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Vol 1, #33, October 27, 2009 |
Ipsos unveils new online opinion community Ipsos, a leading global market and opinion research firm, announced the launch of ThatSaid, an online opinion community that seeks to enhance the way people share opinions online. ThatSaid is driven by user generated content and provides people with the ideal platform to share and gather opinions. TELUS has announced that it will launch Canada's largest 3G+ network on November 5, 2009. The new next generation wireless network is the latest enhancement to TELUS' multi-network mobile strategy, offering customers the technology for increased wireless data download speeds of up to 21 megabits per second, access to a world class selection of compelling mobile devices and international roaming service to more than 200 countries. This initiative also ensures a smoother transition to fourth generation (4G) wireless technology known as long term evolution (LTE). "This is a great development for TELUS and consumers in Canada," said Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO. "Our new wireless network enables advanced speeds and services for more than 30 million Canadians based on the most innovative wireless technology available today. More importantly, it offers Canadians more choice and timely access to almost all major mobile devices in the world across TELUS' three leading wireless networks." With TELUS' new advanced wireless network, customers can experience dramatically faster download times for webpages, emails, songs, and movies. TELUS will offer a number of exciting new devices from HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, and Sierra Wireless in time for the holidays, including some on an exclusive basis. This landmark network development for TELUS ends the monopoly access to iconic devices in Canada's wireless industry - for the first time giving consumers choice in service providers, smartphones and rate plans. Top of Page Olympic movement meets the global Facebook village On October 22, the Olympic Flame was lit in Olympia, Greece. On October 30, the Olympic Flame will arrive in Canada and begin its 45,000 km, 106-day journey by some 12,000 torchbearers carrying the torch through more than 1,000 communities and landmarks across the country. In the past, traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and television would record and tell the story of the relay. Now, citizens are telling the story themselves by sharing their photos, videos and thoughts on their Facebook profiles, their blogs and other social media. This new reality is what led the Vancouver 2010 team to reach out beyond its website www.vancouver2010.com and engage significantly in the social media space. Complementing this is a Facebook Vancouver 2010 Olympics Page (www.facebook.com/olympics). It includes links to the interactive torch relay map, as well as fan-submitted photos, stories, and accounts of the Olympic Flame making its way through hundreds of communities, across the country, until the opening ceremonies in Vancouver on February 12, 2010. On the Facebook Blog, Graeme Menzies, director of online communications for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), writes about how bringing Facebook and social media into the mix means that the 2010 Winter Olympics are getting closer to the goal of making the games a deeper social experience for fans in Canada and all over the world. More than ever, these Olympic Games are the games of the global village. Top of Page Future Shop offering new online support service Say goodbye to slow booting computers, viruses and feeling intimidated of installing new software like Windows 7 on your new netbook, laptop or desktop computer. Future Shop, Canada's largest retailer and e-tailer of consumer electronics, is helping Canadians overcome their computer woes by launching Online Support, a unique service program offered by ConnectPro. Online Support features highly-skilled technicians who through the internet diagnose customer situations and resolve computer-related problems, helping Canadians get the most of their technology. "ConnectPro is all about helping Canadians maximize what their technology was created to achieve and more," said Darryl Rosenfeldt, Director, ConnectPro. "We've deepened our offerings by introducing Online Support, a one-of-a-kind repair, installation and consultation service that works remotely to help customers overcome frustrating issues that drag down their user experiences. This is done all with a few clicks of a mouse and from the comfort of our customers own homes." From common computer issues like virus and spyware removal to trouble-shooting, program installation and even training, Online Support is available 24/7 from support.connectpro.ca. Canadians can visit this site and have their problems diagnosed and fixed in three easy steps:
Online Support services begin at $49.99 and are backed by a 30-day guarantee. "With the millions of harmful hazards designed to slow-down and cripple the computing experience," said Rosenfeldt, "ConnectPro is proud to provide an easy solution that gets computers back to optimal form." Top of Page BeautifulPeople.com goes global Yesterday, www.BeautifulPeople.com, the elite dating site for beautiful people only, will go live across the globe. The site has one clear mission: to create a perfect worldwide community of beauty. BeautifulPeople.com will launch with 180,000 members through existing networks in the UK, US, Denmark, Japan, Spain, Italy, Canada and Australia. New territories that went live this morning include France, Germany, India, Hong Kong, Russia, China and every remaining Australasian, Asian, South American, and European territory - making the site the largest network of beautiful people in the world. Multiple language features, a global social and travel calendar and advanced video networking have been introduced to encourage interaction between members of every nationality. Everyone is welcome to apply to join BeautifulPeople.com; yet with a 20 per cent success rate, tens of millions of men and women will be rejected. Potential members apply with a photo and a brief profile. Over 48 hours, existing members of the opposite sex vote whether or not to admit them in to their exclusive community. The members have the following rating values to choose from: 'Yes definitely', 'Hmm yes, OK', 'Hmm no, not really' and 'NO Definitely NOT'. The voting system is democratic and the majority vote is final. Individuals who fail to impress are rejected. Applicants can view their rating process on a real time rating graph, which swings between red and green depending on how existing members judge them. BeautifulPeople.com founder, Robert Hintze, says: "BeautifulPeople.com is governed by the principle that every human being wants to be with someone they find attractive - its human nature. By only allowing beautiful people through our doors, we remove the first hurdle. "Other sites are jungles of hippos and wart hogs. BeautifulPeople is a wonderful game reserve of leopards and gazelles." Although rejection has provoked death threats to the site's creators, the kudos of being accepted prompts thousands of hopeful members to submit applications on a daily basis. Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com, adds: "People are fed up wasting time and money meeting unattractive people on the net. Until we launched, there was no online networking or dating service exclusively for the beautiful. With BeautifulPeople.com there is no riff raff to sort through. Everyone on there is ... beautiful." Top of Page Quizative shifts CMC to fully digital with AOR winThe Canadian Management Centre (CMC), a national professional training and development organization, has recently awarded its digital AOR status to Quizative Inc. for a mandate to include the management and reinvention of the organization’s web presence and digital business. The Toronto-based, privately held digital innovation agency offering a unique approach to solving business, marketing and product design challenges, won the assignment by combining leading edge strategy with creative and execution capabilities. “Quizative is digitally focused but not digitally myopic,” explained Andre Proulx, vice president, marketing, Canadian Management Centre. “We need our digital channels to drive sales and Quizative’s capabilities include multi-channel integration, which will support our shift from traditional to digital communications for awareness, customer engagement, direct sales and enrollment in CMC’s programs. It’s a great fit,” Mr. Proulx added. “We’re really pleased to have won digital AOR status for CMC, to help manage and reinvent their web presence,” said Adrian Capobianco, founder and president, Quizative Inc. “The CMC is very collaborative with their partners. We love to work like that.” Quizative participated in an RFP in late spring of this year, with business awarded in June. The agency’s collaborative method delivered what the CMC was looking for in a partner, and their structure will ensure that the CMC will work as partners on strategy. Quizative made the transition to full AOR by August and is currently managing www.cmctraining.org, in addition to working on special projects and strategic planning for 2010. Top of Page Economy convinces families to meet online With economic pressures tightening purse strings everywhere, the thought of looming holiday gift giving and travel expenses can put a dampener on anyone's festive spirit. FamilyLobby.com provides a solution to both these challenges and best of all, at zero cost. Allowing family members to connect virtually in a private setting immediately slashes those ever rising costs associated with attending family gatherings, giving everyone a much needed breather. With over half a million users and more than 51,000 family websites created within six short years, FamilyLobby.com's popularity is undeniable. At FamilyLobby.com, you can create a lasting gift that gives pleasure to generations of families, both young and old, for years - a family website. The brainchild of former Microsoft engineer Brenda Cannon, FamilyLobby.com helps loved ones worldwide keep in touch by giving them a private family website of their very own absolutely free. The website's phenomenal success at pulling families closer together has attracted attention from multiple media giants including Fortune magazine interviewing Brenda on her success story. Key features include:
In these budget conscious times, families need to find more frugal ways to communicate. Thanks to FamilyLobby.com, the only cost is how much time and heart you're willing to put into it. Online contest helps Russell Peters choose BFF SIRIUS Canada, the country’s leading satellite radio company, today announced a partnership and contest with Canadian comic superstar Russell Peters. SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Russell Peters’ Search for Canada’s BFF (Best Funny Five) is a national talent hunt to discover the Canadian with the best five-minute comedy set. The contest will be promoted at sirius.ca and on CTV’s The Comedy Network. The winner will receive a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share the spotlight with Peters and deliver their 5-minute opening set in front of a packed audience. Will the winner seize the chance to launch their career and enter Canadian comedy superstardom or will they fizzle out in front of thousands? Anything can happen in the “kill or be killed” world of standup comedy. “There’s no where to hide when you’re on-stage doing stand-up. You’ve got to deliver,” said Russell Peters. “The SIRIUS Best Funny Five contest is a great opportunity for someone to experience what its like to step into the spotlight and perform in front of thousands of people. I’m looking forward to reviewing the top ten entries and sharing the spotlight with Canada’s next comedy star.” “The Russell Peters’ BFF contest is a great fit for SIRIUS, and we’re excited to give an up-and-coming Canadian comic a shot at the big-time by performing with Russell,” said Paul Cunningham, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, SIRIUS Canada Inc. “SIRIUS Satellite Radio offers comedy lovers everything from family friendly programming to unfiltered standup featuring some of the top talent in the business.” How to Enter
The Prize The Canadian with the BFF (Best Funny Five Minute Comedy Set) will receive a once-in-a-lifetime chance at comedy superstardom and open for Russell Peters at a stop on his upcoming Canadian tour. In addition to a $2,500 “appearance fee”, the winner will receive travel and accommodation for two, VIP backstage treatment befitting a rising Canadian comedy star, and of course a chance to hang out with Russell Peters before the show. Secondary prizes of SIRIUS Satellite Radios, accessories, subscriptions and merchandise are also available. Top of Page Rogers, RIM bring Curve 8520 to Canada Rogers Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) have launched the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone. It's the latest addition to the BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones and it provides a highly intuitive and efficient mobile experience for users with easy mobile access to email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and popular social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace, as well as rich multimedia capabilities. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone will be available from Rogers Wireless in two colours - black and violet. In addition to providing the industry's leading mobile email and messaging solution, the smartphone features a new touch-sensitive trackpad for navigation and dedicated media keys that are integrated into the top of the handset for quick and convenient control of music and videos. It also comes with built-in Wi-Fi(R) (802.11 b/g) and support for Rogers TalkSpotservice, allowing customers to make unlimited Canada-wide calls over Wi-Fi for only $15 per month. " Rogers and RIM have a proud history, dating back over ten years, of bringing Canadians the best in smartphone hardware and technology," said John Boynton, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Communications. " Rogers is thrilled to offer this latest BlackBerry Curve to our customers looking for a stylish and cutting edge smartphone at an attractive price." "BlackBerry is already the top-selling smartphone brand in North America and this latest addition to our line-up is designed to expand its appeal even further," said Carlo Chiarello, Vice President, Product Management, Research In Motion. "The new BlackBerry Curve 8520 is an incredibly approachable smartphone with easy-to-use messaging, social networking and multimedia features that will undoubtedly help more Canadians decide to make the switch from a traditional cell phone to a BlackBerry smartphone." Top of Page Buy.com launches international online retailing sites Buy.com, The Internet Superstore, announced its international expansion with dedicated e-commerce sites for customers in Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, giving shoppers access to the best deals online and free shipping on today's hottest consumer electronics and technology products. As part of its international expansion, Buy.com also will sell on eBay sites in these four countries. By the end of the year, the company will open e-commerce sites for Italy and Spain, with plans to eventually increase its footprint worldwide and expand its product offerings with new categories and the addition of Marketplace sellers. Local, in-country e-commerce warehouses enable shoppers to take advantage of speedier delivery time and customized product information in local languages and currencies compared to shopping on Buy.com's U.S. site. "We plan to replicate our successful online retailing model throughout the world," said Neel Grover, President and CEO, Buy.com. "Like Buy.com's U.S. roots, we're introducing our core offerings in electronics first, but we plan to deliver robust product catalogs featuring a variety of categories and the same value-added services to our global customers." Just in time for the holiday season, international shoppers have a new destination for a great online shopping experience. To help shoppers make the best purchasing decisions, Buy.com offers user reviews, free shipping and special deals and promotions. In addition, Buy.com also provides an environmentally friendly shopping alternative. Carnegie Mellon University's Green Design Institute recently conducted a retail environmental impact study, showing that shopping online via Buy.com's virtual e-commerce model reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions by 35 percent compared to shopping at traditional brick-and-mortar outlets. Shoppers can visit Buy.com's new international websites at ca.buy.com ( Canada); fr.buy.com ( France); de.buy.com ( Germany) and uk.buy.com ( United Kingdom). Top of Page |
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