Link to article HERE

ENDGAME
A back alley is negative space, a liminal zone between the architectural order on either side—stage for the shady and dangerous. In Endgame, giant inflatable clown heads are stuck between two buildings high over an alley.

The heads are made of vinyl from recycled billboards. Referring to the history of collage as a tool for turning propaganda against itself, the artist has stated: “There is something satisfying in reshaping corporate ads into something whimsical, generous or even scary. Clowns on their own embody a certain tension; we expect them to be funny and yet many people experience them as sinister. The tension here is physical as the heads are held in place by their own internal air pressure. Their squeezed and distorted expressions add to a sense of urgency. It is a situation that invites any number of imaginative narratives. Perhaps they are renegade parade balloons whose joyride has gone tragically wrong. In any case, these happy-go-lucky characters are now pinned in a back alley. While still monumental, they are now vulnerable in a way that invites a kind of empathy, but possibly a guilty empathy, or schadenfreude, fear combined with the pleasing anticipation of a spectacularly destructive end.

ISO3D
Grey Canada and The Media Merchants hosted an all-night projected installation at Toronto’s Union Station sponsored by Sensodyne iso-active tooth paste. The project, called “iso3D”, showcased the product’s foaming action and is to date the largest branded, 3-D projection mapping display in Canada.

When it comes to food, everyone’s a critic. Restaurants have always relied on word of mouth from satisfied diners to spread the word about their menu – especially in Toronto where there are new restaurants popping up all the time. With the explosion of social media tools, it’s easier than ever for foodies and food-lovers alike to share experiences – I always Tweet out my new favourite spots.

We recently compiled a list of the Top 10 Toronto foodies to follow on Twitter. But what about the restaurants themselves? How are they embracing social media tools – or are they? Some local restaurants are adopting new media tools, and some still have far to go.

One local restaurant recently gathered the tech foodie community for a Twitter-themed night out. A friend invited me to the Eats, Beats and Tweets event at Queen West’s Nyood restaurant, held on the opening weekend of Winterlicious. This special two-night event celebrated all things tasty and tech; diners feasted on a tasting menu while Tweets about the food were displayed on the walls, and Twitter-friendly DJs kept the crowd entertained.

Restaurants in Toronto are also jumping on the Twitter bandwagon – Pizzeria Libretto (@PizzaLibretto) Tweets photos of daily specials; the Gladstone (@GladstoneHotel) crowdsources new menu items, and my personal favourite, (@Poutinerie), shares news about upcoming locations around the city.

Another notable example is Mildred’s Temple Kitchen (@mildredstemple), who ‘pepper’ their stream with hashtags, photos, videos, and replies to future diners (food pun intended).

And if the tech crowd won’t go to the restaurant, the restaurant will go to where iPhones congregate. Local social media darling Freshii is starting to pop up as choice caterer at events around the city – from ING Direct’s recent Meet and Tweet mixer to the popular Third Tuesday social media event.

One place restaurants are lacking? Their websites. There must be an unwritten rule in the food industry that says that Flash is king. Every site has catchy music playing while images whiz across the screen – any web developer’s nightmare (just ask Bretton MacLean).

So what’s the next step for restaurants? As an iPhone addict I hope restaurants leverage mobile applications. Right now third-party applications like Urbanspoon are the go-to resource for diners looking to get on-the-go advice on where to eat. Restaurants need to take advantage of new sites like Foursquare (Magic Oven is currently looking at Foursquare promotions) and mobile coupon platforms like Clip Mobile to offer specials to consumers and bring in local traffic.

So while you can probably find your favourite restaurant on Twitter, tech foodies around the city like @SpotlightCity and @KarmaCakeDotCa agree that restaurants are just scratching the surface of capitalizing on social media tools to build their following and attract new customers. But one thing’s for sure – the tech community is looking forward to seeing what they cook up next.

Find more mouth-watering Tweets on blogTO’s Twitter list of Toronto restaurants.

Based in Toronto, new OOH co KB Media holds exclusive Canadian rights for Mirror Image, an interactive media technology developed by Huntersville, NC-based LuxuryTec that embeds sensors in mirrors to reveal a backlit ad inside.

The company was founded by CEO Jim Kirby, formerly of Publicis Canada, The Marketing Store Worldwide and IMG Canada, and president David Brisson, whose experience lies in sports marketing, previously working with professional leagues like the NHL, NBA, NFL and the PGA Tour.

KB’s will be rolling out a national network of bars, eateries, health and fitness clubs, golf and ski clubs, retail, offices, airports and on-campus locations.

“With the launch of Mirror Image, we’re creating a benchmark for out-of-home advertising,” said Kirby, in a release. “Our new products break through the clutter, allows for brand segmentation and will provide sustainable revenue for our partners.”

The agency plans to announce digital additions to its lineup of marketing products in the process of being finalized.

“To get noticed in today’s media landscape it takes ingenuity, creativity and an element of fun,” said Brisson, in a release. “We’re confident that we have an engaging business proposition for our partners and advertisers, and we know the consumer will be wowed by the technology.”

The new CBS Outdoor Canada platform txt2go has a magic number.

The OOH company announced yesterday it has added text-messaging functionality to its outdoor campaigns, allowing viewers to short code 77888 and a keyword to receive promotional information, location-based offers, contests or discounts. Clients can monitor the results of the SMS campaigns via a new mobile website, developed for the company by New York-based Rip Road.

“It’s a mobile call to action,” CBS Outdoor Canada’s director of marketing Michelle Erskine tells MiC. “It enhances outdoor’s ability to reach the audience with an interactivity we didn’t necessarily have before.”

With the world becoming increasingly adept at text messaging, Erskine says the time is right to launch the service, as its appeal ranges from youth and young adults to parents who have picked up the practice to stay current with their kids. Because of its low cost, it’s a media tool that appeals to smaller businesses as well, she says.

“It’s an ideal time to offer this because you’ve got a strong number of people who are active text messengers, and since we’re reaching people when they’re out of the house, reaching them with an interactive component is just a nice marriage,” says Erskine.

“A short code and a keyword are easier to remember than a phone number and a URL,” she explains further. “So much of the world now is mobile. Life is happening outside of the house, and for those that are living off their mobile device, this is the best way to reach them.”

As of last week, The Eaton Centre iPhone App is now available through the App Store.

The Eaton Centre App features include:
* The Latest Store Promotion
* Gift Card Information
* Complete Store Directory
* Interactive Mall Map
* Twitter and Facebook Connections

See the App in action:

Mobile Fringe CEO, Steve Sorge stated: “The Mobile Fringe Retail Platform is a powerful mobile marketing solution that has been built for our clients to get to market quickly, deliver real time information, and extend their marketing reach to the mobile device.”

Mobile is part of an integrated multichannel marketing plan. Smartphones are turning into the preferred way to consume content. Users want information in the palm of their hand and the app is turning into the preferred way to do this with real location based marketing.

Earlier this year, Mobile Fringe along with the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area launched the Mobile Yonge App.

The App features include:
* Easy Navigation to 1,000+ businesses in the area
* GPS mapping in seconds
* Map multiple stores and determine the best route
* Category driven searches to make things effortless
* Create a Favourites list for quick access to shops, restaurants, or stores
* One touch calling
* Once touch to a store’s website
* Stay connected with Downtown Yonge’s Facebook Page and Yonge Buzz

There are over 1,000 businesses in the Toronto Downtown Yonge area that are members and included in the app. They include large corporate stores like Best Buy, Jack Astor’s and Nike to local small business owners like The 3 Brewers. The main categories are Shop, Eat, Stay and Play.

“Together with the Toronto Downtown Yonge B.I.A., it is about giving citizens and visitors of the area a way to access directory and category information in seconds, and get to where they need to go fast,” said Steve Sorge. “There is no better place to do that than the mobile device when they are actually in that geographic location. The future possibilities include sending dynamic promotions and digital coupons.”

Mobile Fringe released another Toronto App this year with iUofT for students at the University of Toronto.

The iUofT app features:
* Campus departments and buildings
* GPS mapping – leveraging Google Maps
* Shops and Restaurants
* Campus Services
* Parking and TTC locations
* Access University Sports News

Mobile Fringe saw the potential for improved student communications and efficiency by introducing this application and changing the way students access information. Students are much more mobile than they used to be, they want facts in the palm of their hands. The goal is to give users the information quickly so they don’t waste valuable looking up data in the traditional methods.

Mobile Fringe website

The City of Toronto’s eco-friendly living website, Live Green has teamed up with Agency59, a Toronto-based ad agency, to launch a new transit shelter ad campaign. These new ad is interactive, allowing people to flip a large switch that turns the back light of the ad on and off, enticing them with the copy “Switch this poster off” and directing them to the Live Green website for information about saving energy and living green.

There have been some criticism that the adds are not that effective as they are practically invisible during the day and too dark at night. The Torontoist ask Brian Howlett, chief creative officer of Agency 59 about the ad’s issues who stated “It woks well enough to read…That was the first thing we thought of when we came up with it, but lots of great ideas can be killed easily and we’d rather persevere because the reaction we’ve been getting from most people has been really encouraging.”

Currently, the ad can only be found at the Yonge & Empress transit shelter. Live Green plans to install more ads at King & John and Yonge & Eglinton West transit shelters. In conjunction with the transit shelter ads, Live Green is launching an online campaign featuring banner ads. This campaign involves interactive trees, then when selected with a unique visitors cursors, will add a leaf to the tree. Every time a tree gains a thousands leaves, the City of Toronto will plant a real tree.

It is a clever campaign that may be more effective if the ads more visible and had better illumination. The idea could also work at alternative media spaces that would encourage greater reach and interaction such as mall installations or subway cars and buses.

Agency 59 has done some other great environmental-themed ads for the City of Toronto:
Click to view slideshow.

AGENCY 59 WEBSITE

LIVE GREEN WEBSITE

I saw this Diet Coke ad last night at the corner of St. George and Hoskins at
U of T campus. Obviously it is more effective at night when the lights can actually be seen.

I’m sure you have noticed some changes to the advertisement displays around some bus stops and subway stations. Recently, Bloor station installed digital advertisement screens on the north and south platforms. So far, I have only seen these screens for movie advertisements with usually about 5 different individual ads on rotation. In my opinion, the best use of these new media outlets were ads for District 9.

It appears that the city’s transit advertising is evolving and becoming more technological. We appear to be getting close and closer to the Blade Runner vision. These new types of screens do present more options for how products can be advertised. They make it much easier to change the content of the ad to reflect the geographic region and can also be instantly updated. The screens allow ads from different advertisers to appear on the screen at various times. While these ads do have to share time with other advertisers on the same screen, commuters are probably more likely to pay attention to a large bright, moving screen much longer than the regular posters. I have only seen these 2 screens at Bloor but I am sure that we will be seeing a lot more pop around the city.

In a related note, in light of the Toronto International Film Festival, 270 TTC screens throughout the subway system have been playing 80 short films in collaboration with the Toronto Urban Film Festival. Read more about this project at…http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/690682