Marketing News Round-Up: May 03, 2022

Today we feature a round-up of some big events and recent industry happenings.

• MediaCom Canada names its new Chief Executive Officer
• Sportsnet & Rogers Communications debut #OvertimeAlerts
• Limited Time Gatorade Black Ice launches in Canada
• Thinkingbox Opens New York Office and Promotes Christine Clark to Managing Partner
• Apple bubly Arrives in Canada

Read more below!

MediaCom Canada names its new Chief Executive Officer

MediaCom Canada has unveiled its new executive leadership team – elevating Urania Agas from President to CEO; naming Kieran Miles as the agency’s new Chief Strategy Officer; Lisa Kahn as its Executive Director of Planning; Jodi Peacock as its Executive Director of Client Leadership; and Lucy Lee as its Chief Financial Officer.

“Over the past 10 years, Urania has been an integral part in propelling MediaCom to one of the largest media agencies in Canada,” said Kevin Johnson, CEO of GroupM Canada. “I am looking forward to seeing Urania’s vision come to life as she moves into her CEO role, and will continue to collaborate closely on MediaCom’s next chapter.”

Beyond Agas’ expanded leadership mandate, Kieran Miles, named Chief Strategy Officer, will work closely with client teams, ensuring strategic oversight is implemented across the agency’s portfolio. In their respective, newly created, Executive Director roles, Jodi Peacock, Executive Director of Client Leadership, will focus on organizational structure, with a focus on improving operational process and driving new technological solutions; while Lisa Kahn, Executive Director of Planning, will oversee the agency’s planning discipline, implementing best practices while spearheading training and development for all staff. Finally, Lucy Lee, the agency’s new Chief Financial Officer, will oversee all agency finances.

“These appointments reflect the vision that we have for the MediaCom of the future – to become an agency driven by innovation and designed to fuel client growth in a rapidly changing media landscape,” said Urania Agas, Chief Executive Officer, MediaCom Canada. “While a departure from our past, this new structure will ensure we are maximizing our ability to elevate our product and disciplines, while intertwining our departments to deliver on our mandate of seeing the bigger picture for our clients.”

These new appointees join the existing leadership of David Crammond, Managing Director of Investment, and Lisa Pietersen, Head of People.

Sportsnet & Rogers Communications debut #OvertimeAlerts

The NHL is the most talked about sport league on Twitter in Canada with 65% of Canadian hockey fans saying Twitter is the social media platform they use to follow sports. To support Canadian fans, Twitter Canada has announced the details on a new partnership with Sportsnet that will bring live Stanley Cup Playoffs action to Twitter.

Twitter Canada will be partaking in #OvertimeAlerts, an innovative new Twitter experience for sports fans across Canada. #OvertimeAlerts will bring live NHL on Sportsnet action to Twitter this Spring, with fans receiving an alert when a Stanley Cup Playoffs game goes into overtime.

Starting on April 29th, Canadians on Twitter have been able to like a promoted @Sportsnet Tweet to receive a push notification when any 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs game goes into overtime (OT). When a game goes to OT, fans will be able to watch the opening minutes of the period for any Stanley Cup Playoff game live on Twitter (free of charge) through the push notification they received.

The broadcast will stream live from the @Sportsnet Twitter account and will be available to all Canadians who use the Twitter service with the campaign targeted to Canadians in the Rogers service areas. Rogers will run pre-roll content as part of the live stream, bringing to life the Ultimate Entertainment Experience with an Ignite TV and Internet Bundle, reaching Canadian hockey fans in a whole new way.

Limited Time Gatorade Black Ice launches in Canada

Gatorade Canada is excited to announce thelaunch of its latest innovation built to fuel athletic performance through ingredients backed by science - Gatorade Black Ice. Thenew, limited-time flavour is ready to disrupt the sports drink category with its bold black colour and crisp, refreshing taste.

After a successful launch in South America, Gatorade Black Ice is making its North American debut, exclusively launching in Canada for a limited time this summer.

It is available at most major convenience stores across Canada in a 710 mL format as of April 25th.

This flavour innovation will use the same proven formula from Gatorade, helping to provide fluids to rehydrate, electrolytes to replenish and carbohydrates to refuel.

“Gatorade’s mission of fuelling excellence in sport continues through innovations like Gatorade Black Ice, providing competitive athletes with new and exciting flavours and colours that stand out in the hydration category,” said Lourdes Seminario, Senior Marketing Director, Hydration at PepsiCo Beverages Canada. “Not only are we able to fuel and prepare athletes for intense in-game moments, but we’re helping athletes rehydrate, replenish and refuel at all stages in the game.”

Thinkingbox Opens New York Office and Promotes Christine Clark to Managing Partner

Global creative collective Thinkingbox announced that they have promoted Toronto’s Managing Director Christine Clark as the new Managing Partner of their new office in NYC.

Christine previously led the Toronto Thinkingbox office, growing the team from 3 to 35+ people, establishing Thinkingbox in the Toronto market in 2016, and growing the agency’s presence on the east coast.

The new NYC office marks their fifth office expansion – joining Los Angeles and Salt Lake City in the United States, alongside Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Clark will manage the NYC office to better serve their existing client base throughout the greater east coast region.

Thinkingbox currently works with Pinterest, Verizon, Chobani, NBCU, and several other NYC-based brands and agencies and plans to grow the current four-person office into a force to service that office’s clients fully.

“Having a flagship set-up at the core of the East Coast allows us to connect further and build those relationships with important and impactful clients,” says Clark.
In addition to bolstering its reach, Clark also noted that New York is a hub for experiential work, one of Thinkingbox’s core services. “Forming this foothold in NYC affords us the opportunity to be boots-on-the-ground in one of the busiest and most experientially based cities. We’re incredibly excited at the chance to make a big impact.”
“We have seen tremendous growth in NYC, and it was time for us to have strong leadership like Christine to focus on expansion fully,” says Amir Sabha, CEO of Thinkingbox.

Thinkingbox has seen twice the increase in annual revenue and is over 180 people across its offices, expanding its offices in Vancouver and Los Angeles in the last six months due to growth in its core offerings.

Apple bubly Arrives in Canada

Canada’s favourite sparkling water is celebrating a year-long bublé parté filled with more fun, more smiles and more delicious flavours. As of April 25th, bubly is excited to introduce the newest bublé to the Canadian market – applebubly! It’s sure to a-peel to Canadian bubly fans, after being exclusively available in the US. The drink is here for a limited-time offering and will be available in 12-packs of 355 mL cans at major grocery stores across the country.

“We’re excited to keep the bublé parté going with the arrival of our newest flavour, applebubly! We know our Canadian bubly fans are hard-core, and we’re happy to be spreading more smiles with three new limited-time flavours launching throughout the year,” said Lourdes Seminario, Senior Marketing Director, Hydration at PepsiCo Canada.

applebubly is the second limited-time flavour introduced in Canada this year and is expected to become a fast favourite with Canadian consumers. The first, mangobubly, hit the shelves in late January and had a mango-nificient reception!

Early next month Grammy Award winner and bubly fan, Michael Bublé will help celebrate applebubly with a brand new tv spot and the first ever bubly Canada TikTok. Fans can follow the conversation online @bublysparklingca with #Bublévsbubly and #crackasmile.

bubly continues to grow a loyal fanbase in the sparkling water category with refreshing and delicious flavours, and a positive and playful sense of humour, all while keeping it real by containing no calories and no sweeteners, and all smiles. bubly sparkling water is available in nine bright flavours: the newest addition, applebubly joins peachbubly, pineapplebubly, blackberrybubly, cherrybubly, strawberrybubly, limebubly, grapefruitbubly and orangebubly.

Compiled by Emma Whiten, editor of Marketing News Canada