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Vol 1, #30, October 6, 2009 |
DailyXY.com declares today Ticket-free Tuesday DailyXY.com, the website for guys in Toronto, has declared October 6 Ticket-Free Tuesday. Throughout the day, DailyXY will be helping Toronto drivers avoid tickets for a variety of traffic offences, including timed illegal turns, speeding and parking in tow-away zones. Lead by executive editor Russell Smith, DailyXY’s street teams will be alerting drivers to presence of the boys in blue at the city’s most notorious illegal left turn intersections and speed traps. The teams will also help drivers avoid falling prey to tow trucks who snatch cars parked one minute past four o’clock on downtown streets. DailyXY invites the media to observe Russell and the street teams as they perform this valuable community service. "Every day, good drivers make honest, but very expensive, mistakes," says DailyXY’s executive editor, Russell Smith. "A momentary lapse of attention can result in a speeding citation or a fine for an illegal left turn. Factor in insurance costs and either can end up costing hundreds -- or even thousands of -- dollars. On Ticket-Free Tuesday, our street teams will be warning drivers before the police nab them.” To further assist Toronto drivers, DailyXY makes a series of helpful GuyMaps available to drivers. Popular maps include ones of the city’s most notorious timed illegal left turns and speed traps. The maps are available at DailyXY.com. Any of DailyXY’s maps can be uploaded to a GPS and taken on the road. Top of Page BV! Media inc. has signed a letter of intent to acquire a privately-held Quebec-based company active in online advertising and email marketing. The purchase price will be $ 1 million, payable in cash, plus closing adjustments. For the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009, the unaudited financial statements of the private company reported revenues of approximately $ 680,000 and income before taxes of approximately $ 170,000. The proposed arms-length acquisition is expected to significantly improve BV! Media's capacity to deliver email marketing campaigns and enhance its presence in this key online advertising segment. The closing of the acquisition is conditional upon: financial, legal, accounting and technological due diligence by BV! Media; regulatory approval; and financing. To this end, BV! Media has engaged Burkman Capital Corporation to act as exclusive placement agent for a private placement of common shares in an amount of up to $ 3.5 million. The net proceeds from the private placement will be used in part to fund the acquisition, while any balance will be used for the strategic development of BV! Media's business. The private placement is expected to close in early November, and is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. Top of Page INTERAC Online now offered through Canada Revenue Agency INTERAC is pleased to announce the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as the first major federal government agency to begin accepting INTERAC Online, allowing Canadians to make income tax payments directly from their bank accounts. INTERAC Online is an online payment option that allows Canadians to make secure payments for products or services directly from their bank account, without sharing personal financial information or card numbers. "The addition of the CRA represents a major milestone in the rollout of INTERAC Online," said Mark O'Connell, President and CEO, Acxsys Corporation, architects of the INTERAC network. "We're pleased that the CRA has selected INTERAC as the solution to best meet the needs of the government and the public." Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), in its role as the Receiver General for Canada, made it possible for the CRA to implement this new service. PWGSC establishes banking services for the Government of Canada. The service has been set up to accept online payments for various types of taxes, including tax payments from consumers and small businesses for income taxes, corporate taxes, payroll taxes, and GST, as well as one-time payments and instalments. "We are pleased to be able to offer another valuable electronic service to taxpayers and businesses," said the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture and Agri-Food). "The CRA's My Payment service - which uses the INTERAC Online technology - allows taxpayers and businesses with accounts at participating financial institutions, to send quick, easy and secure payments to the CRA. Payments can be made from any computer with an Internet connection." INTERAC Online is secure and easy-to-use because it works with existing online banking services of participating Canadian financial institutions. Since the transaction is conducted within the customer's trusted online bank account, no card number or other personal financial information is shared with the online merchant or organization and there is no need for any new passwords to be memorized. Chase Paymentech, a leading payment processor, is the merchant acquirer of record enabling INTERAC Online for PWGSC and the CRA. Top of Page Interactive PRNewswire.com streamlines user experience PR Newswire, the global leader in innovative communications and marketing services, has launched a new, interactive Web site that helps visitors navigate quickly to the products, services, knowledge resources, press releases, photos and videos for which they are searching. The new PRNewswire.com features three main points of interaction - Products & Services, Knowledge Center and Browse News Releases - to provide visitors a 360-degree view of PR Newswire's global communications platform, industry expertise, and up-to-the-minute breaking news. The top of every page features a 'quick links' panel, offering one-click access to press release distribution, PR and IR communications services, other PR Newswire Web sites, membership applications, and site search. "One of our goals with the redesign of PRNewswire.com was to make it easier for our audiences - media, communications professionals, Investor Relations officers, small business executives and the general public - to enjoy immediate access to tools, expertise and content that helps them meet their objectives," said Ninan Chacko, CEO of PR Newswire. "At the same time, we also wanted to ensure that content on our Web site - from press releases to expert articles to videos - is highly visible in search engines and easy to share through social media tools." The Products & Services section of the new site offers a gateway to PR Newswire's full suite of communications tools for designing, executing and measuring communications programs. Tabs including Distribution, Targeting, Monitoring & Measurement, Web Site Engagement, Multimedia & Broadcast PR, Marketing, Investor Relations and Trade Show let visitors identify the services that match their immediate communications needs and learn about new opportunities to extend messaging through emerging technologies and media platforms. The new site makes it even easier for communications professionals to build custom packages of services based on their unique needs. PR Newswire's new Knowledge Center offers visitors access to a vast repository of insights and expertise, including white papers, webinars and bylined articles from PR Newswire's team of industry and social media experts. Visitors can comment on Knowledge Center articles and interact directly with peers and PR Newswire's experts to discuss the latest innovations and industry trends, learn more about PR Newswire products, and make new connections. With over 55 years as the leading global communications services provider, PR Newswire is on the forefront of the trends and issues shaping public relations, investor relations, marketing and news distribution. Finally, visitors can use the Browse News Releases tab to view and search press releases, photos and video galleries on PRNewswire.com, then share the content through social media bookmarking and blogging tools such as digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Google. "The new PRNewswire.com gives communications professionals quick and easy access to information on PR Newswire's tools and educational resources to help them do their jobs smarter, faster and more efficiently, through a friendlier user-interface," Chacko said. "From advice on the latest trends in marketing communications to search engine optimized press releases and from multimedia marketing platforms to social media tools that help drive more visibility for messages, the new PRNewswire.com was designed with communications professionals in mind." Visit the new PRNewswire.com and register to win 3 free months of Social Media Metrics, PR Newswire's social media monitoring tool. Top of Page Sweetspot.ca sweetens site with improved consumer engagement Sweetspot.ca, Canada's online lifestyle guide for women, has a brand new look. The site has been reorganized, redesigned and relaunched to sweeten the user experience. Over the last five years, sweetspot.ca has grown to include the following sections: SweetMama, SweetHome and MySweetBaby. This redesign will keep the ever-growing family and content connected in a way that is easier to search, navigate and enjoy. At the top of this new family tree is sweetspot.ca. It now serves as an overview page, and offers a preview of the day's top stories from all sections of the site. From here, users can branch out to enjoy more specialized content provided by SweetMama, SweetHome, MySweetBaby and the newly named SweetLife (formerly known as sweetspot). The new site enhances the user experience through improved navigation, and by offering users even more special features. A new directory, called The Pink Pages, and heightened search capabilities will make looking for a new place to brunch, relax or shop even easier. A weather application lets users pair the forecast with fashion and lifestyle tips, while several fall campaigns will offer exclusive deals and opportunities to Sweet Insiders. "We're looking forward to launching a number of exciting campaigns – including a special partnership with BeyondtheRack.com that provides readers with an exclusive VIP shopping preview and purchase," says Heather Clark, Director of Marketing. "Our readers can also expect an instant-win game with hundreds of designer prizes, plus a selection of daily deals and freebies from their favourite retailers – at up to 50% off." Check-out faster with Visa payWaveVisa Inc. announced in Canada that The Jean Coutu Group, one of Canada's leading drugstore chains, is the latest retailer to offer its customers the speed and convenience of Visa payWave contactless payments. With Visa payWave, customers can simply "wave and go" when purchasing everyday items like the high quality health, hygiene and beauty products found in Jean Coutu stores. "Moving through the check-out more quickly has obvious benefits for drugstore shoppers, whether they're popping into the store for one or two items, or browsing through the aisles looking for new products," said Mike Bradley, Head of Products, Visa Canada. "We're happy to have The Jean Coutu Group on board as our first Visa payWave-enabled chain of drugstores." "We're always interested in giving our customers the best experience in our stores", says Michel Boucher, Chief Information Officer at The Jean Coutu Group. "Now we can offer our customers a faster, more convenient way to pay with Visa payWave." Jean Coutu locations in Canada will be equipped with Visa payWave terminals to help increase speed at the cash register, which is an important feature in a busy drugstore. The use of Visa payWave enabled Visa cards and point-of-sale terminals in Canada is closely aligned with Visa Canada's migration to chip card technology. Visa employs a layered approach to its fraud prevention efforts, meaning both the payWave card and the terminal have built-in measures to help heighten security efforts. McAfee launches unlimited capacity online backup service The world's largest dedicated security company, McAfee, Inc. has announced the availability of McAfee Online Backup, a new secure online service for consumers that stores and encrypts digital assets such as photos, videos, music, e-mails and other files. Industry research shows a strong market need for a secure, automated, and simple to use online backup solution. McAfee Online Backup is a completely automated service that offers unlimited capacity -- consumers do not need to remember when to back up files or decide which files are important to backup and which are not. A secure server online ensures all of their precious files remain safe in the event something happens to their computer. “The McAfee Online Backup service addresses many of consumers' concerns about safely and easily storing their important files with unlimited storage capacity. It completely eliminates the hassle of backup: set-up takes just a few easy steps, and then the service securely backs up files automatically at regular intervals," said Brent Remai, vice president of consumer marketing at McAfee. "It's the perfect solution for anyone with a PC, but specifically the member of the family who manages the family's digital photos, videos, music and other files. They no longer need to worry about disk failure, file corruption or other disasters such as home theft or fires." Top of Page Thai inspired sauces take over Canada ConAgra Foods Canada Inc. is launching an integrated marketing campaign to introduce new VH Thai Market Sauces to the Canadian market and to remind consumers of the endless meal options that can be created with the help of VH Sauces. The new VH tagline ‘Open the Possibilities’, appearing on all communication touch points, speaks to the inspirational nature of the product. The national TV campaign, created by Leo Burnett and placed by Starcom, launches on September 28 th. Consumers will be encouraged to ‘Open the Possibilities’ with VH sauces and say good-bye to kids who won’t eat their dinner. At the same time delicious advertising featuring the new Thai Market sauces, and the popular Indian Market sauces, will inspire consumers to shake things up in the kitchen. New Thai Market sauces will also be featured on various reality TV programs and French Canadian cooking shows, including Meet the Wilsons and Tout Simplement Clodine. Consumers will be encouraged to go online (vhsauces.com) to search easy and delicious meal options the whole family is sure to love. In store initiatives include sampling sessions, live demonstrations and a recipe booklet with new meal ideas for moms. These activities will take place in October and November 2009. CODACAN releases audience metrics guidelines Much needed standards for measuring viewing audiences in the fast-emerging Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) media sector have been developed and released by the Canadian Out-Of-Home Digital Association/Association Canadienne de l'Affichage Numérique (CODACAN), the trade association for many of the country's digital networks and suppliers. A common ratings metric for the potential advertising audience for digital screen networks, that can be as widely varied as retailers and medical waiting rooms to subway platforms and giant LED ad boards, is critical to advancing the industry's fortunes, and has long been urged by Canadian advertising agencies and their clients. The new formula directly addresses the uniquely nuanced challenges in measuring audiences exposed to these DOOH venues. Top of Page McAfee Inc. gears up to launch online support community McAfee, Inc. announced that it will launch an online support community, enabling customers to interact with other users to resolve issues, share best practices, and discuss emerging trends. McAfee has partnered with Jive Software, a leader in social business software, to develop and host its new community space. "Sharing information among peers is an increasing preference for our customers and an integral part of our social media strategy," said Barry McPherson, executive vice president of worldwide support and services at McAfee. "The new support community will enable us to evolve beyond traditional phone and email based services and focus more on collaboration with our customers through discussions, blogs, wikis, user groups and community polling. The community will tie into our social media presence elsewhere on the Web where customer activity is increasing, and provide a hub with the tools to make conversations easier." McAfee, which is already monitoring Twitter and Facebook as part of its listening and response system, will launch the online support community in Q4 of 2009. The site will run on Jive's Social Business Software platform (SBS) and will help McAfee increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, retain and reuse knowledge and enable customers to share experiences that may help others. Additionally, McAfee technicians, developers and product managers will be able to engage customers in new ways to enhance products and improve processes. Top of Page |
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