supplanted on his face.

I'm impressed by Chez's mashup in the ad. It's clever and modern, reminiscent of the recent book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen).

How about you, Daily Breakthrough readers? What local ads have appealed to you recently? Let us know.

Based On A True Story

Tim Hortons is in a bit of hot water due to a marketing misstep. Their latest television commercial is a touching one, so much so that many viewers were moved to learn more about the featured family, the "true story" that this commercial was based on. The problem there is that there isn't one.

Dakshana Bascaramurty of the Globe and Mail burst everyone's bubbles today, reporting that Tim Hortons spokesperson David Morelli says the commercial was in fact based on "an amalgamation of stories". Cue eye-rolling by cynics everywhere.

Does this fib take away from the commercial? It is still heartwarming and patriotic, but it would definitely be even more so if we knew that it was 100% authentic. What do you think? Are you disappointed in Tim Hortons for misleading the public or should we expect such little white lies in today's advertising realm? Let us know what you think!

Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Edition – Part Three

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office. For the duration of the Winter Olympic Games, the Friday Breakthrough will be dedicated to reviewing The Good, The Bad and The "What Were They Thinking?!" of the marketing of the Vancouver Olympics.

Part Three: What Were They Thinking?

And now, the hot mess of Olympic marketing blunders. First up, I must discuss the train wreck of Olympic uniforms that we had to endure during the Olympic ceremonies. Don’t get me wrong, I loved a lot of countries’ Olympic threads, but some were so hideous. (And yes, for any naysayers, Olympic gear has EVERYTHING to do with marketing). Germany takes the cake on the worst uniforms. Pink for girls and blue for boys – I wish I were kidding. Sure, my fashion expertise is limited to episodes of “Project Runway” and my LouLou subscription, but I mean come on! Heidi Klum must be throwing up right now. I couldn’t seem to find a pick of the German uniform disaster, but look for them during closing ceremonies. Trust me, you won’t miss team Deutschland. It’s a bad fashion wreck, you won’t be able to take your eyes off. Also, there’s a good chance you’ll feel better about your grade 8 sewing assignment in Home Ec class. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have you walk away without viewing a most excellent Olympic fashion faux-pas, I have included a pic of the Norwegian curling team.

Next up: bandwagon jumping of provincial tourism served up with the subtlety of Kanye West. Sure, the spirit of the Olympic Games has always diluted by the onslaught of advertising, sponsorship and press, but am I the only one who finds the constant running of the B.C. and Ontario tourism ads blatant attempts to cash in? I just have one question for British Columbia Tourism: How many of them ACTUALLY call B.C. home?

So who has reached the summit of ultimate Olympic blunders? The hot mess goes to Cold FX. There are several spots featuring Canadian Olympic athletes, all touting the benefits of this cold remedy. Uber cheesy and filmed with the quality that makes you think that local community programming has a bigger budget to work with. Also, the copywriting on the Clara Hughes spot reminds me of feminine hygiene ad from 1962 or something: “I guess it’s not a secret any more.” No Clara, it’s no secret that Cold FX seriously needs to reconsider their advertising. In the words of Charlie Brown: “Good grief!”

My apologies for not attaching the soon-to-be classic Clara Hughes spot, blame it on YouTube. If you’re any Olympic fan at all, you’ve already seen it 74 times at least and if you haven’t - go watch the Olympics!

I hope you enjoyed this three part series, I sure did. Be sure to catch our post-Olympic Friday Breakthrough next week.

Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Edition – Part Two

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa’s weekly roundup of some of the Internet’s best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office. For the duration of the Winter Olympic Games, the Friday Breakthrough will be dedicated to reviewing The Good, The Bad and The “What Were They Thinking?!” of the marketing of the Vancouver Olympics.

Part Two: The Bad WonderBread



“Let’s throw some winter sports gear on the usual cute kids we use and they’ll be so adorable no one will notice our lack of an idea.” Wrong.

So much of this latest round of Olympic advertising isn’t so much “bad” as it is purely mediocre. Safe, nothing unexpected, it gets the message across while drowning in mediocrity. Kinda makes me long for some more of the self-indulgent, big-budget shenanigans of Coca-Cola and the other commercial stars of the last Super Bowl offering. My commentary on Bell, Petro Canada and Panasonic’s Olympic performance: “Meh.”

Don’t miss next week’s Friday Breakthrough when we serve up one hot mess of Olympic Marketing. We advise you to be sitting down for it. The trainwreck that is “What Were They Thinking?!” makes its Olympic debut only on MB’s Friday Breakthrough.

Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Edition Part One

The Friday Breakthough is Ottawa’s weekly roundup of some of the Internet’s best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office. For the duration of the Winter Olympic Games, the Friday Breakthrough will be dedicated to reviewing The Good, The Bad and The “What Were They Thinking?!” of the marketing of the Vancouver Olympics.

Part One: The Good

1. Nike’s Force Fate

Nike nails it with “Force Fate”. No commercial in recent memory better captures the attitude of our determined athletes. And what about those golden expectations? Their defiant retort: “Destiny doesn’t decide if we win. We do.” Wicked line. Pow! They hit you in the gut with that. The music is killer, too. It’s a crank-up-your-ipod-I’m-gonna-run-10miles-flat-out kind of song. Honestly, if this spot doesn’t get you psyched up for Team Canada Hockey at Olympics, I don’t know what will.

If there’s one downfall for the commercial, it’s how pretty it looks. It’s shot beautifully, which makes me wish that it wasn’t. The attitude of this spot is so gritty that it leaves me wanting imagery that matches. Give me raw footage of practice; with sweat everywhere, whistles blowing, coaches yelling, and the heavy breathing of athletes pushing themselves past their breaking point. Now that is some serious “destiny” butt kicking. That would be the ultimate “Force Fate”.

2. CTV’s Believe, narrated by Donald Sutherland and set to the music of Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore.

Now I am a self-confessed Olympic junkie who loves those touchy-feely athlete profile stories that tug at your heart strings, but I have to say CTV has done a nice job with their promo spots. Donald Sutherland has the perfect pitch to carry the tone of the Canadian Olympic dream and adding in the music from the guy who won an Oscar for his work on the Lord of The Rings trilogy isn’t too shabby either.

Although I love the spots that profile our athletes, I am not such a fan of the other “Believe” spots that feature young Canadians. The thought is right and the message is right, but somehow it doesn’t feel authentic. It doesn’t pull at my heartstrings and it seems forced, like I know those kids were fed those lines. Canadian kids do have Olympic dreams and they’ll tell you about them, but I just don’t buy that they would tell you in the way that CTV is presenting. So overall, they got it right with Donald Sutherland, but they dropped the ball on the spots featuring the kids.

3. IOC (International Olympic Committee) – The Best of Us

This IOC spot with the cartooned athletes from the different continents in their respective Olympic gear. In the spot, these enormous cartooned athletes are standing on top of their home continents and each have a rope. They pull hard until they bring all the continents together. The different continents coming together is like a visual interpretation of the Olympic rings – emphasized by the continental colours. It’s imaginative, memorable and fun to watch. Kudos to the IOC!

Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Breakthrough. It’s gonna be ugly. I mean bad. Actually, Olympic marketing bad. Ok. You get the idea.

Friday Breakthrough: Tigers and Ketchup and Comebacks, Oh My!

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1) I have a new favourite commercial (and not surprisingly, it's a Super Bowl ad). How cute is that baby tiger? Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail explains that Cars.com is one of many Super Bowl advertisers that are connecting their ads to social media (in this case, YouTube) to build anticipate and start a dialogue. For more on Super Bowl ads, check out this previous Daily Breakthrough post by our own Casey O'Brien: "My Most Memorable Super Bowl Commercials".

2) The Globe and Mail reports today that the ketchup geniuses over at Heinz have revolutionized the ketchup packet. 40 years after they were first invented, the packets have been redesigned so that it "has a base that's more like a cup for dipping and also a tear-off end for squeezing, plus it holds three times as much ketchup than a traditional packet", reports Sarah Skidmore. On behalf of all ketchup lovers out there, I say "hallelujah!"

3) I received an email from Club Monaco in my inbox this morning and experienced major flashbacks to grade 8. The email announced the return of their iconic crest - "back by popular demand!", available in select Canadian stores only.

They say that if you wait long enough, everything will come back in style. Back in the late 90's, every girl I knew had a Club Monaco sweatshirt with the big crest. If memory serves, mine was a dark navy blue hand-me-down from my older sister. I would hope that my fashion style has progressed since back then, but I've gotta say... the more I look at those comfy looking sweatshirts, the more nostalgic I feel. I may have to get one, just for kicks, but I promise I won't pair it with a scrunchie.

"The Death of Old Marketing"? Sorta... Not Really.

Last Tuesday, the Globe and Mail hosted an online Q&A session with Ryan Caligiuri, a marketing specialist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Caligiuri is a proponent of "emotional marketing" and employing the following strategies:

• Communicating powerfully with the goal of evoking emotion;

• Building movements and engaging communities;

• Creating products and services that are worth talking about;

• Breaking current models and introducing solutions;

• Storytelling.

Although his pitch in the Globe and Mail was entitled "The Death of Old Marketing", Caligiuri admits in the Q&A session that this phrase was an exaggeration to attract readers to the discussion. While he does argue for "new" approaches to marketing, he acknowledges that if traditional marketing means are working for you, you should stick with what you're doing.

In my opinion, the Q&A with Caligiuri didn't really live up to the hype. Case in point, here's a direct quote from the expert: "Marketing directors to new graduates are all stuck in 1960" (emphasis added). Another direct quote:

"The interesting thing with ‘new marketing’ is that it’s not new at all. It’s been around for many years. However, new is all in the mind of the CEO, CMO or new graduate who might be learning about these principles for the first time. And through hundreds of conversations with marketing professionals and business owners calling it ‘new’ is still very much appropriate. Now, they are not new, but how many organizations really follow strategies of finding those with similar biases and build a product and story for them?"

I found it disappointing that Caligiuri used such absolutes and unsubstantiated claims, because such inaccuracies weakened any legitimate arguments he may have had, such as the merits of emotional marketing. Give the session a read and let us know what you think!

The Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Advertising Ambush

The Friday Breakthrough is a weekly roundup of some of the internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

Marketers are taking advantage of the Olympic buzz in Canada by creating sports-themed advertising at an unprecedented rate. The only problem is that very few of these Olympic hype artists are official Olympic sponsors. 'Ambush marketers' fuel Olympic ad concerns.

Like this story states, there are more than 100 million blogs on earth, and it's no stretch to say that most of them are poor. Wordpress co-founder Matt Mullenweg picks his 10 favourite blogs. He must have temporarily forgotten about his favourite Ottawa marketing blog... right? Ten blogs to make you think.

Inspired advertising and a solid public image has led to an influx of recruits for the Canadian Forces infantry regiments--so many that they can't accept everyone who applies. I would argue this phenomenon has more to do with the constant stream of press that the CF is receiving with the war in Afghanistan, but in any case, it's been a boon for Canada's military.

Coca-Cola is taking its advertising message to the streets, signing up buskers in the London Underground to sing its Christmas jingle during the Holidays. The buskers will perform in Coke-branded areas and receive incentives for singing Coke's tunes. I would love to see the buskers on the streets of Ottawa get a little more coin in their hats, even if it was in the form of a cheque from Coke.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the Olympic-themed advertising lately? Leave a comment or send us a tweet @marketingottawa.