Brands at Cannes: Here’s who should go home with Lions.

With all the problems we have in the world, us advertising professionals patting ourselves on ...

Everyone should give a big shout out to their mentors. Here’s mine.

By on January 14, 2013 in Just in case

Mentors play an important role in our lives. If we knew then what we know now and if we had the opportunity, we all know what we’d say: Thanks. But we don’t. There’s never the time. There’s never the place. There’s never the opportunity. But deep down, we wish we could. We wish we could [...]

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Canadian Marketing Predictions for 2013.

By on January 2, 2013 in Advertising, Branding, Content Marketing

So here we are. After eating too many “Quality Streets”, watching too many World Junior hockey games and shoveling too much snow, you’re probably ready to leap into 2013 with a fresh perspective and 5 extra pounds. What can you look forward to? Well, this: 1. Content partnerships will rule. On one hand, there are [...]

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The Christmas Smile.

By on December 21, 2012 in Just in case

When I was an infant, my parents separated and my Dad flew the coop. Maybe he didn’t like being a dad, maybe he found love elsewhere, maybe he just did what he had to do, but he left and didn’t leave behind a joint chequing account filled with money or alimony support either. I was [...]

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They’ll tell 2 friends. And so on. And so on.

By on December 18, 2012 in Creativity, Innovation, Social Media

Those my age (or older), probably remember watching Love Boat on a Friday night. Well, in between drinks and double barrel finger points from Isaac and random love stories featuring guest stars like Charo and Don Ameche, you were interrupted by these things called “commercials”. Commercials were different back then. Farah Fawcette hair. Memorable jingles. [...]

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The Kid Became a Man

By on December 9, 2012 in Creativity, Just in case

Last night, we were really lucky to have 2 special guests on Monkey Toast, the live improvised talk show: Musician Nancy White and former Kid in the Hall, Mark McKinney. Long before I even got involved in comedy, I was a Kids in the Hall fan. And of all the kids, Mark was certainly my [...]

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Advertising is Your Sugar Daddy

By on December 4, 2012 in Advertising, Content Marketing

For years, we’ve been watching TV shows, reading magazines, flipping through newspapers, listening to radio stations and more. We tuned in, turned on, and flipped our way to happiness. Best of all, outside of minimal subscription costs or low cable access fees, we didn’t even really have to pay for it. But it had a [...]

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Jack Welch and the Art of Management

By on November 21, 2012 in Content Marketing, Interviews, Just in case

I’m a business guy but I’m not one of those suit wearing, MBA-toting, “Excuse me while I check my portfolio” kind of business guys. I’m a creative person in a creative industry so you probably won’t hear me saying things like, “core competencies”, “critical path” or “EBITDA”. You can probably see why I knew Jack [...]

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Pitch to win.

By on November 12, 2012 in Advertising, Creativity, Just in case, Personal Branding

Whether you’re an agency pitching for a piece of business or a bag of cookies pitching for consumer eyeballs, most of us default to playing it safe. We don’t want to offend. We don’t want to show personality. We don’t want to take risks. We don’t want to be unique. After all, what if we’re [...]

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The name of the show is “Montana Cookies”. I mean… Monkey Toast.

By on November 3, 2012 in Just in case

Montana Cookies. That’s the name you could give to the November 10th edition of Monkey Toast, the live, improvised talk show that I host once a month featuring some of the best improvisers in the country. Well, for Saturday’s show, we’re all thrilled to welcome best selling author, Globe and Mail columnist and co-founder of Smart [...]

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Live Lives: The Power of the Live Event.

By on November 2, 2012 in Advertising, Content Marketing, Just in case

We’re all a little bit geeky these days. Every time we turn around, there seems to be a new digital platform that will build community, connect us with our customers, enhance our brands, and generally solve any business problem we encounter with the assurance that the promised land of profitability is just a simple click [...]

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