Profectio » Features

2010 Genie Awards To Be Broadcast Online

Dave Forde — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:15:36 +0000

To help celebrate 30 years, the 2010 Genie Awards are turning to the internet as they broadcast live on Canwest-owned Independent Film Channel and via live webcast on CBC.ca on Monday, April 12, 2010 at 9:00pm EDT. Additionally, the show will be re-broadcast on Astral Media’s The Movie Network and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central at a later date.

“This year’s Genie Awards broadcast will be an unprecedented collaboration among some of Canada’s major broadcasters – a truly amazing way to celebrate the Award’s 30th anniversary,” says Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. “Presenting the Genie Awards in partnership with multiple networks, on television and online, will enable us to celebrate with a remarkably broad and diverse audience of movie fans here in Canada and around the world. We are as committed as ever to building audiences for Canadian films and we are thrilled that Canwest, CBC, Astral, and Corus are joining us in this effort.”

Happy 30th Genie Awards.

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The ‘Dominos’ Effect: Social Media from the Brand Perspective

Dave Forde — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:07:43 +0000

This is a story about a brand journey in social media. It is about a highly visible brand whose experience within the social media space had a tremendous impact to consumer perception about their brand, their operations, and ultimately revenue.

Dominos Pizza. This is an interesting social media example because of

the highly visible events that have preceded Dominos in the last year. Chris Brandon of Dominos Pizza is here today to give us his company’s view

in light of these events and how it has changed the way they do

business.

Welcome Chris! Could you please tell us about your role within Dominos?

CB - Hi…appreciate the opportunity to talk with you guys. My role within Domino’s, among some other event-related responsibilities, is management of our entire PR effort – including consumer PR, media relations, social media, local outreach, etc. The only facets of PR that I am less involved with are investor relations, and for the most part crisis communications. We have people on separate teams that are full-time dedicated to that.

Now let’s take you back a few years to 2008! Prior to the boom in social media what did Dominos do to initiate engagement with it’s consumers?

Either on or offline?

CB – We have been engaged with customers through social media for about a year and a half now…certainly our new pizza launch has taken things up a notch – as we are using social media more so than ever before – but we have been active in the spectrum for about a year. We were on Twitter, on Facebook, monitoring blogs, etc. Much of that led to hearing what customers were saying about our pizza, and realizing there were room for improvements – which is exactly what we eventually did!

In 2008, how would you have rated yourself as a Marketing Company in terms of audience engagement? 1 being poor vs 5 being strong

CB - A rating like that is difficult to say…but we have always been in tune with what our consumers have had to say – as recently demonstrated by our “thanking” them for inspiring us to continue to improve, and by how we communicated our new pizza launch. We have only gotten better. Social media has helped that, as we can communicate with them directly in ways that were not available before.

Let’s take you back to spring 2009 when a video appeared in Youtube: revealing a Domino’s employee in a NC franchise assembling sandwiches and inappropriately handling ingredients before putting these same ingredients on the bread. It didn’t take long for that video to go VIRAL and soon that video was encroaching on one million plus views.

Tell me about what was happening within Dominos at that time? What was the immediate reaction?

CB – We were aware of the video within 45 minutes of its being posted. Our immediate reaction was to distribute still shots of the video nationwide in an attempt to identify the culprits. We found them before the day was over. We closed the store, contacted the franchise owner, the police and the health department.

We contacted YouTube in an attempt to get them to pull it down (they wouldn’t – citing the fact that we weren’t the “copyright owner,” although all the trademarks in the video belonged to us and were being used improperly).

Here is what one of the blogs said about the Dominos response time:

“The company did not publicly respond to the video immediately, hoping attention would subside. But when it became clear by mid-week that the controversy was only escalating, Domino’s executives acted. The company posted an apology on its website and asked employees with Twitter accounts to tweet a link to it. “

Now it took more than 48 hours after the video had significant reach and press. Why didn’t Dominos act sooner?

CB - Frankly, this person doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. We didn’t wait 48 hours to respond – we were on it within the first hour.

Our first priority was to identify the culprits, then close the store, then get the video removed. We communicated internally and we communicated to YouTube and to other sites (such as The Consumerist), which had reposted it. That all happened in the first few hours.

The following day, we posted a note on our company site explaining that we had found them, had their employment terminated and that they were facing arrest. On Wednesday, when the video views hit 500,000, we decided to post our own YouTube response. The off-base commentary is funny to us: we did something no other company had done before – put the president on YouTube to talk about the antics of two idiot (former) employees. Had we not done it, it wouldn’t have been done – so the idea that we did something unprecedented, but didn’t do it “fast enough,” is laughable.

This new age of user-generated content with all its inherent social media tools can be a double-edged sword for businesses. On one hand it closes the gap to and endears you to your audience like nothing else. But it can also be just as powerful in exposing you to the darker side of engagement. Business owners are nervous about the vulnerability of their brands and the potential of unfair comments or attacks. Is that fair to say?

CB - We can’t speak for other business owners. We are not worried about a “darker side” of our business, because we don’t have one. We’re not hiding anything. We have embraced social media as a means to connect more directly with those consumers who choose to utilize these channels. It’s all about building a solid culture in your organization. Meanwhile, though, it’s prudent to remind employees that the trademarks are yours – and that they cannot photograph or video anything on your property without your permission.

Let’s talk about your response video that occurred 2 days after the incident.

I read on one post that, “this corporate mea culpa video has already been viewed more than 300,000 times, and it’s generated 3,000 comments. Plus, it’s the talk of Twitter, blogs, and the mainstream press (in the United States and abroad). It’s far and away the most popular video on Domino’s nearly 2-year-old YouTube channel. BUT your response was profound. “The ‘challenge’ that comes with the freedom of the internet is that any idiot with a camera and an internet link can do stuff like this – and ruin the reputation of a brand that’s nearly 50 years old, and the reputations of 125,000 hard-working men and women across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.”

How did this incident change things at Dominos? Was this the genesis of a wake-up call?

CB - When we made that comment, we were in the thick of the situation – our response, about ruining a brand, was in retrospect, dramatic. In the end, they did not ruin our brand, as our global reputation is much too strong to be done in by the likes of those two. Some facts:

Domino’s had positive same store sales growth in 2009 – we led the category in same store sales growth, beating Papa John’s (flat) and Pizza Hut (negative), companies that didn’t have to face an incident such as this.
Domino’s was ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (for the first time ever), right in the midst of this incident.
Our share price continued to rise.
In context, 1.2 million views sounds like a lot, but our own “Pizza Turnaround” video has been viewed 3.3 million times; the most-watched video on YouTube (Charlie Bit My Finger) has been viewed 168 million times.

In the end, this was not a “crisis,” but a well-publicized annoyance. We are stronger than that. If anything, it provided us with a platform to remind our independent franchisees about the importance of hiring well.

Provide me with how the mindset changed at the top of your organization and how that filtered down to employees and ultimately, your franchises.

CB – It gave us the platform to discuss the importance of hiring well. While it is true that “one bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch,” we made the case for all owners and managers to get rid of those bad apples – and they know who they are. A customer service business is reliant on people with great attitudes; we invited our franchisees to look at their workforce, and to make changes as they saw fit.

Did that forever change the way you perceived the strength of your audience and ultimately how your processes changed internally?

CB - Domino’s customers saw the YouTube video for what it was: a hoax perpetrated by two individuals who showed extraordinarily bad judgment. In fact, what was most heartening about this incident was the number of calls and emails we received at our Customer Care Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which expressed support for us. Thousands of people let us know that they were behind us and that they would continue to order from us. While sales took a short-time dip in the few weeks following the incident, as our full-year sales results show, they came back stronger than anyone else in the industry.

Your most recent campaign exemplifies a very transparent, and honest platform to tell the world that customers are not happy with Dominos Pizza. Your site is called: http://www.pizzaturnaround.com/. The headline says, “New Domino’s Pizza – Oh Yes We Did.” The brutal honesty of consumers saying the “crust tastes like cardboard”; “Microwave Pizza is far better”; “The sauce tastes like ketchup”.

Your President and CEO Patrick Doyle says in this video, “You can use negative comments to bring you down or you can use it to excite you and energize your process to make a better pizza. We chose the latter.”

“We listened to our consumers. They want us to be better and we want them to like us again.”

You had to start over to do this. I’m sure you spent a lot of time and money on this endeavour.

CB - The new pizza was about a 2 year process.

Why do this?

CB - Because the consumer told us we could improve…and we listened. It’s always been important to us to not just say we’re listening – but to prove it. We proved it, and are very pleased with the consumer response to the new pizza.

You received some accolades from Stephen Colbert, Colbert-style. Dominos received the Alpha dog of the Week. In part of his segment he says, “Dominos has a great new recipe……..They have a game-changing ad campaign and they’ve been listening to you America?……It takes meatballs to stand up and say, “we suck”.

“Dominos boldly embraces the universal condemnation of their product and asks its customers to come back for more.”

How do you respond to that? And did it help or hurt your campaign?

CB - We were very excited to be named Stephen Colbert’s “Alpha Dog of the Week”…..we loved it! Obviously there’s a lot of tongue-in-cheek in what he does, but the general message rings true — that we did stand up, admitted we could be better – and even thanked our customers for the inspiration. I think Mr. Colbert through — his unique form of comedy — and many others, respect us for the ability to be honest and the approach we have taken.

What have been the results to date? Have you seen a turnaround in brand perception?

CB – We are extremely pleased with the consumer response to the new pizza

What are your customers saying now?

CB - Shortly after the launch, an independent third-party blind taste test revealed that the new pizza beat both Papa John’s and Pizza Hut in a national taste test…so not only have they been speaking highly of our Pizza Turnaround campaign – most important of all, they have spoken that our pizza is the best tasting!

After the past year if you could synthesize the turnaround in the company how would you sum it up?

CB - When you listen to the consumer, work to improve on what they tell you can be improved, respect that customers today want honesty and transparency — and most importantly, have a very talented team in place — good things are bound to happen.

Does social media NOW play an essential role in your organization? If so, how has this changed from a year ago?

CB – Like many others, we are continuing to learn more about social media, and have been for the past year and a half – as in many ways, it is still in its infancy as a communications and marketing tool. Most of all, it gives us an avenue to continue to have open and honest interaction with consumers and Domino’s fans – and that is what we like the most about it.

If you had any advice to give to big brands looking to dip their toe in social media what would you say?

CB - Keep up – cause it is constantly evolving.

Thank you so much for your time Chris. Dominos will be one brand to look to, to set success benchmarks for customer engagement. We look forward to the evolution of Dominos as it unfolds in this new consumer-led era.

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MoboVivo Brings “TV Everywhere” – Video Streaming To An App Near You

Dave Forde — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:00:38 +0000

Calgary-based MoboVivo has now made a new solution available for TV producers and broadcaster to make their content available to mobile users on their smart phones. Their latest app works on iPhone, iPod and the upcoming iPad and through its use it enables over 100 TV producers and broadcasters to distribute, market and sell programs on wired and wireless devices.

“Alternative-to-brodcast distribution to include devices like mobile phones and the soon to be released iPad are an important part of a TV show’s marketing and distribution,” says Trevor Doerksen, CEO of MoboVivo. “With RRT, MoboVivo can develop mobile apps for broadcasters and producers rapidly and reliably.”

For app creators, the challenge of preparing and delivering video online and to mobile phones requires app creators to prepare video for different operating systems, formats and resolutions. MoboVivo has released its Rapid Repurposing Technology (RRT) to enable video apps to work over 3G networks and be approved by the iTunes App Store. The new streaming protocol is required for iPhone apps and allows a person watching video to move from a cell network to a wifi network with video quality adapting instantly and automatically.

MoboVivo’s RRT solution means that customers don’t have to worry about their app getting accepted into app stores because of video streaming problems. MoboVivo’s RRT allows broadcasters and producers to focus on the marketing and distribution of their apps.

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Ontario Universities Getting Ready To Create An Online University

Dave Forde — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:10:21 +0000

With the Speech from the Throne behind us many organizations around the country are prepared for the new focus and budgets that have been allocated to their respetive sector. The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) are looking to take on the challenge of bring a higher level of eduction to Ontario students head on as they have set ambitious goals for increasing domestic and international enrolment as well as developing an online university, and Ontario universities are up to the task of tackling these goals.

“We look forward to working with the government to address the growing numbers of students seeking university education and to contribute to the province’s goal of ensuring that 70% of the population attains higher education,” said Sheldon Levy, Chair of Council and President of Ryerson University. “Ontario universities stepped up and accommodated over 100,000 new students over the past five years with the funding provided by the province’s Reaching Higher plan,” said Levy.

Ontarios wil work with government bodies to enhance efforts to recruit students, implement exchanges, foster research partnerships and internationalize domestic curriculum. Over the past decade, the volume of international students recruited to Ontario universities has tripled to over 26,000 students and this success provides an excellent platform to take on the stated challenge of increasing international enrolment by a further 50%.

“We are happy to enhance our international activities and to work with the government to explore how to leverage the online learning solutions of our institutions into the development of an online university,” said Bonnie M. Patterson, President of COU. “Universities already have many online learning solutions and an online collaborative operation called the Scholars Portal, which provides digital journals for research and course materials for over four million university students and faculty in Ontario.”

The COU has already begun the work on a multi-year plan that will look to help the universities across Ontario reach this new goal, which is now backed by a financial commitment from the government.

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Can CanWest, Globe And Mail Learn A Thing From Marc Andreessen?

Dave Forde — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:44:32 +0000

There was a lot of buzz over the last few days on the internet about a blog post from Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch) where he interviewed Marc Andressen and Marc’s comments were to “Burn the boats.” This referring to the legend from the 1500’s when Cortes landed in Mexico who’s attitude was all or nothing; to move forward with no possibility of changing your mind or going back. Andreessen who has the Founder of Netscape and have gone on to a number of other successful ventures and now invests in technology companies probably knows a thing or two about what he’s talking about. After all Netscape was one of the first big successes on the Internet.
It is no secret that traditional media, specifically newspapers have been struggling for years, now many of them or playing with pay wall models as they try to recoup some of the lost revenues they had become accustomed to from advertising. Consumers of course don’t necessarily want to pay for content, or do they? While some consumers will be willing to pay there will never be enough to replace the revenue dollars that newspapers have become accustomed to from advertising.

Does the newspaper industry understand technology?

According to the post by Eric:

“Microsoft is going through this right now,” he points out, “Ballmer is not complaining about it.” He’s tackling it head on. So did Intel when Andy Grove gutted it to shift from memory chips to microprocessors. So does every technology company CEO. It is ingrained in the industry Andreessen comes from, so it is just obvious to him: “You are cruising along, and then technology changes. You have to adapt.” Media companies need to learn that lesson fast. To the extent that their products are now delivered and consumed as digital bits, they too are becoming technology companies.

Looking at media companies across the country it is often a top down problem, where upper management does not take the time to understand technology’s impact on business models and does not empower their employers to make the necessarily changes or even to implement a pilot project to test the waters. The politics of change can often be so enormous that it simple chokes innovation and the company is dead in the water, or as we’ve seen with CanWest in the last few months get to a point of bankruptcy.

According to Seth Godin who was in Toronto for SES a few years ago, he suggested to implement a pilot project, as it is easier to ask for forgiveness on something small than to ask for permission on something that is big (or perceived big).

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Astral Media Radio To Get A Boost To Their Interactive Business With Emmis Interactive Partnership

Dave Forde — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:29:41 +0000

Astral Media Radio recently announced a new long-term agreed with Emmis Interactive, Inc., that will allow the radio division to leverage Emmis’ interactive platform and help deliver a better experience for radio listeners. The new agreement is an extension of existing projects between the two entities but shows a dedication to the interactive side lead by Philippe Patrice, Chief Digital Strategies Officer for Astral Media Radio.

“Astral is proud of the work done over the last few years online and with mobile, but our deal with Emmis marks a new chapter in our commitment to capitalize on the amazing growth of digital media,” said Jacques Parisien, Group President, Astral Media Radio and Astral Media Outdoor: “Partnering with Emmis will allow us to take a huge leap forward in terms of our online product, by building more robust and engaging sites for our strong radio brands. This is a critical element of our Interactive strategy; we are very focused on making Interactive a strong and important part of our business.”

Emmis Interactive’s BaseStation will be used by Astral, the tool also helps clients increase engagement and create two-way communication possibilities between the station and the audience.

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Online Video Compression Player Seawell Networks Secures $7 Million In Series A Funding

Dave Forde — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:36:43 +0000

Toronto-based Seawell Networks has secured $7million in a Series A round of financing led by BDC Capital and included Northwater Intellectual Property Fund and Ontario Centres of Excellence. Seawell is a provider of Internet video distribution products which they have been working on since their launch in 2008. The company will use this round of financing to further expand their development and marketing marketing efforts.

SeaWell has the three key ingredients for success – a world-class team of proven entrepreneurs, an innovative solution and a large market opportunity with a highly compelling value proposition,” said Northwater Vice President and current SeaWell director, Andrew Harrison. “We look forward to continued work with the team to establish SeaWell as the new standard for online media streaming.”

Nazmin Alani, Managing Director, Venture Capital, BDC Capital will join the SeaWell Board of Directors.
Source: TechCrunch

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Would You Pay To Insure Your Mobile Phone?

Dave Forde — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:49:20 +0000

In the “unexpected” corner, it looks like BCAA Insurance has added a new policy for their customers who want to add insurance for their mobile devices. According to their press release “For as little as $3 a month per device, you can protect your family’s mobile phones and MP3 players from loss, theft, and even accidental damage like dropping your phone or spilling coffee. There are no deductibles to pay, and you’re covered should you lose or damage your cell phone or MP3 player.”

With the price points of mobile devices I’m not convinced this makes good business sense for the customer or for BCAA Insurance (in the long term), but I’m sure they see this as a hook or up sell on their current policies. Thoughts?

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Speech from the Throne – Canada Will Open The Door To Foreign Investment In The Technology Sector

Dave Forde — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:44:37 +0000

Earlier this week Governor General Michaëlle Jean delivered the Speech from the Throne which highlighted the Conservative government’s plans and budget moving forward. As part of that the Governor General did dedicated a portion of the speech to Canada’s technology sector, one comment she made was:

“Our Government will open Canada’s doors further to venture capital and to foreign investment in key sectors, including the satellite and telecommunications industries, giving Canadian firms access to the funds and expertise they need. While safeguarding Canada’s national security, our Government will ensure that unnecessary regulation does not inhibit the growth of Canada’s uranium mining industry by unduly restricting foreign investment. It will also expand investment promotion in key markets.”

We have already seen that the Canadian government is adopting a new policy to foreign investment, it was only a few months ago that Industry Minister Tony Clement over-ruled the CRTC’s decision to prevent the launch of WIND Mobile.

Other highlights from her speech:

The unique strength of Canada’s financial industry set Canada apart during the global financial crisis. The World Economic Forum, among others, has recognized Canada’s banking system as the strongest in the world. Our Government will build upon this advantage to make Canada an even stronger world financial centre. Recognizing the critical importance of sound securities regulation – both to attract investment and crack down on white-collar crime – our Government will act, within the ambit of the Constitution, to create a Canadian securities regulator.
Our energy resource endowment provides Canada with an unparalleled economic advantage that we must leverage to secure our place as a clean energy superpower and a leader in green job creation. We are the world’s seventh largest crude oil producer with the second largest proven reserves. We are the third largest natural gas producer, the third largest hydroelectric generator, the largest producer of uranium, and by far the largest supplier of energy resources to the world’s largest marketplace. To support responsible development of Canada’s energy and mineral resources, our Government will untangle the daunting maze of regulations that needlessly complicates project approvals, replacing it with simpler, clearer processes that offer improved environmental protection and greater certainty to industry.
Our Government will continue to invest in clean energy technologies. It will review energy efficiency and emissions-reduction programs to ensure they are effective. And it will position Canada’s nuclear industry to capitalize on the opportunities of the global nuclear renaissance – beginning with the restructuring of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

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Easing Into B2B Mobile Marketing

Jonathan Dunn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:05:30 +0000

Put your hands up if you have a mobile phone within arm’s reach. Did everyone raise their hands (mentally if not physically)? I’m willing to bet ‘Yes’.

Mobile, specifically Smartphones, has become an essential tool for business professionals. Sales, Marketing, IT and Finance professionals would lead the way, but just about any mid-level or above executive from the largest Fortune 500 to the scrappy start-up is likely surgically attached to their mobile.

A recent MarketingProfs article offered up Five Reasons Why Mobile Marketing is Prime for B2Bs. If you’re stretched for time, they are: Explosive Adoption Rates; Fulfilling Business Centric Needs; A Unique Personal Channel; New Ways Into Their Worlds and More Show, Less Tell. There’s some solid thought backing up those points and some questions marketers should be asking themselves. The bottom line if you’re a B2B marketers – your customers are constantly using these devices, why aren’t you using them to reach your customers?

It’s a good question.

My two cents is that mobile has been so heavily focussed on B2C marketing that the guidelines, best practices and case studies that typically help ease you into a new channel are lacking or not getting enough exposure.

To help, the author of the MarketingProfs piece also posted a presentation outlining a 10 step starter guide for B2B mobile marketing. I find myself agreeing with the bulk of the points raised but want to offer 3 specific recommendations not covered in either piece that can help you in your B2B mobile planning.

1. Dig Into Google Analytics

If your website is currently using Google Analytics (or other analytics programs) it will be able to tell you the amount of traffic your site is receiving from mobile phones. You should also be able to see visits broken down by operating system allowing you to begin developing a profile of your mobile customer. To be blunt, every one of those visits to your site was a lost customer opportunity. Even devices like the iPhone which have a better browsing experience still have limits (pinch and zoom, no flash) and a mobile visitor likely has different interests from a wired visitor. Failing to understand who those customers are, what they’re looking for and then serving it up seamlessly means disappointment.

2. Nurture Customers Towards Mobile

Talk to your customers. One on one interviews or more mass polls can help you gather genuine insights into how they use their mobile and what mobile content would be most valuable to them. Once you have a mobile program plan and are pushing towards a launch, seed mobile-friendly touch points prior to any new property or campaign launch. For example, make sure your outbound emails are mobile optimized (you should be doing this anyway). Begin to generate permissions to communicate via mobile through web form or email data capture. Simple and relatively cost-effective steps like this will help establish a mobile-primed audience.

3. Build In Circular Thinking

What I mean by ‘circular thinking’ is identifying tactical pathways that lead you from acquisition to conversation. You want to be able to create a frictionless loop from acquisition to engagement with your content or value proposition to permission to continue the dialogue to a firm opportunity to extend or expand the relationship. What makes this circular is the ability to repeat the ‘engagement-permission-expansion’ process again and again as you learn more about your customer and can offer more targeted communication and increase the value of your mobile marketing. The devil is in the details with this approach but the payoff will be worth the effort and will give you much clearer visibility into your campaign ROI.

The final recommendation I’ll make isn’t related to B2B mobile marketing as much as it’s a general comment about risk. Mobile will continue to be unproven until you test and learn and figure out how to best use the channel. Is the bigger risk a modest budget to launch a mobile program or the lost business opportunities by not being there?

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Profectio » Features

2010 Genie Awards To Be Broadcast Online

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The ‘Dominos’ Effect: Social Media from the Brand Perspective

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