Mike Agerbo

The deep insights, personalized experience and opportunities that this partnership can create for our brand teams, audiences and marketing partners is very exciting! #b2bmarketing #marketing #b2bmedia #b2bcontent #smartmarketing

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Local digital media policy - no matter which jurisdiction, can have far-reaching global implications. Hoping Canada hits the global stage for more refined and exemplary regulatory outcomes than C-18 has in the future. Staying on top of global affairs is critical at a local level. Grateful for our international network and collaborative efforts to discuss, explore and find solutions to borderless issues. #digitalmedia #regulation #news #digitalads #C18

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With the news of DDB, BBDO and TBWA Canada merging into “Omnicom Advertising Services”, it’s officially a new era in the industry. These were three of the most dominant advertising agencies in the country for decades. Anyone working at or with these companies around the world - this is what’s coming. It’s not if, it’s when. So please prepare yourselves. Play chess not checkers with your career and livelihood. You’ve got to look after yourself and your family and you need to start planning what’s best for you right now. To all CEO’s, Boards of Governors, CMO’s, VP Marketing, Director of Marketing, Marketing Managers, CFO’s, COO’s and so on: The agency world is being massively disrupted (it has been for a while but it’s now in high gear) and I highly recommend you start looking at Plan B to protect your brand and put it into a position to thrive. Independent agencies around the world are thriving. They’re doing great work for clients because the people running those companies have skin in the game. If you do really well - they do well. Independent agencies are just hustling more. Independent agencies are running circles around the bigger, slower moving international companies. They’re doing really great work that’s working. Many of the most talented people in our industry have now moved over to working at an independent agency. When you hire an independent agency, the money goes back into the business. A great independent agency will hire the very best people. They’ll invest in tech. They’ll invest in things that will help your business thrive. They win if you win. Reach out and meet an independent agency or two and see if they’re the right fit for your brand and your team. If so, just try them on a project and let them earn their work. Don’t ask them for any free speculative work because that’s unethical. But sample them on a project. It’s the perfect time to try something new. There are many great independent agencies in cities and countries all over the world who are doing fantastic work. We at One Twenty Three West are just one of them and we’d be happy to connect. 123w.ca ***People from all over the world are going to read this post. All independent agencies are welcome to promote their business in the comments. Share the thread.

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Data for the past few years at Canada's National Observer shows an 80% retention rate for paying subscribers. 👏 This exceptional figure stands out in the publishing industry for several reasons: 1. The average retention rate for digital news subscriptions typically ranges from 60-70%, putting our 80% rate above the norm. 2. This high retention rate indicates that our subscribers find consistent value in our content, returning year after year. 3. Such a high retention rate serves as a testament to the quality and relevance of our journalism, and its resonance with our audience. 4. Loyal subscribers engage with our content and each other, fostering a vibrant community around our platforms. Moving forward, we remain focused on delivering high-quality journalism about Canada's changing climate that our readers will value year after year. #DigitalMedia #SubscriptionBusiness #JournalismSuccess

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This sucks. C-11 continues to have all sorts of unintended consequences - but the cynicism of holding marginalized groups hostage just shows you what this always was: cheap virtue signalling. For-profit companies—particularly international ones—do not care about this country's culture or the people who live here. They will only be as good as they are required to be by law, and when they get big enough, they will question the sovereignty of any country they think they can push around. I'm not sure that's good or bad - their responsibility is to shareholders. And there's no indicator that Canadian-controlled companies are any better. If the 5% of revenue spending rule comes to pass, there will be many loopholes. With so much money spent on service production here because of our lower dollar and tax credits, the financial incentives to stay are strong. My guess is that there are a few more Canadian license plates and hockey sticks in the shots of generic procedurals. Like many Canadians, I hope this government is focused and can execute. There's no perfect answer, but a purely market-based solution to TV and film in this country has never worked, and in this age of international media oligopoly, it has no hope. Personally, and this is for another post, I think the world of publishing and music offers more hope for us in TV and film. Individual creators in those fields have always been helped by the system here before they get packaged and sold worldwide by conglomerates - and many retain their distinct Canadian identity. I'll take Celine Dion, Margaret Atwood, Justin Bieber, Yann Martel and Drake any day if that can be our future. I don't think there will be many Trailer Park Boys or even Property Brothers in the years to come. Maybe "The Traitors: Canada." https://lnkd.in/gBRDBPCt

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For #Marketers and #Communicators... Here is question 16 of my #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries ✋🏻✋🏼✋🏽✋🏾✋🏿: Q: "I'm trying to be inclusive in our upcoming campaign TV ad. How can I tell if the commercial is tokenizing or not?" A: "Although there are a lot more layers and nuance to it, a simple way to test if your commercial script is tokenizing underrepresented communities or not is as follows; replace all the underrepresented individuals in your script with people from the dominant culture. If you do that and your script still "makes sense" ie. the story doesn't change, then likely you're tokenizing these individuals. Why? Well, people with different lived experience should experience your script's story in a different way. If they don't, likely, the inclusion of these individuals is very surface-level, and doesn't have the deep cultural nuance required to be authentically inclusive. Remember, diversity =/= inclusion" What are your thoughts? I invite you to discuss and ask more questions in the comments! --- Follow me next week for question 17 of my #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries! What is the #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries? Every week I'll answer common questions that we receive at AndHumanity, Inclusive Marketing Agency on #InclusiveMarketing and #InclusiveCommunications. --- #JEDI #EDI #InclusionMatters #InclusiveBusiness #InclusiveLeadership 

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“Investing in long form audio content, with short video clips for added engagement is going to be a winning strategy in 2024”. #SoundInMarketing #SonicBranding #AudioAdvertising #BrandStrategy

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“Investing in long form audio content, with short video clips for added engagement is going to be a winning strategy in 2024”. #SoundInMarketing #SonicBranding #AudioAdvertising #BrandStrategy

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“Investing in long form audio content, with short video clips for added engagement is going to be a winning strategy in 2024”. #SoundInMarketing #SonicBranding #AudioAdvertising #BrandStrategy

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Positive or negative multiplier effect? Two ad campaigns are getting attention in Quebec's press recently, though not entirely for the reasons intended. The first is from Sazerac Company, a privately held alcoholic beverage group headquartered in Louisiana, owned by billionaire William Goldring and his family. Their poster campaign, themed "a proudly Québécois summer," displays five products bottled in Quebec, along with an emblem. For context, Quebec has three designations for local products: 1. "Origine Québec" for products entirely made in the province 2. "Préparé au Québec" for products made in Quebec but with ingredients that can be sourced outside Quebec 3. "Embouteillé au Québec" for products made elsewhere but bottled locally Local wine and spirit producers are expressing discontent with the implication that brands like Southern Comfort are local, particularly given the SAQ's plans to reduce the number of locally-made spirits it carries. The second campaign is for Koodo, a subsidiary of TELUS. A multicoloured house has apparently violated local regulations, and the city intends to fine Telus according to reporting by La Presse, despite claims from Camp Jefferson that they obtained the necessary permits. This won't cause major reputational damage. In fact, one could argue that these controversies serve as amplification for two campaigns that might otherwise have received limited attention. As Oscar Wilde famously quipped: "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Marcus Daum Ashley Babcock

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Taking extreme ownership of your business, including errors indirectly tied to your actions, is critical. One such example in the promo production industry is the shipping mishaps that happen occasionally. Our response to those can destroy or solidify a partnership. CF Montréal, a world-renowned MLS team, ordered 7,500 custom bobbleheads of their star defensive midfielder, Samuel Piette. They're organizing a giveaway for the first 7500 out of 22,000 attendees for their home opener game. We ensured each piece was meticulously crafted and hand-painted before shipping to Canada, excited to see the project come to life. Little did we know, we're about to face an unpleasant surprise. Mid-shipping, the container was dropped, destroying 80% of the shipment. Instead of casting blame, we immediately took action to resolve the issue. The promised giveaway happened a few months later, very successfully. As a result, we demonstrated our crisis management prowess and reinforced our client relationship. How does your organization manage crises?

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More to follow.

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I’ve written over 200 press releases for various companies and read hundreds more during my time as a beat journalist and there are a few things I’ve learned about them over the years.  Perhaps the most important thing is that a press release is not an article and therefore does not require a traditional intro to set the scene or hook the reader like you would put on an article.  It’s literally part of a journalist’s job to go through the press releases they receive during the day that pertain to whatever beat they cover.  The “hook” is that the PR pertains to their beat. All they’re after is the information. Once they get the information, they’ll decide whether it’s worth following up with you.  The PRs I hated most when I was doing beat journalism were the ones that tried to set the scene or provide background information upfront.  No scene setting is required. The reporter probably knows your market as well as or better than you if they’re covering it for a living. And you can fill in the background information AFTER you answer the following questions:  - What’s the announcement? - Who’s making the announcement? - Why is this announcement important? - When does this announcement become important? - Where are the areas affected by this announcement? - How does this announcement affect the people in that area?  These questions may vary slightly, but the who, what, when, where, why and how should be answered upfront. (You’ll be saving extremely busy people time and saved time is always appreciated.) When writing a press release, the golden rule is: 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭.  If you are in the market for press releases written by someone who has been on both the sending and receiving end of them and who understands the best way to format them, drop me a line and let’s talk.  #PressReleases #CorporateCommunication #PublicRelations --- Need a content strategy? Let's talk. Need a ghostwriter? Tell me about your project. Want a free website audit? Ask me how.

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