TEEN DIARIES From media to tech, what they’re up to (and what they think about brands) MATT LEVITAN champions D FRO R M O Bruce Elliot T PlayStation.ca W shapes H fantasy E SECOND CUP’S C E second life O C as “oasis” cafe R I N F F E R O CCover.Apr07.inddover.Apr07.indd 1 33/19/07/19/07 33:24:29:24:29 PMPM Metro Rounds Up Alberta! Metro Canada is proud to be Albertan with the launch of Metro Calgary on March 5, and Metro Edmonton on April 2, 2007. Metro Edmonton and Calgary are Alberta’s latest editions with 60,000 copies distributed daily in each market reaching young, urban active readers every day. Metro is now the largest newspaper in Canada, distributing 750,000 copies daily in the top 6 markets: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Metro is the world’s largest and only global newspaper with 72 editions worldwide. 1 888 91 METRO www.metronews.ca SST.7110_METRO.inddT.7110_METRO.indd 1 33/16/07/16/07 44:37:29:37:29 PPMM inside the April 2007 issue VOLUME 18 ISSUE 9 4 editorial It’s time 4u to get in2 the age of Interactivism…. Book. 8 upfront All the hot trends for spring: viral cockroaches; androids in 47 advertising; and concierge banking. 11 biz MEDIA Second Cup’s ongoing “neighbourhood oasis” rebrand is Media Decon looks already brewing better ROI. In Word From the Corner Office, at stand-out president Bruce Elliot talks about the beanery’s challenges, youth efforts and the evolution of its “not about the coffee” strategy. 23 who to watch PlayStation’s Matt Levitan is the poster boy for living the brand, and his player cred helped raise the Canadian team’s game to the next level. 27 deconstructed Can Taxi 2 top previous Mini work? How about a Turbocharged 3D mini.ca? The pundits weigh in. 28 creative Big Brothers try humour, Via taps homesickness, and 61 A Community That Cares targets gangs with bullets. 47 media YOUTH. In our final instalment of Media Deconstructed, we peel back the covers on the best youth plans and find…a ton more work REPORT. invested. The winners – Hilroy, McDonald’s, LG Chocolate Kids tell what hits and what misses and Hershey’s – connected via integrated webs of interactivity, in their own words innovation and experience. 58 what next While you can’t rely on focus groups – or what consumers think (apparently even they don’t know how they really feel) – measuring saccadic activity can give researchers the true picture. On the cover Who better to market videogames than an understanding youth enthusiastic gamer? One could say Matt 61 With some help from Youthography, we take it to the target. Levitan, marketing and PR manager at Three teens from across Canada give us a peek into their Toronto-based Sony Computer Entertainment media- and brand-saturated lives. Canada, fought his way into the industry like a character in a videogame. Seen here 72 forum in his alternate universe incarnation God of War (thanks to Photoshop Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk call for women in advertising to artist Bryan Espiritu of Toronto-based Segal Communications), Levitan break the glass ceiling, while Will Novosedlik gives a big zero to aggressively pursued his desire to drive PlayStation’s Canadian marketing the Big 5 banks. efforts. First he bartered his way onto the account via Sony’s agency, then won the gig as PlayStation’s first Canadian brand manager. 74 back page His new project is his hard-won Canadian website PlayStation.ca. Read all Youth, like the French, have a different word for everything. about it in Who to Watch, page 23. Carat schools you with teen Babblefish tools. www.strategymag.com STRATEGY April 2007 3 CContents.Apr07.inddontents.Apr07.indd 3 33/20/07/20/07 44:18:33:18:33 PMPM editorial. April 2007 Volume 18, Issue 9 www.strategymag.com Executive VP / Laas Turnbull / [email protected] Executive Editor / Mary Maddever / [email protected] Creative Director / Stephen Stanley / [email protected] Copy Chief / Paula Costello / [email protected] Special Reports Editor / Natalia Williams / [email protected] Reporter / Annette Bourdeau / [email protected] Correspondent / Patti Summerfield / [email protected] The new school: an Contributors / Janet Kestin & Nancy Vonk / Will Novosedlik inconvenient truth Sales / (416) 408-2300 / Fax (416) 408-0870 Publisher / Claire Macdonald / [email protected] It's the youth issue, and in a strategy fi rst, we've given the entire report over to teens. Typically Sales Manager / Carrie Gillis / [email protected] the editorial team picks the content we think is the most relevant, but this year, it was time for Senior Advertising Sales Agent / Ramona Persaud / [email protected] a “reality” check. With the help of Youthography, we recruited three teenage journalists (well, Account Manager / Adam Conrad / [email protected] they kept journals, so that qualifi es), and asked them to record a typical week in their lives. To Account Manager / Michelle Tomicic / [email protected] get a sense of how media is consumed, how brands are perceived, and what it takes to make Western Canada Sales / Tracy Houston / [email protected] (604) 893-8925 / Fax (604) 893-8926 an impression in their world, read on. (See TeenSpace, p. 61.) Marketing & Publishing Co-ordinator / David Spevick / [email protected] We've also focused on successful youth campaigns elsewhere in the issue. The fi nal instalment of Media Deconstructed reveals the best youth connection plans, and The Back Director, Creative Services / Kerry Aitcheson / [email protected] Page, courtesy of Carat, helps you understand youth in the most literal sense. Production Co-ordinator / Sasha Kosovic / [email protected] The common thread here is that this generation does not like being "marketed to." So, to Circulation Manager / Jennifer Colvin / [email protected] get a read on the new school of ad thought, strategy spoke to two agencies that are tapping Circulation Administrator / Brendan Mitchell / [email protected] into what they respectively describe as culture economy, and interactivism. Circulation Administrator / Matthew White / [email protected] NYC- and Amsterdam-based StrawberryFrog, run by ex-pat Canadians, has a knack for getting noticed in unconventional ways. The agency took Onitsuka Tiger sport shoes from a forgotten ’60s Conference Producer / Wendy Morrison / [email protected] retro brand fi ve years ago to selling over 400 million pairs globally, without a whiff of traditional advertising. Instead, they used tactics such as having the Tiger choir from the Asics factory in Administration Japan perform their version of old soccer songs during the World Cup. Uma Thurman wore the President and Executive Publisher / James Shenkman / [email protected] sneaks in Kill Bill, and Frog maxed that by creating short fi lms that ran prior to the fi lm's premieres. Executive VP / Laas Turnbull / [email protected] Agency founder Scott Goodson keynoted and chaired the Global Future Marketing Summit VP & Editorial Director / Mary Maddever / [email protected] last month so strategy checked in with him on youth marketing. On a rare spring-like day VP & Group Publisher / Donna MacNeil / [email protected] VP, e-Brunico and Circulation / Omri Tintpulver / [email protected] during March Break, on the patio of the agency's New York penthouse, Goodson described Gen Y as a consumer group of honesty. "They don't need crap marketed to them. They have How to reach us an enormous appetite for a bigger world. They don't need to be led by the nose – they want Strategy 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 500, to fi nd it and be a part of it." To achieve this, Goodson says, "a brand has to be authentic and Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R9 Tel: 416-408-2300 or 1-888-BRUNICO (1-888-278-6426) lead culture…. The new method is working with consumers: 'Hey bud, what ideas do you Fax: 416-408-0870 have?'" And to succeed? One more thing: "The brand needs to provide real tangible value." Internet: www.strategymag.com Goodson says this entails understanding the consumer, being part of culture and encouraging Letters All letters sent to STRATEGY or its editors are assumed intended for publication, unless interactivity. Brands he feels get it range from Al Gore and Apple, to Scion and Nike ID. otherwise stated. We accept no liability for the loss, damage, or destruction of submissions On that note, Interactivism was the focus of a recent client and staff briefi ng hosted in Soho however arising, while in our offices, in transit, or elsewhere. All material to be returned must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by Taxi's New York offi ce. Presenters uniformly pointed to brands which are creating forums strategymag.com for two-way dialogue as the ones to take cues from. Taxi chair/CCO Paul Lavoie kicked off the The full text of all issues since July, 1992 is available online at www.strategymag.com. sessions with this thought: "Doubt the conventional, create the exceptional." To illustrate the Customer service compelling need to shift gears from media spend to content spend, Taxi Montreal president To order a subscription or make a change to an existing one, please contact us by: Daniel Rabinowicz described today's consumer as "linked up, hooked up, mobile, skeptical e-mail: [email protected] Fax: (416) 408-0249 and opinionated" adding that as prosumers "they are part of the story." Tel: (416) 408-2448 Brands that succeed, they argue, add value and involve the consumer, via viral, CGM and Tel: 1-888-BRUNICO (1-888-278-6426) virtual interaction.