Marketing News Roundup: June 23, 2022

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

• FUSE Create chosen as Creative AOR for Sinai Health Foundation
• Frito-Lay North America in as Regional Supporter of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™
• Plus Company Kick Starts U.S. Growth with Key Leadership Hire & First Agency Acquisition
• The Forum Seeks Mentors to Fulfill Increased Demand
• Canada Chosen as a Test Market for Notes, Twitter’s New Long-Form Writing Feature

Read more below!

FUSE Create chosen as Creative AOR for Sinai Health Foundation

FUSE Create has been selected by the Sinai Health Foundation (SHF) to serve as its creative agency of record. After a robust RFP process, FUSE Create will now become its strategic, creative, and integrated partner, with a remit spanning broadcast, digital, social, OOH, experiential and production.

“Creating a better future of care means telling Sinai Health’s story to the world with the same unbridled passion and drive seen in our physicians, staff and volunteers,” said Laura Hearn, Vice-President, Brand Strategy and Marketing at Sinai Health Foundation. “Philanthropy is critical in funding world-leading clinical care and advancements in research. That’s why we’re so thrilled to have FUSE Create on board to help us share our mission and inspire others to give.”

Sinai Health is comprised of Mount Sinai Hospital, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital, the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute and system partner Circle of Care. Through this partnership, the agency will work to continue to raise awareness of the network and the care they provide while

hitting ambitious donation goals. This work will be fundamental to Sinai Health Foundation as Mount Sinai Hospital celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023.

“What made this opportunity different was the personal connections we had with Sinai Health Foundation,” said Steve Miller, Executive Creative Director and Partner at FUSE Create. “They play such an important role in our community - one that I, Lindsay, Lanny, and others at FUSE have experienced first-hand, which is why our passion runs deep and our excitement is bubbling over at the opportunity to help generate awareness and support for this incredible foundation.”

FUSE Create takes over strategic and creative duties from HUGE and begins work this month. This partnership follows continued momentum from the agency’s Toronto office, following the recent hire of Linda Carte as their new Creative Director, along with seven new additional hires.

Frito-Lay North America in as Regional Supporter of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

Frito-Lay, North America’s leading snack company, today demonstrated its enthusiasm for the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ by signing as a North American Regional Supporter for the 2022 edition of the tournament. The deal represents the first-ever salty-snack brand collaboration in FIFA and FIFA World Cup history, and includes salted savoury snacks such as Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, Ruffles and Sabritas, along with Quaker hot breakfast cereals, Quaker grain-based cereal bars, Quaker rice snacks, and Gamesa cookies and crackers. The company is the third Regional Supporter in the North American market for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

“We are thrilled to announce our strategic collaboration with FIFA, a brand that means so much to fans globally,” said Steven Williams, CEO, Frito-Lay and Quaker North America. “Soccer has over four billion fans across the world and continues to grow in the US, so we feel this is a great time to build a strategic partnership together and ensure our products are always available every time a match is on TV or at a community’s local stadium.”

With origins going back to only two years after the first FIFA World Cup took place in 1930, Frito-Lay shares FIFA’s commitment to engaging fans, developing sports opportunities for players – regardless of their background or ability – building communities around sports and promoting an active lifestyle.

“The growth in interest in football, or soccer, in the North American market is incredibly exciting, both for our overall vision of making football truly global and for future commercial growth potential,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “We are thrilled to welcome a brand aligned with our values related to community engagement, and one that shares our excitement for what lies ahead for the world’s most popular sport.”

In addition to the use of FIFA’s IP, exposure at the event and access to tickets, the agreement covers exciting digital activations and entertaining promotional activities with the goal of reaching more than 100 million households in the USA with FIFA-branded products.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will take place from 21 November until 18 December 2022. For more information about the tournament, visit FIFA.com.

Plus Company Kick Starts U.S. Growth with Key Leadership Hire & First Agency Acquisition

Plus Company announced today the first chapter of its US growth plan, with the addition of Brian Whipple as Chair of Plus Company’s Board and the acquisition of the U.S. based creative agency, Mekanism.

Plus Company, established in Quebec, August 2021, was born with the idea that modern day agency networks need to be built with diversity of talent, culture and technology. Working in a new interagency model, Plus Company’s distinct complementary teams deliver tech-enabled ideas that deliver tangible value to the human experience and success of its clients and customers alike.

“When we first launched Plus Company, we set our sights on fortifying our US scale and capability as our first priority, and today’s announcements are just the first steps in our ambitious plan to build on our momentum,” said Brett Marchand, Plus Company’s CEO.

Whipple, former CEO of Accenture Interactive, has joined Plus Company as an independent board member and Board Chair to support the company’s continued investment in senior leadership and its commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration and technology, all with the intention to deliver industry firsts.

“As one of the most successful leaders in our industry, Brian will be an invaluable asset to the future of Plus Company, because he understands how to build and grow a successful and new kind of marketing services company, in the U.S. and globally” Marchand added.

Effective June 1, 2022, Whipple joined the six existing board members and will aid in supporting the company’s ambitious growth targets.

The Forum Seeks Mentors to Fulfill Increased Demand

As more women in Canada continue to turn to entrepreneurship, there is a critical need for access to resources, capital and networks to support their business growth. The Forum, a Canadian charity that has supported over 10,000 women entrepreneurs since 2002, is answering the call with the expansion of its mentorship programming accessible to self-identified women business owners across the country.

“In the last five years we’ve seen a 200 percent increase in demand for our mentorship programming and we expect this number to continue to grow,” says Paulina Cameron, CEO of The Forum. “In our current climate, it’s not easy being a small business owner – and mentors can be the missing link to one entrepreneur’s business success as they recover, become more resilient and scale. We’re looking for a diverse range of mentors to join us in an effort to leave no woman entrepreneur behind, no matter where they are on their journey. We thank The Scotiabank Women Initiative, a community that believes in the power of mentorship, for joining us as our presenting sponsor and supporting us in this work.”

The percentage of majority women-owned, small and medium sized businesses hit an all time high in 2020 and the number of unicorn start-ups in Canada with women founders has almost doubled since 2019. However, significant barriers still exist. Women founders are less likely than their male counterparts to receive venture capital funding and the pandemic has hit women-owned businesses harder. More women-owned businesses ceased being fully operational during the first quarter of 2021 compared to other businesses and 38.5 percent of women-owned businesses underwent layoffs. (source: The State of Women’s Entrepreneurship 2022)

“By supporting The Forum, we are enabling women entrepreneurs to share and gain first-hand insight into experienced business practices,” says Sloane Muldoon, Senior Vice President, Retail Performance and Co-Chair of The Scotiabank Women Initiative. “This information exchange helps women business leaders gain the confidence and guidance needed to kickstart and grow their business."

Open call for mentors

The mentorship program is The Forum’s longest running initiative and has supported over 2,000 mentor and mentee pairings to date. The program connects women entrepreneurs with the guidance, knowledge and community they need to thrive in business.

Leaders and seasoned entrepreneurs who are interested in mentoring Canadian women entrepreneurs are invited to apply to the 2022/2023 The Forum Mentor Program presented by The Scotiabank Women Initiative ®. The program curates pairings based on business needs and the mentor’s areas of expertise, and provides an online platform to elevate and guide the mentorship experience.

“Participating in The Forum mentor program is an extremely rewarding experience that I truly cherish,” says Joanna Track, VP, Executive Publisher Media Platform & Content at Venturepark Voice. “Taking all of my lessons learned and being able to pay them forward to other budding entrepreneurs makes them all the more worthwhile and I have learned as much as I've taught working with different women and learning about their industries and areas of expertise.”

The Forum welcomes mentors of all gender identities and industries across Canada. Mentors and mentees connect in-person or virtually once a month for 12 months to discuss challenges, find solutions and seize business opportunities. To learn more, please visit https://www.theforum.ca/mentor-program.

Canada Chosen as a Test Market for Notes, Twitter’s New Long-Form Writing Feature

Canada will be one of Twitter’s test markets for Notes, a new feature that will allow people to publish long-form written content on Twitter for the first time.

Notes comes via a new team at Twitter called Twitter Write. Twitter Write is a new team at Twitter, focused on building tools and community so readers and writers can get the most out of Twitter. This team will be focused on improving and enhancing the Twitter experience for writers everywhere.

When we say writers, we’re not just thinking of journalists or authors with large followings. Writers can also be bloggers, newsletter publishers, comedians, content creators, social media community managers, poets, screenwriters, and anyone else on Twitter who writes, has a profile as an opinion leader, or simply has something to say.

A few more details about what to expect from Notes on Twitter:

• Notes will give your favourite writers on Twitter the chance to go beyond 280 characters for the first time, using a rich-text editor to capture articles, thought pieces, and other kinds of content.
• Starting today, we’re partnering with a small group of writers from Canada, the US, the UK, and Ghana to test drive the feature. They will help us learn how best to support people who come to write on Twitter and assess how to evolve the Notes experience in future.
• While these writers will come from one of these four countries, their Notes will be seen and read by Twitter audiences worldwide.
• Look out for Notes on your timeline on iOS, Android, and web starting today. These writers will also have a Notes tab on their profile on the web. Later, on iOS and Android, too!

Compiled by Emma Whiten, Editor of Marketing News Canada