By: Emilija Businskas

In a recent New York Times article, Adam Cohen refers to a 1993 New Yorker cartoon where a dog, sitting in front of his PC tells another dog “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

As we all know, the Internet doesn’t actually provide you with anonymity.  In fact, each one of us has our own “online personality” complete with a detailed history of what websites we’ve visited, ads we’ve clicked on and the items we’ve googled.

For years technology companies have been tracking these items by using “cookies”, tracking software on your computer that tells them about your online habits.  Now we’re seeing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) compiling this type of information as well.

So what are they doing with this information?  Recently there is a growing trend towards “behavioral targeting” when it comes to online advertising.  Basically, websites can charge a premium for ads if they can guarantee that they will appear before a specific target audience.  They monitor usage habits to determine the demographic of the audience by tracking information like age group, gender or geography – the possibilities are endless.  Once they have the information they compile it, determine the exact characteristics of the audience, and provide this information to advertisers looking to reach a specific group.

At first glance this seems like an effective strategy for selling ads, but is it also an invasion of privacy?  Is it ok for websites to sell our personal online history for profit?  Should they be able to report on all of our online habits or is some information off limits?  If so, where do you draw the line? 

Emilija Businskas is a Consultant in the Technology Communications Practice at H&K Toronto

By: Ian Barr 

I recently presented to a group of people who were interested in learning about agency life and potentially working for H&K Toronto, something that I love discussing. I’ve been speaking at these information sessions once a month for a few years now, and I never get tired of engaging conversations about H&K's culture. Here are just a few things I've come to appreciate over the 7+ years I've worked here:

The people: We're like a giant family that values each others' opinion and challenges each other to grow. Junior staff have open door access to the most senior execs in the organization, and their insights are highly respected. Not a day goes by when you don't learn something new – we  have access to the brightest minds in the business on everything from Technology and Marketing Communications to Crisis, Digital and even Aboriginal affairs. Our international colleagues are just a call or email away.

Best teams: We have a philosophy that the best people for the job get to work on projects regardless of the specialty group you work in. Our ability to expand outside of our core expertise for additional insights brings our clients the best thinking in the industry and also exposes you to new growth opportunities.

Educational opportunities: There’s an abundance of learning opportunities within our office. Language classe, conferences, personal development plans, lunch and learns from peers, external speakers and others within the global network. A few years ago the company sent me to our London, UK office on a two-week educational trip. It was one of the best growth opportunities I've experienced.

You're treated like an adult: If you have a medical appointment in the afternoon, you can leave the office and take it without sacrificing vacation time. If you have time in your schedule and want to go to the gym, you’re free to do so. Imagine that – people who understand! When you’re treated like an adult, there’s a certain sense of responsibility to your colleagues and employer. People value the flexibility and work hard to preserve it by not taking advantage of the generosity.This leads me to my next point...

Unlimited sick days: If you’re sick, you stay home. If you’re sick for a week, you stay home for a week. If it sounds like an oversell, you’d be amazed at how many companies make you use personal vacation once you've reached your max number of sick days. Some even make you use vacation for bereavement. Despite this policy, people take an average of 3 days sick leave per year here. Why? Because we're happy and have found a good work/life balance.

Beer cart: Our beer cart has been featured in many media outlets, including the Globe and Mail. Friday beer cart is a tradition here.

It's with great pride that I tell people we've been named one of the top 100 employers in Canada and were the first agency to be added to such a prestigious honor. Our senior leaders have worked hard to create a collaborative and rewarding environment, and it's obviously paying off.

By: Lena Beyer

One of the most interesting brand building campaigns to come along in a while has to be Mark Lives In Ikea. In case you haven't heard of it yet, New York-based comedian Mark Malkoff decided to move into Ikea while his apartment was being fumigated. Yes, that’s right…live in Ikea.

For one week Mark moved into a New Jersey Ikea, making friends with employees and filming his escapades, which included shopping cart races with the night security man Jarvis, conducting tours of his "apartment" and hosting an impromptu performance by Lisa Loeb.

While most people may ask if this was initiated by Ikea, in fact, it is a brain child of Mark who, as one blog noted, used the Ikea brand to promote himself and in turn ended up promoting Ikea. His website, www.marklivesinikea.com, features videos of Mark's stay in the Swedish retailer and his hilarious interactions with both customers and employees in Ikea.

It appears as if Ikea was hands-off in this campaign, allowing Mark to run amok, but it is this approach which exemplifies the marketing shift that has taken place in the last few years.

While there have been examples of companies developing campaigns which appeared to be initiated by the "Average Joe", here is an example of why the "Average Joe" approach actually works. Both Mark and Ikea were featured on ABC's World News Tonight, and in publications including the Washington Post, the National Post and the Toronto Star. All of this in addition to the traffic driven to the website itself and postings on YouTube.com.

While I admit that their perfectly outfitted model rooms have made me jealous that I could only afford the KARLSTAD cushion and not the entire sofa series, actually moving into Ikea hasn't yet crossed this house hunter's mind.

However, Mark and Ikea have entered into that elusive marketing gold that happens when a simple, innovative idea catches spark.

Lena Beyer is a consultant with the technology practice of H&K Toronto.

By: Lindsay Noronha

In 1902 with the intro of the first air conditioner by Willis Haviland Carrier, the landscape of the developed world changed dramatically. Before air conditioning was made available for home use, the view outside your kitchen window was very different. You would see families congregating on their front porches and the lawns of friends while pitchers of lemonade were passed around. Kids would run through the sprinklers and the sound of laughter was contagious. 

In his paper, Abandoned Communities: The Malignant Social Consequences of Modern Technology on Communities, Melvin W. Barber, Ph.D., describes how the wide use of air conditioners in communities damaged these relationships that were built on front lawns and porches. With comfortable temperatures in the home, there was no longer the need to gather outside, which according to Barber, meant that families were now cut off from community life, and coupled with the effects of the introduction of the automobile; the community was doomed to disappear. 

Barber paints a gloomy picture but with the sophistication of the technology available on the market today, can it still be said that it is technology that is driving communities apart or is the flip side now true; is technology working to bring people together?

When Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola the inventor of the first portable handset made the first call on a portable cell phone in April 1973, he opened the door to a type of communication that wasn’t previously available. People were no longer slaves to their desk or home phones but were now able to reach out to someone that they may not have bothered connecting with otherwise as it wasn’t convenient. In essence, the cell phone extends our involvement with the community as opposed to disconnecting us from it.

The gaining popularity of blogs and other social network activities such as Facebook are further examples of how technology is expanding our universe not just in terms of access to information, which was the major benefit we saw with the initial roll out of the Internet in 1983 but also in terms of expanding our ability to connect with other people; in text and emoticons if not in flesh. Although the argument can be made that access to the Internet can cause introverts to revert farther into their homes as opposed to out into the sunshine, technology can’t take all the blame for all social behaviour.

For every argument that positions the continued introduction of new technologies as beneficial, there can be just as strong an argument that relying on technology is a mistake. To understand which side of the dispute you favour; think about where you work, what you do in your spare time and how you stay connected to your friends and family, now think about how you would participate in these activities without technology. I, personally, would vote for technology eight days a week. 

Lindsay Noronha is a Senior Consultant in the Technology Practice at H&K Toronto

By: Mary Keating

It’s been a year since Time declared YOU as person of the year for 2006 for founding a digital democracy with Web 2.0.  James Poniewozik came back in December with a retrospective column on that decision called The Year of Them.   Seems professionals and corporations became as excited about Web 2.0 in 2007 as YOU have been for years.  

YOU haven’t gone away, but the profit seekers and wannabe opinion shapers are making their way to the party in record numbers.  While purists might see that as cause for alarm, I welcome the influx of new voices, choices and content that makes the experience continually more diverse and fun. What makes it work is that everyone needs to play by the rules of this quasi-socialist realm and commercial newcomers are working to fit into a world that isn’t familiar and not always comfortable.  This makes the content more real and creative.  When it’s not, no one pays attention.  Or worse, offenders are singled out as examples of how not to behave.   

We’ve created a place where everyone, including the powerful, are prepared to be judged and sometimes rejected.  It’s what makes our job in communications so interesting.   By sharing the power of Web 2.0, we all make for an exciting digital future.

Welcome to 2008!

Mary Keating is Sr. VP and Director of H&K Canada's Technology Communications practice.

By: Ian Barr

With an abundance of advancements in radio technology to enhance a listener's user experience, marketers everywhere are questioning who is listening via what medium, wondering how often they're tuning in and speculating that traditional AM/FM radio listeners are moving online.

It's amazing when you think about the vast reach that radio has achieved and the available listening options. There's online (programming rebroadcast on the Internet or exclusive Web-only broadcasting), traditional AM/FM, satellite, podcasts (audio programming available for download) and HD (high definition radio programming).

How do the different formats compare to one another and is one winning the battle? Is there really a radio war taking place amongst the different formats or are they complimentary to one another, targeting different user groups?
 
Thankfully, Arbitron and Edison Media Research just released a U.S. survey that provides some interesting findings:

• Weekly online radio audiences remained steady over the past year
• Awareness of both satellite radio companies has remained flat at 60% in the U.S.; however, the average household income is typically $100,000.00 so it’s appealing to an affluent market.  (Interesting to note that radio shock jock Howard Stern had a huge impact on increasing awareness for Sirius. Where will the next ‘Stern-like’ announcement come from and will HD take that approach?)
• Fewer than 1 in 10 portable music player owners report less over-the-air radio listening, so radio isn’t affected by all those iPODs
• Awareness of audio podcasting is up, but usage only grew 2% year over year (rose from 11-13%). More than half of those who have listened to an audio podcast are under 35 years of age
• HD radio awareness has increased from 14-26% but only 6% said they were ‘very interested’ in it. Interestingly, the CBC has been testing HD radio in Canada (report found here).
• 94% of those surveyed who are 12 years of age and older report listening to AM/FM radio on a weekly basis

Ian Barr is an account director with H&K Toronto's technology practice.

By: Monta Johnson

I have been suddenly catapulted in to the world of Webkinz, and what a fascinating world it is.

Webkinz manufacturer Ganz has this social networking thing figured out and they’re doing a better job than most of the grown-up versions I’ve seen. Here’s how it works: you buy a fluffy little stuffed animal; I paid $12.95 to buy Sammy for my youngster. Then you go to www.webkinz.com where you register – first name only, which is reassuring for parents – and you get an adoption certificate for your little pet, along with a set amount of KinzCash.

You can use your KinzCash to buy all kinds of things for your pet in the W Shop – everything from furniture to room décor to food and even clothing and toys, all virtual of course. And when the money runs out, you can earn more by playing one of the games available on the site.

Detractors say that it’s not a good idea to suck kids in to such an addictive online world – and it definitely is addictive. I look at it another way: from what I’ve seen so far, Webkinz is concerned with safety first, and it also promotes reading, problem-solving, math skills, and independent decision-making (Would Sammy prefer a pirate bed or a comfy new chair? Should I feed him an apple or an ice-cream cone?), complete with consequences (hmmm… too many ice-cream cones and all of a sudden Sammy’s health rating is dropping like a stone). If the kids are going to spend some time starting at a screen every now and then, I’d much prefer an interactive learning experience than the one-way medium that is T.V.

Blogger Dan Blank raises some interesting points about what Webkinz means for the future of media consumption. He says:

“Will a younger generation, one who is raised on "interactive" toys, "interactive" communities (such as MySpace and Facebook), and interactive communications (cell phones, texting, instant messanger) have different expectations for their news and information sources when they get older?

"The interesting aspect of digitization is not just how people access and use the information - but how they network with others and create their own content. In the case of Webkinz, the manufacturer fully understands the value of buying a real-world object, and giving the child something that they can hug.

But it doesn’t just stop there. How much more profitable is a customer who doesn’t simply purchase a product - but one who logs onto a brand’s website everyday to interact with that product, and build relationships with other customers? Is the plush animal simply a gimmick to build an online community?

The online version of Sammy is getting lonely at my house this summer – while the plush version has traveled more than 2,000 km on a family vacation, been to the park countless times, hung out in the backyard tree fort, and played with other Webkinz at friends’ houses.

When fall comes, though, and the kids are spending more time indoors, the online version of Sammy will still be there, making it more likely that the Webkinz connection will quickly be rekindled. And that’s the truly brilliant part of the Webkinz concept. The toy keeps the link to the online community from fading and encourages kids to visit Webkinz World rather than any other child-centric site. The combination of the real-world toy, the virtual world environment they can decorate and change, and the need to keep spending time at Webkinz.com to get virtual cash to do that decorating creates a long-lasting online/offline experience. And it's all tied together by a stuffed animal that costs the company little to manufacture, brings in its own revenue stream (I know of kids who have three or more, each with its own identity), and gives children something to play with when they aren't surfing. Ganz has found a way to blend the online and offline social world and generate revenue, while making parents feel good about the privacy and educational aspects. True marketing smarts. I wish I’d thought of it.

Monta Johnson is a Vice President in the Technology Communications Practice at H&K Toronto.

By: Suzanne Hicks

Jeans are one of those things that are considered a staple in everyone’s wardrobe – kind of like that little black dress. Unfortunately the amount of options out there – skinny, boot cut, classic, loose fit,etc. - make it hard for some people to find a pair that fit properly.

I came across a site called zafu.com. It asks you a bunch of questions to figure out the perfect jean for you from how jeans typically fit at the waist, styles you like and what you’re body type is. And my personal favourite – your goal of a booty-licious butt that avoids the muffin top. It then provides a list of brands and jean styles that would fit you best and offers reasons why. I’m actually looking forward to going jean shopping and testing it out.

This type of tailored search engine is great and could be used by a number of companies that sell anything from cars and cameras to shoes or mobile phones. Like the 9.2 million Canadians mentioned in a 2006 Statistics Canada report, I enjoy doing my product research on the Internet. Search engines like this make me brand loyal because they treat me as an individual. 

Like jeans, one size does not fit all for communications planning. Mass mail outs and templates are a thing of the past. To get results, programs need to be designed to consider the target audience and they need to provide the personal touch. How often do you keep this in mind when pitching media?

Suzanne Hicks is a Senior Consultant for H&K Toronto's Technology Communications Practice.