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

Today, Sympatico and MSN announced their split.

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?

Hot off the presses, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to an Internet search and advertising partnership. 

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

The Indy is back in town this weekend and the title sponsor is Honda! Festivities kicked off today at Dundas Square with a Media Pit Stop Challenge. PHD and partners from Platform A (formerly AOL), Cottage Life, Sharp Magazine, Olive Media, Macleans, Rogers Digital, Canwest Digital, Microsoft Advertising, 24/7 Real Media and Sun Media came out in support of a great cause. Not only were our media partners enthusiastic about supporting this event some honorable mentions go out to….. Daria Lennon & Partner from Maclean’s magazine in top spot, tied for second place was Jeff Rockwell & Bernie Ward from Platform A (who would have had the #2 position if people kept their shirts on) and Jamie Forbes and his partner our very own Geoff Glen all came in under :24 sec.

Not only was this an exciting way to kick off what will be a whirlwind of events but there was a method to Honda and Budweiser’s madness. Paul Tracy’s car is being sponsored by Wounded Warriors www.woundedwarriors.ca To help assist Wounded Warriors sponsorship of the car media partners like the good people here at PHD pitched in to aid the sponsorship and will now have our logo seen by millions whipping around the track all weekend. The top place winners received a check in the amount of $1000 as a donation to Wounded Warriors.

Thanks to all that came out and remember to start your engines! 

Station identity crisis rules supreme with the Roger’s owned Toronto radio station. 

As of 3 p.m. on Friday June 5th, 2009, 92.5 JACK FM became KISS 92.5

First it was CISS and some bad country music (that’s my opinion).  Then KISS with some bad hip hop top 40 stuff that no one listened to according to them, so they became JACK, and even then started playing music to try and compete with Q 107.  If I have the order mixed up, I apologize.

Now its back to KISS and competing with about 5 other stations for this genre.  But, fortunately they claim to be the #1 new hit station in the city, what a relief (note sarcasm).  And commercial free, which has buyers scrambling to get the ratings they planned in the market that have now disappeared.  This is what they told their large following of JACKnation members - http://www.925jackfm.com/ - basically “too bad”.

Brilliantly planned.  Its good to see someone has money to burn in this new economy…

PHD added to its charitable events repertoire on Friday January 30^th with the company’s first annual PHD Ski Day. The 1980’s ski theme event, held at Georgian Peaks Ski Club in Collingwood, brought out a total of 55 skiers and boarders from PHD and media suppliers for a day of fun on the slopes, raising $2500 for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies. The conditions were fantastic making the experience all the more enjoyable.

PHD would like thank all of its sponsors – Onestop, AOL, CTV, NewAd, Stockhouse, Fan 590, Canwest, Rouge Media, Adcentricity, Rogers, MLSE, Heavy.com, Transcontinental, Canoe, Facebook, and Clear Channel – we couldn’t have done it without you!  

A special thank-you as well to the Georgian Peaks Ski Club for being terrific hosts for the day and for putting up with our antics during the après-ski!

See all of you next year for the 2^nd Annual PHD Ski Day.

Thanks,

Geoff Glen, Sean Cunningham, and Paul Paterson

About a month ago the PHD Interactive team was lucky enough to be invited to a breakfast with Microsoft Advertising. At that breakfast we saw a fantastic speaker Kenneth Wong. He was entertaining and informative which made the throbbing pain of your backside in those uncomfortable chairs we always get to sit in at conferences seem numbed. Please follow the link below for video of the presentation on Marketing in a Downturn Economy so that you can also be enlighten on how we can penetrate those closed wallets and make these financial times seem easier for us as a company to service our clients.

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:28be9103-bff2-4d7d-92c4-1d2f7de58293&showPlaylist=true

The Advertising Challenge Blood Drive was a success and PHD played a big part! The winners of the Advertising Challenge are:

Highest Number of Donations (17) = Bensimon Byrne

Highest Percentage of Employees Donating (26%) = Panic and Bob

In all, 107 donations were collected which means the lives of 321 people were saved! People like Lily Palmer, at left, who depends on the generosity of blood donors. Canadian Blood Services sent a big "Thank You!" to all the companies who came out in support of the Advertising Challenge. They were thrilled by the number of companies that took part, the youthfulness of the donors and the number of 1^st time donors!

The Agencies that took part are: Bensimon Byrne, OMD, Due North, Stealing Time, Steam Films, Soft Citizen, Vapor Music, Grip, Edelman Public Relations, Y & R, Creative Niche, Daggerwing, Centennial College, Rogers Media, New Marketing, Panic and Bob, Extreme Group, BBDO, Creative Niche, Doug Agency & PHD

Canadian Blood Services hopes that many of us will continue to donate blood this year, either individually or as a group. Because the need for blood never takes a holiday when the majority of people do, blood is particularly in need during July, August and December.

For more information, visit Canadian Blood Services website: Canadian Blood Services. They have the screening quiz on the website so you can see if you qualify as a donor. (There are several restrictions on travel - basically, if you ever thought about going to England, have family from the UK or like Kate Winslet movies, you cannot give blood. In all seriousness, most people can give, but check the restrictions.)

Couldn’t give blood? Feel free to register for the PARTNERS FOR LIFE program, which puts you in a database in case you ever are a match for bone marrow transplants. All it takes is swabbing your mouth and sending it away. You may never get called, but you could save a life!

Partners For Life

From our friends at springwise.com, this is truly low carbon footprint media…

Realising that green concerns are here to stay, British media agency Curb offers nothing but low-impact advertising. Its clean advertising service (similar to Street Advertising Services and GreenGraffiti, which we featured earlier) uses rainwater to clean logos into grubby pavements, and has been joined by four other services that are both novel and easy on the environment.

Curb creates sand sculptures of all sizes; burns patterns and logos into wood using magnifying glasses; and offers a ‘logrow’ service to cut logos as big as 30m wide into turf. Although each service is handcrafted, the agency is adamant that images are produced exactly as created digitally. Last but not least, graphics can be projected on falling sheets of water to create a memorable display. Household names have already used Curb’s services: Adidas was immortalised in grass, Volkswagen commissioned a sand sculpture and Barack Obama’s face was etched into wood.

Curb claim to be the world’s first and only media agency to be doing this exclusively. Which indicates that there’s space for others in different regions. Start blasting, sculpting, cutting and burning!

Website: www.mindthecurb.com

On the eve of the US presidential Inauguration we are encouraged to think of how we are going to be affected by the New US President. If you were thinking of watching history unfold here is a cool way to do it.  CNN.com Live and Facebook have hooked up to bring all of it to life INSTANTLY. Together they are going to  enable users to connect and engage with each other while watching a live broadcast of Inauguration Day events on CNN.com Live.  CNN.com Live is the Internet’s only multi-stream live video news service. On Tuesday, Jan. 20, CNN.com Live visitors will be able to update their Facebook status directly from the CNN.com Live video player.  They’ll also see status updates from their friends and other Facebook users on CNN.com Live.  The status updates for those using CNN.com Live will then be published in people’s Facebook News Feed with hyperlinked tags that read “via CNN.com Live,” so their friends can click the tag and join the CNN.com Live/Facebook experience.

Tomorrow is an exciting and historic day. Sign up for the event and join the two-way dialogue that will demonstrate the power of the social graph LIVE:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=56799103571&ref=nf

Here is where you can watch history taking place:

http://www.cnn.com/live/

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