Marketing News Roundup: October 13, 2022

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

• Tweet Photos, Videos & GIFs in a Single Tweet
• Plus Company Announces a Strategic Partnership with 55rush
• Small Businesses to Benefit from $3M boost in Desjardins’ GoodSpark Grants Program
• Plus Company Introduces Newly Formed Technology Leadership Team
• Marketing Technology Leader Knak Launches Inspiration Centre

Read more below!

Tweet photos, videos & GIFs in a single Tweet

Twitter is making a recent update available to everyone so they can start mixing and matching different types of media content, whether it’s a photo, GIF or video (or two!) all in one Tweet. It's incredibly easy: just select up to four types of media, upload them within the composer and hit publish! Learn more about it.

Here are some examples of how creators, brands and others on Twitter have been taking advantage of this update and bringing more engaging visual content to the timeline across music, sports, photography and more:

• Artists promoting music such as Nicki Minaj and Demi Lovato, giving tour highlights like K-pop group Seventeen, and celebrating career milestones like Usher
• Sports teams and leagues sharing game highlights like the Sixers and Celtics and athletes like Lebron James
• Creators sharing their behind-the-scenes processes like @blackprints, @jakechams, @Brandonwoelfel and @hellotefi

Plus Company Announces a Strategic Partnership with 55rush

Recently announced, Plus Company has entered a strategic partnership with 55rush, a Toronto-based performance marketing company, whose services and solutions are rooted in their exceptional online communities, the Parent Life Network (PLN), the Student Life Network (SLN), yConic and the Canadian Newcomers Network (CNN).

Plus Company is making a tangible investment that will provide a unique platform for growth for 55rush. The partnership will be led by Plus Company’s performance division (PathIQ), which has spearheaded the network’s Canada expansion into content-led lead generation and customer acquisition programs over the last 4 years.

This strategic partnership will come into effect on October 12 and will help expand Plus Company’s data capabilities and service offerings and further its goal of providing technology-fuelled creativity and service offerings for all its clients.

Anchored in 55rush’s engaged Canadian communities and unique content platforms, its insights, data and acquisition capabilities will significantly enhance Plus Company’s performance services, providing increased access to Plus Company’s existing roster of brands in Canada and beyond.

Global News Launches New Look and Sound

Starting in October, Global News introduces readers and viewers to a brand-new look and sound!

These branding changes will enhance how audiences view, hear, and read the great journalism and content we create.

So what has changed? We have modified our logo, text and other visual elements to incorporate the Global red, black and white, new versatile fonts and graphics that will be used throughout all of our platforms and an exciting new show opening.

“We are excited to update our brand with this bold fresh new look and sound which will better align us with the main Global brand,” says Buffy McGaw, Director News Marketing. “The design supports the high-quality content and information Global News provides to Canadians every day, while working seamlessly and complimenting all the platforms we serve.”

Small Businesses to Benefit from $3M boost in Desjardins’ GoodSpark Grants Program

Desjardins is excited to announce that applications are now open for the third annual GoodSpark Grants program, the financial cooperative’s support fund for small businesses which has been increased to $3m in 2022 – its largest contribution to date.

Continuing its commitment to support small businesses that make a big impact in their communities, Desjardins will be giving out the sum in grants in early 2023. Each of the 150 recipients will receive a $20,000 grant to further drive innovation, investments in their employees, and/or sustainable development.

Across Canada, there are over 1.1 million small businesses that together employ over 10 million Canadians – almost two-thirds of the workforce (Gov. Of Canada / StatCan). Many of these organizations are innovative and have a positive impact on their local communities but find themselves needing support to grow and expand. Some key details:

• HOW THE GRANT HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES: The GoodSpark Grant can make a big difference to small business owners like Purush Cannane, who used his 2021 grant to develop a semi-automatic assembly line for his sustainable paper bag production company Greenii, which has allowed the company to sell nearly 55,000 paper bags without external advertising. More of Cannane’s inspiring story can be found here.
• HOW TO APPLY: Applications for this year’s program are now open until November 6. Full details and eligibility criteria can be found at GoodSparkGrants.ca.

As we approach a recession, the experiences of small businesses will be key to understanding how economic changes are experienced on the ground and in the lives of ordinary Canadians – we think that’s an important story to tell in Marketing News Canada and why Desjardins is keen to lend its support.

Plus Company Introduces Newly Formed Technology Leadership Team

Plus Company has announced the creation of its Technology Leadership Team with the hiring of Sujal Patel, Michael Cohen and Alex Côté. The newly formed ‘Plus Company Platform Team’ will further the company’s commitment to deliver technology-amplified creative and multidisciplinary collaboration, with the intention to drive industry firsts.

Building upon Plus Company’s corporate growth strategy, the new roles will enhance the company’s technology & data capabilities for current and future business needs, integrate infrastructure and investments globally, and deliver increased revenue from technology, digital and data streams. Supporting the company’s employees and clients globally throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, the leadership team will enable agencies to leverage the latest technology for both internal and external objectives.

“The formation of a Technology Leadership Team was a priority as we aim to enhance Plus Company’s advanced technology and data capabilities and give our agencies additional tools to drive outside the box ideas and outcomes for our clients,” says Brett Marchand, Plus Company’s CEO. “Our agency leads will continue to be experts in our client’s business, driving strategy, creative and execution, while the newly formed Plus Company Platform team adds a centralized hub building advanced technology and data products to support our agencies in delivering world-class work.”

Sujal Patel has been named Chief Technology Officer, taking on the responsibility of executing a global technology and data strategy to support Plus Company’s growth aspirations. Patel joins Plus Company from his previous role as Global Chief Technology Officer at digital marketing agency iCrossing, with previous experience from Digitas North America as SVP, Technology.

“The CTO role was a compelling opportunity to work with a company that allows its agencies to maintain an independent spirit and creative-led culture, while operating with a high level of collaboration between agencies,” says Patel. “This role gives me the opportunity to develop a technology strategy that allows our company to be competitive and drive innovation in an area under constant change. Ultimately, we want to enhance the employee and customer experience, create operational efficiencies that lead to faster decision-making, and drive growth for the company through additional revenue streams.”

Michael Cohen joins Plus Company in the newly created role of Chief Data & Analytics Officer, and will work closely with the network of agencies to enhance client offerings, data security and use of new technologies. Cohen joins the company from his previous role as COO at Marketing Evolution, and his extensive experience in machine-learning and AI algorithms will be integral to enhancing data, insights and econometric modelling critical to the success of client campaigns.

Alex Côté will take on the role of Chief Product Officer, joining Plus Company from his current role within the company’s agency alliance as Senior Vice President of Technology at Cossette. After more than 20 years working with Cossette and its sister agencies, Côté will use his intimate knowledge of the company’s agencies to develop products that move Plus Company towards an industry-leading role in digital and technology offering for clients.

Marketing Technology Leader Knak Launches Inspiration Centre

Knak, the codeless email and landing page creation platform for enterprise marketers, launches its Inspiration Centre. The first centre of its kind is within Knak’s platform and provides marketers with collections of creative emails and landing pages based on successful campaigns from Fortune 100 companies. Unique to Knak, the Inspiration Centre features hundreds of transformable examples with no coding required, inspiring marketers to level up their campaigns and create their assets in minutes.

Knak is designed to make creating codeless, on-brand emails and landing pages seamless. The campaigns created within Knak integrate into marketing automation platforms at the click of a button, enabling marketers to get back to their roots of creativity, save money and improve efficiencies.

“Marketing is a fast-paced and creative industry, and oftentimes archaic infrastructure and processes slow us down,” saidPierce Ujjainwalla, CEO and Co-founder of Knak. “Knak’s Inspiration Centre was built to further revolutionize enterprise marketing. It provides the much-needed inspiration marketers are looking for to create their next campaign and eliminates handoffs and painful approval processes with external agencies, designers and internal teams. It really serves as a one-stop-shop for marketers to find their full creative potential,” said Ujjainwalla.

On October 11 at 1:00pm EST, marketers interested in learning more about the Inspiration Centre are welcome to join the company’s webinar event online here. Attendees will learn about creating world-class landing pages and email templates, and learn how hundreds of winning campaigns from the world’s most prestigious companies can be used to fuel creativity.

Highlights of the Inspiration Centre include:

• Hundreds of campaigns that can be transformed and re-used by enterprise marketing teams with no coding required
• Collections of both landing pages and emails that can fuel creativity and be rebranded within enterprise brand guardrails
• Keyword and category search capabilities to make finding inspiration easier
• Comprehensive mobile and desktop preview functions

The company has announced a series of feature updates and pillar content releases since raising its $25 million Series A late last year, including its updated integration with Pardot and the annual State of the MO Pros benchmark report. For more information on the Inspiration Centre, visit: http://sta.mx/gch

Compiled by Emma Whiten, Editor of Marketing News Canada