TAXI DELIVERS KNOCKOUT PUNCH - Strategy

media aoy gold • Starcom MediaVest Group
Innovation with integration
If integration is the name of the
game this year, then Starcom
MediaVest Group gets top
marks. Headed by Lauren
Richards, the agency set the
bar for intelligent and innovative
content integration initiatives
by partnering Nintendo Wii’s Big
Brain Academy with Canwest’s
Are You Smarter Than a
Canadian 5th Grader? for an
initiative that was shortlisted at
Cannes this year.
“The strategic fi t was
fantastic,” explains Richards. “I
don’t believe in integrating by
banging people over the head
and doing it for the sake of it.”
SMG’s key to success is
creative partnering, given the
limited content available in
the Canadian marketplace.
“They continue to bring the
opportunity – and the desire – to
be more innovative,” says Gaye
McDonald, former VP marketing
ventures/brand partnership,
Canwest MediaWorks.
“Sometimes you need your
partner to challenge you.”
Starcom’s momentum in
2008 was helped by signifi cant
new business wins, including
the repatriation of Kellogg’s and
the addition of names like RIM,
Samsung and WSPCA to its client
roster. The agency also brought
in some noteworthy talent,
including Anne Myers, formerly
of OMD, as EVP managing
director and Joy Sanguedoce as
innovation director.
Last year marked a
reinvention process for the
agency. “There’s a lot we’re
doing differently, and a lot of
new talent. We’re really seeing
the fruits of our labour,” says
Richards, who has been with
SMG since July 2006. “I was
thrilled with the product, the
direction, where we’ve come
from and where we’re going
with it, and the new business
momentum that we have.”
Another new venture for the
agency was the launch of a
Canadian captivation study
that quantifi es the ability of TV
programming to deliver highly
engaged viewers and drive recall.
The index, borrowed from similar
Lauren Richards, third from top left, leads the Starcom team
studies south of the border, aims
to create greater value for SMG’s
TV buying clients.
And given the state of the
economy, value is growing even
more important for marketers.
Richards says it comes down to
being inventive, and now that
throwing money at a problem
is no longer an option, that
means original ideas. “That kind
of thinking is where we want
to push our agency more and
more,” she says.
20 years, thousands of blocking charts later
and we’re still going strong.
Location: Toronto
BY JONATHAN PAUL
Number of employees: 100
New hires:
• Anne Myers, EVP, managing director
• Alexandra Panousis, SVP, group
strategy director
• Chris Saunders, SVP, group strategy
director
• Joy Sanguedoce, innovation director
New business: Kellogg’s, GM Search,
RIM, Samsung, WSPCA, Flow, Bass Pro
Shops, Chinese Lantern Festival
Congratulations PHD on your Media Agency of the Year
Nomination from all of us here at Honda Canada Inc!