Welcome to the first official day of Summer! Dove Go Fresh launched their Get Fresh – Summer programming at is Best! Channel today in partnership with PHD. The idea started in an internal focus group where we determined what W25-34 could not live without was their broadband sites, most popular being CTV.

From here we built a 95% digital strategy supporting Dove Go Fresh in summer 2010. The other 5% was used for eTalk Mentions (watch tomorrow night) and street team (executed by Cap C). The partnership features top programming including Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice as well as never seen online shows such as Degrassi Season 10, Castle and Scoundrels.

On top of this, CTV incorporate some great web series including Pushed, The Lake, Blood Cell, and a custom program designed to keep women fresh all summer with fashion trends, fitness and more.

Go to getfresh.ctv.ca to see it in action. And text GETFRESH to 24680 to keep on top of latest episodes as they are loaded.

In conjunction to this partnership there is a strong presence across Video Egg network using the Doc 360 which has never been executed in Canada before as well as their Ad Frames. A Dynamic Logic study will be capturing the effectiveness of the engagement ads.

Video Egg creative is also running across top women sites including: Cocoperez.com, Perezhilton.com, Glam.com, Canalvie.com, Aufeminin.ca, Chatelaine, and more.

To mark the week-long celebration, a series of events have been organized to celebrate creativity, and this year PHD has chosen to pilot the idea of Recess. 

Why Recess?  To refresh and renew!  Looking back to more carefree days, all of us can reflect fondly on our favourite time of the school day when we were given the chance to break from the convention of curriculum and truly express ourselves … playing games, engaging with friends and letting go.

That’s what we’re hoping to recapture during the 5 working days that comprise Creativity Week… a Recess from the Recession if you will. Each day, we will take a short break from our daily routines to embark on a creative venture to express ourselves in a variety of creative ways.

To kick off the celebrations, PHD celebrated with a party!  Afterall, April 15^th is Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday, significant in that he is a model for combining science and arts, emotion and logic to create world class standards.

Friday April 16^th was mural day, where creativity was expressed on Transit Shelter Paper, giving rise to what is now posted in none other than a media vehicle: two bus shelter locations in Toronto – Spadina/Queen and Bathurst/King St.  PHD engaged supplier Astral Outdoor, who furnished the paper and locations for posting.  

What’s up this week?

Monday April 19^th is Poetry in the Park

Tuesday April 20^th is Show and Tell

Wednesday April 21^st is Self Portrait  

Both campaigns were also recently announced as finalists at the Festival of Media Awards in Valencia, Spain.

source: http://www.mediaincanada.com/articles/mic/20100310/internationalistwinners.html

PHD takes Internationalist Grand Prix

by Nick Krewen

PHD was one of two media agencies awarded a Grand Prix from the 2009 Internationalist Awards for Innovation in Media for “Fin abrupte” (”Abrupt Endings”), created out of the Montreal-based office, Touché!PHD.

The Suicide Action Montreal (SAM) campaign, about the sudden shock of suicide, shared the podium with Starcom Australia, which also won a Grand Prix for its Mars Pedigree “Dog Adoption” campaign.

Both campaigns were praised by the Internationalist for their “fresh insights” and for “breaking through the defensive barriers that people automatically erect to avoid difficult emotional subjects.”

The SAM campaign was hailed for conveying the message that suicide strikes when people least expect it. With a 35% increase in calls to the suicide prevention hotline, the campaign literally helped save lives.

The Pedigree spot - using thousands of bright yellow, life-sized cut-outs of dogs placed in parks, stations and main streets - was so popular that some shelters ran out of dogs during the Pedigree Adoption Drive and were forced to put people on waiting lists.

Canadians also came up shining in the Gold and Silver categories. Gold winners include OMD Canada for “Doritos Guru”, and Starcom MediaVest Group Canada for Nintendo’s Are You Smarter than a Canadian 5th Grader integration and the Tassimo trompe d’oeil in Canadian magazines.

Silver Canadian campaign winners include PHD Canada for Becel’s “Love Your Heart” campaign and SMG Canada for Cheez Whiz’s Corner Gas integration and Swiffer’s condo-dweller-targeted campaign.

In recognizing the win, PHD president and CEO Fred Forster credited VP media director Karine Courtemanche and media strategist Maxime Corriveau for their work on “Fin abrupte” and the Toronto Unilever team - particularly group media manager Janine Maillet - for their efforts on “Love Your Heart.”

A total of 36 awards were given out this year. The winners competed against entries from over 30 countries.

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Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=520839

TORONTO – Hershey Canada Inc. and the National Hockey League unwrapped the details of their new agreement — an exclusive three year partnership in Canada. In celebration of this new partnership, Hershey Canada and the NHL unveiled the one-of-a-kind Hershey’s Chocolate Stanley Cup, a milk chocolate replica of the Stanley Cup.

"Hershey Canada and all our Canadian employees are so excited to be teaming up with the NHL here in Canada," says Matt Lindsay, Vice President and General Manager of Hershey Canada. "We’re looking forward to working with the NHL to bring great promotions and experiences to our Canadian hockey fans through this new partnership. The introduction of the Hershey’s Chocolate Stanley Cup is only the beginning, there is so much more to come."

Handmade by Canadian Sitram Sharma, Master Chocolatier at Toronto’s National Club, the one-of-a-kind Hershey’s Chocolate Stanley Cup is a masterpiece created from more than 150 pounds of Hershey’s smooth, creamy milk chocolate. It took more than 12 hours to make. True to its inspiration, it stands nearly three feet high and is a life-sized replica of the original Lord Stanley’s Cup.

"Hershey, like other leading consumer brands, is strategically investing in the NHL because we have a relevant and robust fan demographic, and large scale traditional and digital activation platforms on which to showcase its leadership brand portfolio," said Laurel Walzak, NHL Director of Integrated Sales. "This partnership brings together two things Canadians love — hockey and Hershey’s chocolate and candy."

The new multi-year partnership will begin with a consumer promotion to support the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. The promotion, which will be in stores August 2010 through February 2011, will feature prizing including a trip to the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, to attend a team practice and to skate on the official NHL ice.

Hershey Canada will develop unique and exciting consumer programs around the new partnership featuring the following brands: Hershey’s, Oh Henry!, Reese, Twizzlers and Ice Breakers. Hershey Canada official designations in Canada will include:

• Official Chocolate & Candy of the NHL
• Official Confectionery Partner of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic
• Official Confectionery Partner of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
• Official Confectionery Partner of the NHL All-Star Game

You can also check out a video showing how Chocolatier Sitram Sharma made the Hershey’s Chocolate Stanley Cup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxBC44yguE

Tomorrow promises to be a spell binding, interactive day covering many great digital topics including:

• Gaming
• State of the Nation with our very own Rob Young
• Mobile - Emerging Platform or Mass Market?
• Can Social Media Drive In-Store Retail Sales?
• Do It Digital: How The Latest Advances In Digital Out-Of-Home Bring Internet, Mobile and Social Media To Life

Make sure you follow up with your digital expert to find out the new juicy details for any of the above topics. And if you are interested in more information on one of the above just ask.

We had some excellent golfers out there but we also had beginners but we all had fun. We saw the group of Scott Dane, Scott Mitchell, Bill Hicks and Boyd Mickle win the tournament with a group score of 69.

We had a lot of support from our suppliers with many participating and donating prizing for the golfers. We want to thank everyone including: Pattison Outdoor, Astral Outdoor, Tribute.ca, Canoe.ca, Rogers, Chill Magazine, Adconian, IT World, Uptrend, TSN, Abacus, Adcentrictiy, Glass Box, Score Golf, Newad, Scott Thornley & Company & the Toronto Blue Jays.  Chill Magazine also created some awesome pics for each foursome.  See our Facebook album to see them all and get a copy of you on the cover of Chill magazine.

We also want to thank the course, the staff there were excellent and helped us put on a top notch event. They even donated a foursome that a lucky raffle ticket holder ended up with.

But this day wasn’t all about fun and golf. We were there to raise money for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (www.oacas.org/). With PHD corporately kicking in $2,200, we were able to raise $10,034!! A great accomplishment to break the $10K barrier.

Lastly, I want to thank Geoff Glen, Scott Dane, Ryan Gilroy & Brian Wylie. We couldn’t have put this tournament together without their help. Special thanks to Angie Genovese for volunteering for the day of and selling raffle tickets and taking some great pics. So once again, thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoyed the day.

See you all next year at the 3rd Annual.

More pictures will be up on Facebook

Monday was the first day of MSN and Sympatico running their own portals.

The feel and look is different from each other but not overly that it would alienate the consumer.

Traffic on the homepage for Sympatico.ca dropped 25% from where it was at before. This is inline with what we were to expect.

MSN is still out on what their numbers are… time will tell… will update as soon as numbers are in.

We will be keeping a close eye on both portals so see how traffic progresses.

Stay tuned for more updates. Or follow us at @PHDcanada for immediate information

Both will begin operating independently as of tonight at midnight!

For Sympatico.ca, the change is part of a three-year agreement in which Sympatico.ca and Microsoft will continue to exchange traffic while allowing Sympatico.ca to benefit from greater editorial independence and advertising flexibility.  Sympatico.ca will continue to leverage Bing as a search engine and offer Windows Live Hotmail and Messenger inventory to Canadian advertisers.

As well, Canada’s popular default homepage address www.sympatico.msn.ca, will now be redirected to www.sympatico.ca.

All of our popular content channels that 6.8 million Canadians have come to know and love such as Celebedge.ca, Fashionism.ca, InMusic.ca, Sync.ca, Push.ca and others, will remain available exclusively via the Sympatico.ca portal.  In addition, we announced the launch of four new portal channels today: Autos, InMovies.ca, YourMoney.ca and Best Health, a Reader’s Digest publication.

For MSN.ca,the change will be a simpler and more connected online experience for consumers and advertisers.  Publically available on September 1^st, 2009, MSN.ca will deliver the latest information relevant to Canadians including breaking news, sports scores, gossip, entertainment, and much more—all within a Canadian context and from the experts who know the topics best. As well, MSN.ca will introduce the unique ‘signed-in’ experience of using Windows Live™ Hotmail®, and Bing.ca embedded into the homepage.

Microsoft Advertising now provides a multiplatform digital solutions helping connect with consumers across popular digital touch points including Windows Live™ Hotmail, Windows Live™ Messenger, Windows® Mobile, Xbox®, Microsoft® Media Network, Bing.ca and now, the all-new MSN.ca portal.

The PHD digital folk await patient to see the traffic numbers adjust to the changes. The separation ends the #1 placement and nobody is quite sure who will take the podium.

Don’t forget to check out www.sympatico.ca and msn.ca to see if you can spot the difference!

Who do you think will become #1?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/technology/companies/30soft.html?_r=1&hp

Microsoft and Yahoo announced a partnership in Internet search and advertising on Wednesday morning intended to create a stronger rival to the industry powerhouse Google.  The Microsoft-Yahoo pact is measured step that represents a pragmatic division of duties between the two companies instead of the blockbuster deal Microsoft made last year, when it bid $47.5 billion to buy Yahoo. That hostile offer was ultimately rejected by Yahoo, and its collapse and the uncertain aftermath for the Web company led to a management change and the replacement of co-founder Jerry Yang by Carol Bartz, an outsider who is now Yahoo’s chief executive

We welcome you to visit our new office! 

Here’s the address:

__________________________________________
PHD
96 spadina ave.

7th floor
toronto, ontario, m5v 2j6

canada
________________________________________

www.phdnetwork.com

If you are lost, call us at 416-922-0217

Save yourself some time:

By the way, recommendation to take the stairs when you visit our new building.  The elevators are quirky, old & packed.  The stairs however are open & free-flowing (insert smile).  By the time you make it to the 7th floor you will feel fit and have done “one small thing” for your heart (www.loveyourheart.ca) .  Advocates for the stairs also say that when you take a break that incorporates some physical movement, you will be more creative http://turtlerockfarm.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/benefits-of-cross-crawl/ .  See if your brain works a bit better at your next meeting.  I’m still testing this out

We look forward to seeing you soon!