The Courvoisier Collective

Have you noticed the silhouette of Napoleon incorporated into a scannable QR code around billboards in Downtown Toronto? For those of you oblivious to advertisements, please see the photo above (courtesy of Media in Canada).

While QR Codes are exciting at first, their novelty wears off pretty quickly. Wouldn't it be a lot more interesting to stare at a piece of art done by a local Torontonian, while stuck in traffic on Adelaide Street West?

I think it would and so do the masterminds behind The Courvoisier Collective, a contest for local artists to submit pieces that explore the theme of "renewal" in relation to the revolutionary role of art.

Artists can either explore the capacity of art to revolutionize its own content and form, or, they can express art's potential to challenge the status quo, something which Napoleon succeeded in.

Courvoisier, a cognac devoted to craftsmanship and innovation, has always prided itself on revolutionizing the art of making cognac without compromising its nature. You can bet that the judging panel expects to see the same passion and revolutionary spirit in the winning artwork.

Art can be submitted through http://www.courvoisiercollective.com/ and voted on to gain billboard or gallery status!

The public can vote online for their favourite pieces, begining on July 15th and ending on August 5th.

Here are some more important dates:

July 8th: Deadline for submissions in order to be considered for "Billboard showcase" and prizing.

July 15th: Deadline for "Gallery Award" submissions. Submissions chosen by the public and judging panel will be included in an exhibit at Gallery 1313

July 15th - August 5th: Online public voting for the "Gallery Award" submissions. Voting can be done by visiting http://www.courvoisiercollective.com/

August 1st - 26th: Three winning "Billboard showcase" submissions displayed on high traffic Toronto billboards

August 5th - 8th: "Gallery Award" winners selected for display at Gallery 1313 in Parkdale

August 11th - September 4th: "Gallery Award" Exhibition at Gallery 1313

Submitted artwork can use such media as photography, painting, mixed media and printmaking. Submissions can easily be made by uploading an image in digital JPG, GIF, TIF, or PNG format.

Below are a few of my favourite pieces so far.

Make sure to visit http://www.courvoisiercollective.com/ and vote for your favourites too!

Artwork by Rob Mclelland

Artwork by Justin Broadbent
Artwork by Lynn Soehner

French Colours at The French Open

Raphael Nadal (shown in blue) and Roger Federer (shown in red) were both clad in Nike tennis attire during the French Open Finals yesterday. Although red, blue and white are the colours of the French flag, I was surprised that Nike chose to dress Nadal in blue and Federer in red.

Nadal is outgrowing his wild and brutish personality and playing style, but is still not as calm or graceful as his rival, Federer. Thus, I would've have chosen red for Nadal, as red is a colour of aggression, while blue is a cooler colour, suitable for Federer's smooth persona.

Furthermore, Federer wore blue at the Internazionale BNL d'Italia, only three weeks prior. (See picture above). Sure it was a slightly darker hue than Nadal's blue outfit during the French Open, but it's still part of the same family. To confuse fans even more, he wore baby blue at last year's French Open, which was pretty much the same colour as Nadal's shirt this year.

Nike, what is going on with your colour choices? Why not use some consistancy and make it easier for fans to quickly recognize the players. This is especially important when they both happen to be tall, dark and handsome.

Viral Contests

Viral marketing contests are a great way to connect your target consumer with a brand or product. They force the consumer to spend hours engaging with the brand on a more personal level, showing why its attributes are a part of their lifestyle. This, in turn, leads to stronger brand trust and loyalty.

It's also an honest and easy way to spread the word about this brand or product to others in the target market's social network. With YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook Pages, it's free and simple for marketers to create these contests and for contestants to enter.

Here are two current viral marketing video contests that I've been following. The first is for S-Trip's World Intern contest which is affiliated with MTV. Click here to view my favourite entry, or check it out on the video bar (to the right).

The second is for Vancouver's new Lotto Max contest where you can win a tropical vacation for you and seven friends. Click here for a very creative way to spend $50 million dollars.

Don't forget to vote for your favourites!

A Cool Thought

With the increased emergence of flavoured water flooding the competitive bottled beverage industry, why not create flavoured ice cubes? Or corporate ice cubes to help compete for advertising space? This would be especially popular for sponsors of important events and would also be a great idea for companies trying to target the hard to connect with 20 something generation who are so saturated by online marketing initiatives and are looking for something more memorable.

The above photo is my attempt at recreating the Volkswagon logo.

McCain's Mighty Marketing Tactics

An acquaintance of mine from McGill, Jason Maghanoy, has also been following the presidential campaign and analyzing it daily on his Facebook blog. Jason is a Toronto playwright and self-confessed Obamamaniac. He wrote an excellent piece on McCain's marketing strategy which I'd like to share with you.

Man them McCain people are running a wicked campaign. Sure they're not as organized as Obama, and they don't raise the same kind of money and have the same kind of operations across the country. But they're energized and when they throw punches they're the drunk asshole with the trucker hat kind of punches that don't hit you square, but man do they sting. They just graze ya...and leave an annoying mark.

What are the top four punches of the McCain campaign?

1) Picking Palin, Palin, Palin. Man. Those on the right feel the same way about her that Obama supporters feel about Obama. It's a crazy feeling. A maniacal feeling. A feeling that allows you to forgive your candidate's glaring weaknesses. "Inexperience? How about you go fuck your mom?"

2) They've changed the narrative of the election away from the issues, and into the realm of biography, which was one smart, sly move. The GOP don't do issues man. Issues are for suckers. Besides, you can't beat McCain's "I was tortured almost to death defending my country and goddamn it I'm gonna be the best president cause of it" routine. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin's retarded baby. He's gold. Gold I tell you!

3) They've gone negative, and we're talkin bat-shit, crazy, condescending negative. This kind of negative holds on to its humor. So we get Obama's "The One" ads as opposed to "McCain fathered an illegitimate black baby" Karl Rove style ads. We get ads that are horrible, but man are they a laugh at the water cooler. Check out McCain's latest ad blasting Obama's education stance: "sex ed for kindergarten kids? Sex before they can even learn to read?" The ad is utter genius.

4) The McCain camp has bought $500,000 worth of time on the national networks, with an eye towards advertising nationally during daytime TV shows. Among the shows McCain has bought time during: The Price Is Right, Guiding Lights, and Days of Our Lives... Oh my fucking Allah: he's targeting the Sarah Palin's of the world! Holy fuck of Jesus are there a lot of them out there! Imagine all of them, en masse, dropping by their local school to vote for McCain in between their favourite soaps. If them voters don't tip the balance in his favor (you see how close those polls are getting?) I don't know what will.

Like I said. Brilliant (again).

Zune vs. Ipod

The Zune player, Microsoft's version of the Apple Ipod, is probably a better product, but will it ever dominate the market and become synonymous with the name MP3 player, the way that the Ipod has? Unlikely.

The Onion, "America's Finest News Source" recently poked fun at Microsoft for trying to compete with Apple in the MP3 category, with a news story titled "Thousands Wait Overnight at Microsoft Stores for Second Generation Zune." True? No. Familiar? Yes. Reminds me of the time, not too long ago, when thousands waited in line for the Apple iPhone.

Since the birth of the Ipod, Apple products have become a way of life for the cool and hip or for people who want to feel cool and hip. In addition to the fact that Apple is arguably North America's #1 brand, the Ipod was also the first MP3 player of its kind. The Ipod has revolutionized the way we listen to music and is a leader in the market. Most consumers want the original product and not the imitation.



Contrary to the Ipod, the Zune player is black with black ear buds. It has a larger screen and weighs slightly less. Like the Ipod, it comes in different sizes with different amounts of available memory. It's extremely easy to use. You simply glide your finger up or down to scroll through the settings which include two additional features than the video & photo Ipod, those being radio and social.


The Zune is trying to create an online social community where music fans can share music with each other. One of the best features of the Zune is the ability to send a song to a fellow Zune buddy simply by pushing a button. This makes getting new music very easy and cheap. There is also a Zune shop, similar to Itunes, which offers unlimited music for only $14.99 a month. Not bad considering that the average album on Itunes costs $9.99.


The Zune also has cool accessories like the Ipod, including the ability to have a design engraved onto the back of your Zune to help customize it as you please.



So, even though consumers want to feel unique by controlling what kind of music they hear through their own playlists and engraved music players, they also want to feel connected to something larger. The Zune offers an online social community whereas the Ipod offers a membership into the Apple brand, which seems to be the more popular choice.

What should Microsoft do?

Why not give out free Zune players to people who buy Microsoft computers? This could be a limited time "back to school" offer but will not only offer incentive for students to buy PC's, it will also put the Zune in the hands of more consumers.

This idea will enhance the unique song sharing feature that makes the Zune desirable since the more friends you have with a zune, the more songs you'll get for free.

To make the product even more accessible, Microsoft should make the Zune's software compatible with Macs. Then maybe we'll start to see more of a balanced competition.

Attack Ads

Having taken a course in U.S. presidential campaigning, I've witnessed and written about countless attack ads that presidential candidates use to scare voters by resorting to the pre-school tactic of bullying. Unfortunately, since both parties are victims of this historical practice, we continue to see child-like behaviour representing the United States' future leaders.

Pathetic.

There's been a lot of controversy over the recent John McCain ad, starring none other than Paris Hilton & Britney Spears. In the video, which is shown on the YouTube bar to the right, McCain tries to make Obama look useless by claiming that he is simply a celebrity, who doesn't have the proper experience to lead a country.

There have been angry articles claiming that McCain is comparing Obama to the party queen, Paris Hilton, and that the ad stirs up racist fears of black man versus young, white, innocent women....

Woah! Talk about exaggeration. First of all, Hilton is by no means innocent.

Second, Obama is not into partying or singing over-sexualized love songs like Spears.

Third, and most relevant, Hilton & Spears are only in the video for a split second at the beginning. Their faces are shown to set the background of the video so that the viewer knows that Obama is at a large and important event where the United States' favourite people are present.

I think that this ad is actually quite clever because it catches the attention of the large demographic in the States that has no interest in political events or in commercials. Old and young, male & female, U.S. residents love gossip about Spears & Hilton. If viewers were channel surfing or zoning out during commercials, and noticed the image of one of their favourite blond bimbos, their attention would definitely be undivided for the whole duration of the 30 second commercial.

This means that they would hear and see the 5 words claiming "Higher taxes. More Foreign Oil," which translates to:

Wow that would suck. Guess I"m voting for McCain, after all the Hilton family endorses him.